A BIG Day for an Expecting Dad: He Moves…

by Robb Sutton

Last night was a big moment for me. For the first time ever, I felt my son move.

Let’s back up this story a little bit…

We are at 32 weeks in this glorious process they call pregnancy (I don’t know if my wife is calling it glorious at this point in the August heat and humidity of GA!). Daniel has been moving like crazy up until this point. Jenn has been blessed/cursed with an extremely active little boy in there.

The ironic thing about this whole situation is that I have been watching him move for weeks…but have never actually felt him do it until last night. The little joker has been playing hide and go seek for weeks every time I put my hand on my wife’s stomach. I literally was picturing him tucking down and hiding every time I went to feel (funny how we give adult reasoning to unborn babies…I guess that is just how our minds work).

It actually got so bad at one point in time that Jenn was on a contraction machine and he was kicking it up and down. His heartrate was bouncing around 155 bpm and he has having a great time as you could plainly see. As soon as I would put my hand on her stomach, his heart rate would drop to the low 130’s and he would stop moving. As soon as I took it back off…it was practicing for a career in place kicking again. I found it hilarious but I think it was starting to bother my wife as she was feeling him and I wasn’t. She really wanted to share that experience and he wasn’t having it.

Last night, she looked at me and said, “Look…he shifted.” She was right…her stomach was completely lopsided. I put my hand on her stomach and 30 seconds later…he adjusted for bedtime. Finally, I had felt my son move for the first time.

It is a surreal moment. I wasn’t really sure how I would react, but my overall feeling was calm. On the outside, it is weird. There is a human inside my wife rolling around and it makes you think back to the scene in aliens that no one can forget. But…after the movie scenes pass through your mind and you remember that you are in fact not in a sci-fi thriller…you come to a gripping realization…

He is coming.

I am sure that everyone has a different reaction when this moment arises. I thought I had come to the reality that I had a son making into this world soon, but until you actually hive five him (or pat him on the butt…I wasn’t really sure)…that connection hasn’t truly started…at least for me. I was excited before…but now I am really stoked. My interactions with my son have begun and this is only the first chapter in a long journey.

The next weeks are going to blow by quickly, but I will always remember that first moment that my son and I connected. It is a cool experience.

 

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3 comments

Joel Williams August 30, 2011 - 8:49 pm

He’ll be there before you know it and you won’t be able to think of life without him soon. All the best for the big day 🙂

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Mandy October 13, 2011 - 1:32 am

I’m so glad I found this blog; your writing is so sincere and it’s so refreshing to hear this journey from a man’s perspective. Not only that, but you really have a heart for your child, and often times men don’t express what they are thinking during this time. I look forward to more posts!

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Robb Sutton October 21, 2011 - 12:04 pm

Thanks Mandy! It has been a busy couple of weeks. I will be updating soon!

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