Hello everyone! I am just shy of 22 weeks with my second baby. My first baby is 14 years old, so I’m basically feeling like a first time mom all over again. I have an anterior placenta, but baby boy is completely healthy and outside of fertility issues in getting pregnant, my pregnancy has been uneventful. Another difference in this pregnancy is my weight (and obviously age). I am obese now, so the physical changes have been different.

I have been feeling movement off and on since week 18, so it’s been very inconsistent. Since about the same time, my upper belly is almost constantly rock hard, especially when I first stand up. I thought it might be constipation, but now I think it’s just normal pregnancy changes. Sometimes when I’m sitting down, I will feel my belly get even tighter and almost like the sensation you get on roller coasters (my daughter calls it the “drop feeling”). Kind of feels like baby is doing full on somersaults in there!!

Is this normal baby movement? Or could these be Braxton Hicks contractions? I do feel other movement sometimes that feels like more of popping/thumping and more in line with kicking. I’m just not sure if this is something that I should be concerned with.