Hi archie,
this is my first question to you, i have been regurarly reading all your answers, they are really fantastic and really helpful. I am 26 weeks pregnant and what should the number of times i shd have the baby movements, for the past few days i can feel the movements more frequent. All the sites say that I shd get more than 10 movts in 2 hrs, but somtimes i feel i have more than 6-8 within half hour itself. I don't know whether it is fine or not, my friend was telling that she had movements all through the night and when she checked with the gynae the next day it was found that the cord had gone around the baby, how will i know if the baby is distressed or not. my placenta also low lying so sometimes i feel the baby hitting my vagina hardly but not always. please suggest some sites or tell me about baby movts in this trimester and the next one also.

sowdha archie replied. Sowdha,
your baby movements are absolutely normal and there is nothing that you should be worried about, may be a little on placenta, which I will speak about at the end of this message.

Movements 10 within 2 hours are for those who have trouble finding baby movements and usally in third triemster (you will enter in 3rd trim next week) when uterus is crowded and breech babies often find difficult to move (after 31 weeks although some babies will be head down -cephalic presentation -some babies can be in breech presentation until in 36th week or throughout the pregnancy). If one can feel baby movements all the day or most of the time no need to worry. For those who can't feel the movementns that pronounced, a recommendation is made to watch baby movements either after breakfast or dinner, by drinking some cold fruit juice or sweets and sleeping on left side. In this scenario if baby moves at least 10 times in 2 hour then nothing is wrong. If baby moves 10 times in a few minutes or less than 2 hours absolutely normal.

For case like yours where baby is moving all the time and all the spaces, which I would expect during 26th week, there is no concern on baby's well being. If you don't feel movements or substantially reduced then immediately give a call to your OB.

I don't know how much low lying placenta is. But if it remains low even after 34 weeks you will be scheduled for C-section no matter whether your baby is cephalic or breech or if the head is engagedin pelvis (ligthening) or not. But if the placenta moved upward by the end of 34 weeks you can hope for vaginal birth.

If you are having total previa, placenta covering cervix opening then you may want to avoid stressful job, no heavy duties and most importantly you want to take bed rest as much to avoid any bleeding, which would force a delivery ahead of time.

archie