Butterflies

Quickening is when the mother can “feel” the baby, but comes long before any sensation of kicking. Depending on what baby book you consult, quickening can occur any time after week 12 to week 20. Most sources agree that the feeling closely compares to that have having butterflies in your stomach. Tiffany was anxious to feel this and had been disappointed....until last week.

When Tiffany returned home from Memphis late last week we were talking in the kitchen. She said she was having a queasy feeling in her stomach and that she was feeling nervous while she was out of town. She hadn’t put it together. When I told her that it was probably quickening, she did get excited when she realized what was happening.  That has continued now for a couple days.

Yesterday we went with our neighbor Brittany to the galleria (shopping area) with Cameron, her son. That was an eye-opening experience. Cameron is just a few weeks shy of one year old and we’ve got to spend plenty of time with him over the past year. This, however, was our first excursion that included multiple destinations.

We made several stops on Saturday and each time Cameron had to be taken out of the car seat and put into a preferred mode of transportation, whether it be stroller or Baby Bjorn. Along the way he required cheerios, water from his sippy cup, a diaper change and of course plenty of attention which neither TIffany nor I had any trouble giving him.

The takeaway, things take about twice as long with a baby in-toe. We weren’t even there for the preparation to leave the house, packing the diaper bag including snacks and drinks, disposable tray for lunch, I can only imagine the time involved there. Of course Brittany handled this like a champ, but for the uninitiated, like myself, the realization was that a quick trip the store is not in the cards with a child.

Typically  we arrive at the mall, park the car and head inside. This process would typically take 5 minutes? By the time the car is parked, the stroller is set up and everything situated, it’s easily 10 minutes with baby. Now stop three or four places and you can see how the time can add up.

At one point I did crunch some numbers on how much longer we had to go places without a baby and where we should go before it was “too late”. It’s not that I am dreading it, but Saturday’s experience definitely made me realize that there are things I take for granted now that will be gone soon enough. Things like leaving a room without checking to see if everyone is still breathing, sleeping through the night, and getting in and out of the car in less than 5 minutes.