Blump really is a very active little fellow. Even midwives comment on how much s/he moves – every time they try to listen to Blump’s heart, s/he moves away from the heartbeat monitor as soon as they put any pressure on it. And I’ve never had the kind of worries that some pregnant women write about, when they don’t feel the baby move much and wonder if everything is OK.

Standard medical knowledge expects babies to settle in one position (normally head down) around week 32. I am now coming to the end of week 33, and Blump definitely hasn’t done that yet. It feels like a minor earthquake when Blump turns around from one position to another. It’s hard to imagine two arms and two legs making all that movement! Sometimes s/he sneakily turns around during the night – twice during the past week I’ve woken up to find Blump apparently lying horizontally, with his/her feet kicking out towards one side and the head pointing towards the other side, which was a pretty odd feeling!

With all this moving around, I’ve become curious to understand where and how s/he is lying, and learned to more or less “map out” Blump’s body.

First of all there’s the kicking, of course. Kicks are strong and distinct; arm movements feel smaller and lighter. Where I feel most movement, that’s probably where the legs are. Hiccups – regular “ticking” movements – should probably come from the top half of the baby’s torso, I imagine.

In addition to feeling movements, I can figure out Blump’s position by feeling around the belly. (One of the midwives explained briefly what she feels for, and the rest is just practice and common sense.) It doesn’t work every time, but it is getting easier and clearer as time goes – in part probably because I get more practice, but also because Blump fills up more of the belly.

I find it’s easiest to map out Blump’s position when I lie on my back with my knees bent, so the water flows down towards my spine and leaves Blump more exposed. The parts towards the top half of the belly are easiest to feel – above where my waist used to be, up towards the ribs. I try to feel what’s up there, and assume that the parts I haven’t located are lying down below the waist.

• A broad thing that gives strong resistance and doesn’t yield to pressure is the torso / back. When Blump lies with his/her back towards my one side, I can feel that that side of the belly is “solid” whereas the other side is more “watery” and has more “give” (in the space between and around the limbs).
• A small sharp thing that can be pushed around is probably a foot or a knee – especially if continued poking makes it move!
• A broader lump (but not too broad) that can be moved from side to side is probably the head.
• An even broader thing that moves just a little is probably the bum.

Every body part on its own may be hard to spot, but if I can kind of guess a few of them, the various clues reinforce or clarify each other, until I get a reasonably clear picture of what’s in there.

Right now, for example, Blump seems to be lying with the head down, the torso towards the left, and legs & feet up underneath my right ribs.