What's this ear then?

First impressions, they say, are always the most lasting and and are one of the key determining factors in your relationship with that person for the future.

My first real encounter Pip therefore should probably ring a plethora of alarm bells.

For some days, Eli had been experiencing proper kicks and bumps from the rambunctious little rascal inside her tummy... I was largely unaware of these as there were (at those early stages) no external signs of it.

One evening while she was being kicked, Eli asked me to place my hand on her tummy. I did and nothing happened. Nothing continued to happen for a bit and it seemed that Pip had gone to sleep again.

I put my ear to the bump to hear what was going on inside... Very little. Some gurgling and swishing sounds. Next thing I know, I get a kick... a proper kick... into the ear! My little tiny baby (less than a Kilo at that stage) had decided, in utero, to kick her Dad in the head, had spun herself around and given me an almighty (for her size at the time) thump with her foot right into the ear!

It was a mixture of pride and trepidation that I felt. Pride that she'd been clever enough and aware of external stimulus enough to locate me, move around and give me a kick to say "Get off my bump!" and trepidation as to how our relationship is likely to progress for the future if that's how she treats me now :)

Incidentally, she repeated this performance a few days later at the next midwife session when they attempted to listen for her heartbeat with the heartbeat monitor. They tried dilligently to hear her heartbeat but every time they pressed the monitor into Eli's bump, Pip span around and gave it an almight kick with her foot. She kept this up for about 10 minutes before the midwife gave it up as a bad job.

We can learn three important things about Pip's personality from this...

First: She's very clever and aware of her surroundings.
Second: she's very very stubborn and pig headed.
Third: She's not adverse to using physical violence to get what she wants.

I'm not sure if any or all of the above are good things or bad... time (and bruises) will tell...