Little Chick

I have casually given my baby a pre-birth nickname. In Estonian it's a very innocent-sounding "Tibu", however the English translation adds quite a new meaning to it. "Tibu" literally translates into "Chick", as in a baby chicken. I'm pretty sure the nickname will just naturally go away when we officially give the baby a name. I don't even use if often; only when I'm trying to get her attention. It sometimes feels too cold and distant to say, "Baby, oooii, stop kicking." And it's too weird to use the name that we MIGHT give her after birth. It really depends on what she looks like. She's still more often "Baby" (Tita) but I have started to see her as a person and not just a combination of mine and Erkki's genes.

The Little Chick is really showing character by now. If the belly-behavior correlates at all with her natural behavior then I would say she is sociable, strong-willed, stubborn, prone to huffing and puffing when something isn't going quite as she expected. She's also curious and her natural state is to take it easy. You might wonder where I get all this. Simple - it's a result of observations.

Yesterday she got some water in her lungs when she was trying to swallow amniotic fluid. I think that should be possible because babies have that valve that stops them from inhaling milk when they are eating. In the womb they practice both breathing and swallowing so I'm sure they also learn to make a difference when the valve is active and when it isn't. When a belly baby makes a mistake during her breathing exercise, she ends up with hiccups. And when she makes a mistake during her swallowing exercise, I bet she ends up feeling really uncomfortable. Just a theory but seems plausible because there has to be a feedback system to remind the baby never to inhale when she's supposed to be swallowing. Well anyway, she must have inhaled some liquid because she suddenly really started acting out. She was wriggling like it was Armageddon and she wouldn't stop for minutes and minutes... I changed positions and shook my belly and then all the random squirming turned into hiccups. Oh she hates that. There were some disgruntled light kicks until she got rid of the hiccups, then she practiced breathing for a minute or two and went to sleep.

When she is not quite sure about something she protests against it until her protesting has some result. Like when I rest my hand on my belly, she sometimes starts persistently nudging it until I remove my hand. I bet sometimes she's just curious what would happen and if a couple of tries don't have an effect, she repeats as long as necessary. And she's certainly sociable because when she's kicking in two different places and I reply by tapping or rubbing my belly in one of those places, she will almost always prefer kicking where the response is.

And despite all the signs of a strong stubborn personality she really enjoys just chilling and doing nothing. That's why there's times when she just won't move for a long time. She will find a comfortable position and won't even consider moving even when I try to shake her away from a weird position. When she gets used to lying on one side and I turn around, she will not be happy! Or when she has settled herself nicely but I try to fall asleep on the "wrong" side, she will sooner start nudging non-stop than change her position. So she's stubborn about her comfort as well.

Me and Erkki did a Tarot reading about her personality for fun once and very similar traits were visible there. Lots of willpower and strength. She's predicted to be persistent and stubborn. I like Tarot cards. They're fun!

Now I have general observations combined with guessing and Tarot card readings. Why not add even more data by looking over the zodiac situation as well. That's almost as good data as all the other "evidence" for her personality. Due date is 7th of May. The real date can be any time before and after that but probably not more than a couple of weeks off the target. 21st of April to 21st of May is Taurus and the due date sits nicely in between.

Tauruses are strong individuals, quite "bull-headed". They can be dogged and determined when they have a goal in mind. Taurus is determined and peaceful. Not a leader but will respect leaders. Resistant to change. Good sense of humor and intelligent. Dependable friend who is not scared off by a challenge. Calm and generally against fighting, but will fight if someone else is provoking. Temper tends to explode in violent bursts. ...Mhhhh... Is it just me or have I actually been describing a typical Taurus throughout my entire blog post today.

It would be cool if her personality prognosis turned out to be true because I really like kids who know what they want. It's so much easier with them. I can tell them my expectations and opinions without worrying about crushing their little souls... I can simply tell them - "Please clean your room by tonight." and they will know that it's just something I want them to do. But if they're little fragile souls, they will feel like they're a tortured Cinderella and I'm the mean bossy mother. And I really don't think I would be good at sugar-coating everyday demands. "Would you please be so kind as to wash your hands before the meal?". Ummmm... I'll probably say, "Hands." and my eyes will say, "now!"

I won't be a mean bossy mother but I've always found it easier to deal with people who know exactly what they want. Being assertive comes fairly naturally to me, but being careful with other people's emotions is something I have to deliberately remind myself of.

All-in-all, it would be really cool if the little Chick really grows up as the sociable Taurus she is right now. And I really wanted this prognosis written down - if it's true I can say "I KNEW IT ALL ALONG!" and if it's not true, then no one will blame me for not knowing the personality of an unborn child.