High Five for the weekend!

In the early days of our pregnancy, I was always concerned with wrapping my wife’s belly in cotton wool and scared of harming her or the baby. I was so worried by it that for a while, we seemed to have less contact. My protective instinct and fear of the unknown just kicked in. As we’ve travelled further into our journey though, I have realised just how tough an unborn child can be (especially after he showed no ill effects from my wife being very ill in Thailand, and later suffering chest infections and asthma attacks)! I've realised that I can still bond with my wife and her bump, without needing to worry much at all. In fact, our bonding sessions have gone from strength to strength through recent months. A few days ago though, during one of our regular Daddy – Belly bonding sessions, things went a little different.

(It took a while to realise the bump doesnt need to be wrapped in cotton wool ALL of the time)

The way I’ve seen the midwife prodding and pushing away at our precious bump, made me realise I didn’t have to be quite so soft with my touch all of the time. After having a chat with the belly button, and massaging the bump, I realised he was quite active and I was getting plenty of response. He was lay on the left side of his home we call bump, and would move to the other side when I changed the position of my hands. Given how active he was being, I started to press harder, much like I had seen the midwife do. I could make out which end his head was, and his feet, and then I felt a hand. It was definitely a hand. It was surreal! I pressed against his tiny hand and he pressed back, before pulling away. I was like an excitable toddler on Christmas morning, that had just overdosed on E-numbers and lemonade as I explained to my wife what had happened. I had just high fived my unborn son!