Weird Fetal movements?

[delightedbutterfly]

Strange Strange question... (I can only find a couple references on the web and they aren't making me too positive)

Can a fetus have a seizure?

A few times now I've felt really really weird movement like that feeling of "someone walking over your grave" or "a chill" :

Baby moves just fine for the most part other wise but those are really really weird movements. I have a midwife appointment on Wed and will ask then as it's a long weekend up here and I doubt they would do anything more but send me for some monitering... And this has been happening for quite some time.

I'm having a normal pregnancy, ultrasound looked as normal as they could see with "extra maternal fat stores" and I'm having another one on June 2 because of it.

So I know it's a weird question but baby or maybe uterus just did it again before I started writing it and that's what reminded me :S

[xixstar]

I've felt lots of movements that didn't feel like they'd be physically possible for a baby to make -- like it's all octupus legs going tap-dance-kung-fu-crazy. I've often wondered about those movements, but haven't felt anything that gave me grave/chill thoughts.

[Tiffanoodle]

My baby does that ALL the time! Usually after sleeping, s/he will do the shudder thing and then start moving or kicking. I've never asked about it, but never figured out what it could be.

[Tenk]

I get that too, like very FAST movement almost like a muscle spasm or something.

I did want to add that seizure is VERY possible in utero tho, as sad as it is. My cousin's little boy had 2 while she was pregnant and when he started trying to crawl/smile/use his limbs they noticed that he couldn't move his left side pretty much at all. He's 12 or so now and has had tons of therapy to help getting the left side working again. Poor little guy. He so sweet though.

[delightedbutterfly]

Hmm the internet can be a bad and a good thing

Seems that there have been studies done but say it's "rare" and there have been "only" 13 reported "actual" cases. I'm assuming there are more that just go unreported and I figured it could happen... the things I can find say 30-60 seconds long and mine are usually like 5-10 and just a "quiver" type feeling... still I'll mention it.

At the same time I do realize their little nervous systems are still growing and such could be a response. I have stumbled across a couple other parenting forums with the same question and their doctors seem to say it's somewhat normal and part of the "startle" reflex they have when they are born.

[wendy1221]

It's probably just normal fetal movement. It really does feel like seizures sometimes.

[jaramirez19]

mine does it after i eat really fast. its funny because my whole stomach looks likes its vibrating for a second. i never thought about it being a seizure though. i figured he just really liked the food!

[Gypsy.Momma]

My little guy does that I have woken up quite a few times or been stopped in my track because of his movement. It really feels like he is having a seziure its weird and a bit scary. I don't remember that happening with any of my last 3 pregnancies. I have my appointment Tuesday I will ask my midwife and post on here what she says

[prothyraia]

I've felt things like that with both pregnancies. My son came out fine and seizure free, I'm sure this babe (and yours) will too

[julesinottawa]

It is possible but what you're describing doesn't sound like it to me. A friend of mine had a baby that was breech and did some kind of positioning in hopes of turning baby that led to a true seizure of some sort that resulted in CP. Doesn't really sound at all like what you're describing though, this was without question very noticeable to my friend. I think whatever the positioning was cut off the oxygen (blood flow, I guess) temporarily and is what led to the CP.

I have weird fetal movements too, like what you mention, and I don't really worry about them, just happy to feel the baby moving around.

[Bad Horse]

Mine does the same thing! ! I have no idea how she manages to move like that. i haven't worried too much about it, though, well, except briefly the other day, when I did wonder about seizures for a few minutes.

It's like watching an ocean sometimes, my stomach does crazy movements. And sometimes it is startling and kinda creepy feeling when it's under my ribs and takes me off guard.

[logies-mom]

My midwife asked me the other day if I was feeling the baby hiccup yet... I told her yes. She told me that a lot of her patients think that their babies are having a seizure, but that's what it is, hiccups. I had never heard of anybody thinking that is what was happening, but the farther along I get, the more I can understand it feeling like a "seizure." Of course it wouldn't hurt to talk to your midwife, but from what I've heard from my midwife, it's a common occurance for pregnant woman to think their baby is seizing (?) when it's actually just got the hiccups.

[Spark]

Yeah, I've felt those BIZARRE fast movements, too! Not hiccups... bizarre fast movements. Hiccups feel different!

[delightedbutterfly]

I love this site

Seriously where else can you post a wacked out question and get a bunch of different awesome answers! And support cuz we are all going through it!

Mmm hiccups... DD used to get them all the time in the womb... this baby has only had them once or twice. But this is definately different. It's not rhymic or constant like hiccups... it really is like a chill or shake that is FAR to fast to be ANY movement... hence the seizure like.. almost like the kid has an electric toothbrush in there and turns it on every so often :

But the "startle" reflex does make LOTS of sense to me. I can see how them waking up or getting startled would make them "shake" and kinda feel like a seizure.

And since they say that fetal seizures are LONGER than what I'm experiencing I'm not too concerned... I just never felt them with DD and it takes me off guard.

[veganf]

I know exactly the movement you're describing. I've felt it a few times with each pregnancy. It is weird!

[Molliejo]

I had that last time and I was *sure* something was terribly wrong with my baby. I worried over it a lot. But it turned out to be nothing. He's perfectly fine.
My midwife told me that it may have been him waking up from dreams.

[HulaJenn]

Mark me in as having the same movements! I often wondered how it was possible for him to move like that (like hands and feet at the same time...I like the reference by one PP about kung fu....lol). Seizures never crossed my mind and I am sure it is just normal movements. I figure he is just having fun playing in the water like any kid!

[bluebirdmama]

I've had something similar but not really like a vibration. The closest explanation I could give was like the baby sneezed. Similar sudenness to a hiccup but huge (baby's whole body/my whole belly shook).

[JessicaS]

I call it laughing when the baby does that.

[hippie chick]

i have been feeling a lot of the seizure type movements. i had a few in a row and was just coming on for some motherly support. i really don't remember ds doing that in the womb, but i remember after he was born, watching him sleep and he would do what hubby and i called baby freak outs. arms and legs would go in 4 different directions.
an old sorority sister had a son that had a stroke in the womb last year and since learning about it, i am more freaked out by the fact that it happened to someone i know, just more aware than anything.
i highly doubt that the movements are anything wrong, but mommas will still worry!