Maternal Instinct

I'm now almost 16 weeks pregnant and still can't quite believe there is an actual baby growing in my belly. Since I haven't had any symptoms it took a while for me to really believe it. At this point though, I've seen the baby in two ultrasounds and can see that my belly is definitely growing. I think I'm finally starting to actually look pregnant but for a while it just seemed like my every-day gut was sticking out and I couldn't suck it in any more. Basically I looked more like I just didn't care anymore than that I was housing a growing fetus. During that period I started to develop a habit that I think every pregnant woman has, but that I didn't realize might not mean what I always thought it meant. I started constantly putting a hand on my belly- rubbing it, and resting my palm upon it in what might seem like a protective or loving manner. In reality I was mostly just concerned with making it obvious that I was pregnant and not just sloppily fat. I'm sure that once the ol' bump becomes more pronounced I'll continue this habit, but hopefully with a more appropriate motivation behind it.