What exactly is a fetal movement?
Fetal movements were discovered 70 years ago. They are the movements that every normal, healthy fetus incorporates as part of its development. They are all homolateral in pattern, which means that the left hemisphere of the brain and right hemisphere of the brain operate separately. The visual pattern that you observe is the right arm and the right leg moving together or the left arm and the left leg moving together. Homolateral patterns are the precursors to heterolateral patterns. The visual pattern that you observe is the right arm moving with the left leg and the left arm moving with the right leg. This is also known as a cross crawl pattern. In this instance, there is complete communication between the left hemisphere of the brain and the right hemisphere of the brain. Heterolateral or cross-crawl patterning occurs soon after birth. Unless the homolateral fetal movements are fully developed, then normal heterolateral cross-crawl patterning will be compromised. This compromise can
