7 Jan 2004 - 5:39pm - 33 Weeks Along!

By this week, your baby will weigh about 4 1/4 pounds and be approximately 17 inches long. He's also probably head-down in your uterus — though he may continue to change positions — and his skull bones are still pliable to help him ease through the birth canal. (Of course giving birth won't be easy by any means, but it's worth it — you'll see!)

Your doctor or midwife will be paying careful attention to your baby's position in the coming weeks — some babies do decide to turn back around.

Your baby's skull is still quite pliable and not completely joined, in part so he can ease out of the relatively narrow birth canal. But the bones in the rest of his body are hardening. Your baby's skin is also gradually becoming less red and wrinkled.

If you're a first-time mother, your child's head may move into the pelvis this week and press firmly against your cervix. (This happens for about half of all first-time mothers.) If you're a second-time mom, you can expect this to happen a week before labor — and for some this won't happen until the advanced stages of labor.

You may notice that your feet and ankles are quite swollen toward the end of the day. Water retention, also known as edema, is often worse in warm weather and late in the day. Surprisingly, keeping hydrated helps reduce water retention. Your body — particularly your kidneys — and your baby need plenty of fluids, so drink up. If you suddenly feel swollen or puffy in your hands or face, however, call your doctor — it may be a sign of preeclampsia.

At long last, you finally fall asleep, only to wake with leg cramps. Ouch! But there's no need to suffer night after night. Try these tips to help eliminate cramps:
* Exercise helps! Get out and walk during your lunch hour.
* Do not stand in the same position for a long period.
* Increase your calcium intake through diet or supplements.
* When lying down, keep your legs a bit elevated.
* When a cramp comes on, flex your toes upward to relieve the spasm and use your hands to apply pressure to the affected muscle.

Dads, your partner isn't the only one who's going to need to bring a bag to the hospital. Besides toiletries and a change of clothes, you may also want to bring something to read, the camcorder, and even a bathing suit (yes, really - if your partner decides to take a shower or bath, you may want to join her).

So I'm 33 weeks along now. Only 7 more to go. The end is looming ever closer, though sometimes it feels so very distant. Our little one continues to be active, sometimes kicking or punching or moving enough to clearly hurt quite a bit. I often feel sore from such, which added to the sore back and abdomen makes for a constant state of achiness. Most days I deal with it fine. Indeed, for all I might comment on it, I've really had a very good pregnancy, and as much as it is aggravating at times to be in a constant state of some level of discomfort or pain, it really could be ever so much worse... and there is always our baby moving within me to remind me why it is all so very worth it.

I cannot describe the wonder of it, try as I might ever week I update this. Or how much I already love this life growing within me. We already have quite the relationship going, and I amuse John all the time by the conversations I carry on with the baby. Then again, he amuses me when he sits there talking to my tummy, holding his own conversations with the baby.

I am not sleeping well at all these days, and sometimes it feels like I'm barely sleeping even when I do. I've always been a light sleeper, but "light" just doesn't cover it these days... it feels sometimes a part of me is conscious and aware, even when dreaming. While I understand the scientific reasons behind this, it makes me somewhat grumpy in the mornings. I miss sleeping. I really do.

I am also becoming less mobile and flexible as the days pass. The baby is getting quite big, and so bending is becoming less and less of an option. It's very hard to find a comfortable position, be it sleeping or sitting, though that's not to say I'm always in acute discomfort... just that there's this big baby belly that gets in the way of everything. ;)

I also get heartburn and acid reflux occassionally, though not badly enough to drive me insane... just enough to be annoying at times. But with stomach up in my ribs these days, it's a common enough pregnancy symptom. At our childbirth class, though should internal diagrams of the mother's organs and where they get shoved as the baby gets bigger. Amazing that everything still works fine with so few problems, really! :)

Though admittedly I still have plenty of time, I'm becoming a bit frantic these days to get everything done before our little one arrives. I feel like there are a million things I need to do, or want to do, and that there's never enough time to do it all... especially as I am so exhausted when I get home in the evenings. I am restless whenever I am idle, and I feel a burning desire to redo the baby's room or set things up or go through all the baby stuff... even though, at present, there is nothing else I need or can do, and I've gone through everything in there a million times over. Now I just have to wait for the Family Baby Shower and then purchase what we don't get.

I feel as well a desire to LARP, but I know that's still some time away yet. ;)

I am terribly impatient at times, wanting very much to bring our little baby home and hold him/her in my arms. And as eager as I am, I am also terribly anxious over being a good mother and all of the life changes that will occur... are occuring. Which I suppose is silly, because I don't think those I care for will drop off the face of the planet after the baby is born, and everyone assures me that we will make great parents. But I guess it is just in my nature to worry. I suppose I should be more concerned if I were not worrying.

I do feel like a weeble these days, wobbling my way around everywhere I go. It will be nice to be able to hug people again without having to roll over my tummy to do so!

The baby currently has a foot up in my ribcage again. Ah, I cannot wait for him/her to drop! Perhaps the sore ribs will stop then.

Bitsyboo sent us a little blurb on the Year of the Monkey, so I think I will end this entry with the first "fortune" for our child: "The Monkey is the ninth animal in the Chinese horoscope. People born in the Year of Monkey (1920, 1932, 1944, 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004) are clever and skillful. They are inventive and original and can solve the most difficult problems with ease. They want to do things now, and if they cannot get started immediately, they become discouraged and sometimes leave their projects. Although good at making decisions, they tend to look down on others. Monkeys are very sociable people. They can forgive, but never forget and can be revengeful if somebody hurts them. As a partner, Monkeys are reliable and cheerful. They are most compatible with the Dragon and the Rat. Your lucky colors are green, yellow and brown. Your lucky numbers are 2 and 8."