33 Weeks!!

How your baby's growing:

This week your baby weighs a little over 4 pounds (heft a pineapple) and has passed the 17-inch mark. He's rapidly losing that wrinkled, alien look and his skeleton is hardening. The bones in his skull aren't fused together, which allows them to move and slightly overlap, thus making it easier for him to fit through the birth canal. (The pressure on the head during birth is so intense that many babies are born with a conehead-like appearance.) These bones don't entirely fuse until early adulthood, so they can grow as his brain and other tissue expands during infancy and childhood.

How your life's changing:

As your baby fills out even more of your belly, lots of things might start to change: Whereas before you were sashaying, you may find yourself waddling. Finding an easy position to sit in — let alone sleep — is becoming more of a challenge. And bumping into chairs and counters is par for the course.

You may be feeling some achiness and even numbness in your fingers, wrists, and hands. Like many other tissues in your body, those in your wrist can retain fluid, which can increase pressure in the carpal tunnel, a bony canal in your wrist. Nerves that run through this "tunnel" may end up pinched, creating numbness; tingling, shooting or burning pain; or a dull ache. Try wearing a splint to stabilize your wrist or propping your arm up with a pillow when you sleep. If your work requires repetitive hand movements (at a keyboard or on an assembly line, for instance), remember to stretch your hands when you take breaks — which should be frequently.

33 weeks and still feeling pretty good! I remember when we first planned this vacation and I saw that I'd be 33 weeks when we left. I was thinking, "Am I even going to be able to do this?? Will I be feeling ok??" and I'm thankful to say, I still feel pretty good! I know that going on a vacation will be tough and I'll be exhausted I'm sure, but I'm happy to be feeling good at the start.

I definitely bump into things a LOT, but luckily no damage yet! I honestly still forget that I'm pregnant sometimes. I guess not forget that I'm pregnant but forget that I'm 33 weeks pregnant. I think I can squeeze by tables and chairs and I can't. I think that I can run up the stairs, two at a time, and then get winded about halfway up. I forget that I should slow down and relax more because our lives are about to get flipped over!

I'm not sleeping very well these days. It's not just the getting up to go to the bathroom but I have restless leg syndrome SO BADLY right now. I feel like my legs are tingly and I have to get up and stretch. I don't know how to make this go away but it's been bad so far. Hopefully I can start to get better sleep soon.

It's crazy to think that we only have a few more weeks to go. In about 6 weeks, we'll have a daughter. A new baby girl. I'm so excited and scared all at the same time. More excited than scared though. :)

We still have a lot to buy/get ready before this new bundle comes. Hopefully after this vacation, we can really start to get this stuff done. I want to have everything ready by the first week of March. That's my goal anyway! We'll see how that works out.

Happy 33 weeks Annabelle!