33 Weeks: Pineapple

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. These bones don't entirely fuse until early adulthood, so they can grow as his brain and other tissue expands during infancy and childhood. (Babycenter.com)

Nesting has set in. I surged with a new-found strength and ambition this week, and tore into the house. My desire to make room for the new baby was strong and urgent, and thus, I have been on a cleaning kick. Eliminating any object that is not useful has been exhilarating and relieving. So far, I have been doing a pretty decent job. The basement has a lot more space, and I feel a little more prepared to welcome another precious babe into the house. The thought that my due date could possibly be off by almost 2 whole weeks (which would put me at 35 weeks) is constantly looming in the back of my mind. I believe that could account for some of the urgency I've been feeling. Jared has been struck with the same urgency, (which I am so grateful for!) and we have been working together to get everything in line.

I have been feeling really good again this week! I am getting more and more uncomfortable now and it is getting somewhat difficult to move around a lot. It is especially difficult to get up off the floor, bend down to pick up Sophia, and turn over in bed. I am constantly letting out a little "oof" under my breath, without meaning to.

Poppy is a mover. Sophia is also a mover. I am going to have my hands FULL. Poppy is in constant motion, riddling my belly with kicks and squirms all day long. It is reassuring and wonderful to feel my baby move inside of me. I love every moment.

I must admit I am getting nervous about what the next few weeks are going to bring. Not the baby, just what it takes to get the baby here.

Labor.

This time I know what to expect. I know how much pain is coming my way. I am HOPING this knowledge helps me through labor, rather than makes me more scared of it. I like to think of it this way... You now how when you are going somewhere for the first time and you don't know the way, it always seems to take longer than the next time you go, and the path is familiar? I am really hoping that is what labor is like. Now that I know what to expect, I hope it seems shorter and a little easier than last time. I can feel my body preparing for it already. I have been getting several (8-10) braxton hicks contractions per day.