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 are you feeling: After breezing through the first 32 weeks, I finally have been having my first real negative experiences of this pregnancy, and they have come in the form of lower back and upper leg pain that happens basically anytime I walk. It started as shooting pains that really hurt badly, but now that I have adopted a limping gait and try to reduce the amount of walking I do to the bare minimum, it has mellowed down to a dull ache. I am going to a physiotherapist on Tuesday to find out if there's anything I can do to regain my mobility. I do not like the thought of sitting on my butt for the next 7 weeks!

Other than that, I am feeling good and very excited about the upcoming birth of our baby. I just can't wait to meet him. He is kicking a lot more now, my stomach gets very alien-like with bulges and very visible movement in there. Sometimes he kicks a little foot out and just keeps it stuck out there, I will rub it and gently push back, I wonder if he feels it?

Are you doing an all-natural birth or what: I would definitely prefer to go all-natural if possible, I like the idea of seeing what this labor thing is like and completely experiencing it. BUT from what I have heard, the pain can be quite intense and I think there may come a point in the labor where I will have experienced enough of it and be ready for some pain relief, which is okay with me too.

I am reading a book about the Bradley Method of natural birth which basically asks you to tap into primal instincts and completely relax through each contraction, which I will try to put into use on the labor day to see if that helps any. I have heard hypno-birthing can help, I might try reading a book on that next. 

Are you setting up the baby's room: Working on it (slowly). We bought a crib and changing table this week, so that takes care of the big stuff we will need. We decided we will try co-sleeping (in the same room, not same bed) at first so we are going to get the baby set up in our room to start with, and keep the second bedroom as a guest room until we transition it to eventually become the baby's room.

Exercise: Since I can't walk like I used to, I have started going swimming one time a week and going to prenatal yoga two times a week. I hope that will be enough to be fit for the birth of the baby. 

Clothes: Summer finally came to Vancouver this week (about time!) and I am realizing I need more summer maternity clothes! I had been wearing a lot of non-maternity shirts that are reaching the end of their usability. I plan to do some shopping for those tomorrow.

OK I think that's it, have a good week everyone!

Mona

UPDATE: Ok so I went to the Physiotherapist, she watched me do some movements and said I wasn't using my lower abdominals to stabilize myself properly, that's what was causing the pain. SO she showed me some exercises designed to show me how to use them better, even after just one day the pain is MUCH MUCH better! I am so happy!