Thirty Three Weeks

What Baby is Doing:

Quick study
"All of my senses are working now!" Your baby's brain is still developing rapidly as her five senses get ready for the world outside the womb. At this point, she can see the liquid world around her; feel sensation when she grabs a toe or sucks on a finger; taste the amniotic fluid she's swallowing; and hear your heartbeat, your voice, and the grumble of your stomach. Of course, there's no air in the amniotic sac to carry scent, but if there were, she could also smell her environment.

Head most
Because of tremendous brain growth, your baby's head circumference has increased by nearly half an inch just this week.

What Mommy is Doing:

Scaling up
You should be gaining weight too—about a pound a week. You'll continue to put on pounds until just before delivery. Don't try to slow your weight gain even if you weigh more than you'd hoped. Your baby needs the extra pounds right now. There's plenty of time to lose weight after he's born.

Dawn’s Notes:

LEG CRAMPS!
I awoke to an excruciating leg cramp last night and was unsuccessful in hiding my pain from Chris. He was frantic at first and I can only imagine what his thoughts were when he realized that I was in pain. He massaged my leg and helped me limp to the toilet, so he is my hero.

Feel the Burn

I must admit, as much as I will miss being pregnant, I have found two pregnancy symptoms that I will not miss:

1. Heartburn

2. Hot Flashes

I really shouldn’t complain about the heartburn since it’s usually only a problem when I don’t eat often enough. Eating always seems to solve the problem, so it’s not so bad.

I really can complain about the hot flashes, though. I am ordinarily a freeze baby, but I am burning up lately. Do you know how hard it is to be graceful at work when you have sweat dripping off your face? Thank goodness it is the middle of winter.

I also find myself ripping my clothes off in the middle of the night. I’d do it during the day, too, but it’s not socially acceptable in our culture.

I was starting to get worried, so I asked my doctor if it was normal during our last prenatal visit. Fortunately, I started having a hot flash at that very moment and my doctor had a good laugh because my entire body turned bright red. Chris didn’t believe it until he felt the sweat dripping down my back.

It will be nice to sleep with my socks on again.

Countdown

I have so many feelings regarding the impending birth of our Baby Squirt.

I’m really going to miss having my baby growing inside of me. I’ve loved being pregnant. Every day is a miracle and the sensation of feeling your baby move inside of you is indescribable.

I’m so happy for Chris because he will finally get to hold this baby all by himself. Chris and Squirt have secret meetings in the middle of the night while I am asleep. I’ve woken several times in the middle of the night to find Chris exploring my belly and Baby Squirt bouncing around for Daddy. For some reason, Squirt settles down whenever Daddy rubs my belly during the day, but the baby likes to entertain Daddy at night.

I can’t wait for the hotflashes to be over!

I can’t wait to use all of our adorable baby clothes!

I can’t wait to start taking pictures!

I’m intimidated by the thought of caring for a baby and working a full-time job and keeping our house organized and preparing my Sunday school lessons and volunteering at church and grocery shopping and finding time to talk to my husband. It must be possible!

I’m looking forward to breastfeeding. Although it’s intimidating, I’m glad I’ll still have one way to keep my little baby close to me.

Those are all of my thoughts for today!