33 Weeks

From Baby Center:

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.

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.

Note from Jen:

Whew! I am tired. Probably because I thought this would be my last week of work, but I ended up telling them I'd work a bit more after we got back from our trip to Yosemite next week.

By the end of the day at work I am pretty tired... swollen feel, achy back, normal pregnancy stuff. Overall, it isn't that bad though. I have been very lucky.

On Friday I went in to see the midwife and found out that if Van doesn't decide to turn soon out of this breech position, my only option is a C-section. I looked up a bunch of ways to try to turn him and have been trying pretty much every single one... laying on an ironing board (hips and feet above my head), flashlight on the tummy, ice pack on the top of the tummy, and acupressure points that included putting clips on my pinky toes! LOL! I go in to see the doctor the Monday we get back into town. If she doesn't have good news for me, I'm off to see a chiropractor, acupuncturist or even a witch doctor to get him to turn :)

I also found out that my doctor is probably going to be on vacation when I am due, so hopefully I will be able to find out who might be delivering this little guy so I can get to know her a bit before the big event.

Last week we also went on a hospital tour. It went really well and the rooms are amazing. They seem to be as comfortable as you can get for a hospital room and it will be nice to have all that space and not have to share a room. Here is the online tour of the birthing suite if you want to check it out- http://www.sharp.com/virtual-tours/grossmont-birthing-suite.cfm

For the last week or so I have been having Braxton Hicks contractions on and off. For me they seem to be basically sharp stabbing pains that squeeze by stomach and last a few seconds. Thursday night I had an upset stomach, cramping and contractions all night and ended up calling in sick on Friday. After my doctor's appointment that afternoon, I felt much better and drove up to surprise Mom for her 50th birthday! We ended up having a great weekend and it was good to relax and spend time with Mom, Dad, Jamie & Jeffrey (David and Kenny both worked all weekend).

They all got in on the action of trying to help Van decide to turn. This picture isn't the most flattering, but it makes me laugh. Here is Jeffrey trying to help his cousin...