33 Weeks

Your baby now weighs about 4.4 pounds and measures about 17.8 inches. Baby will gain one third to one half of their weight during the final weeks of your pregnancy. The amniotic fluid is now at it’s highest level and will stay at this level until your delivery. Your little one may have now settled into the head down position; however, some babies do not do this until later in pregnancy.

The baby’s skull is not joined and is very pliable. The brain is rapidly growing now and increasing in size. Fat is rapidly accumulating and changing the color of your baby’s skin from red to pink, the skin appears less wrinkly as they continue to accumulate this white fat.

Because your baby is rapidly gaining white fat and weight at this point you may be gaining weight more rapidly than in the past as well. Continue to eat right and exercise as you can to help your baby grow and develop at a normal pace. Now may be the time to decide if you will circumcise your little boy after his birth. Continue to plan the details of your baby’s arrival including your birth plan the details of the nursery for when they come home.

Can you believe how much weight this baby will put on before he or she is born?

The nursery, AKA our room, doesn't need much work. I will wash and organize all of my marvellous new diapers. I will wash up a few newborn outfits, gender neutral and maybe a couple of each gender specific. I've asked my Mom if she would wash up the whole bin of appropriate clothing after baby arrives. We will pull out the change table, Amby Baby and set up the playpen with bassinet. I don't expect to use the crib for quite some time. I'll do most of that stuff in about a month. Most of it. The diapers I will do very soon, because I am SO EXCITED about them!

Regarding circumcision, if we have a boy he will remain intact. Check out this quite comprehensive blog post on the topic.

I am feeling good! Any complaints I have are fleeting- like yesterday while we were grocery shopping my hips were sore. By later in the day that wasn't a problem. Last night I had restless legs but after I got up and had a glass of water they settled down.

Emotionally I'm feeling good as well. I have had peace about this baby for quite some time now and I am grateful. Every once in a while I find myself considering getting stressed about potential undesirable situations (like breech baby) but I have been able to give those thoughts and the future over to God and regain my peace.

It's kind of entertaining to guess what position the baby is in... Lately there have been hiccups almost every day and mostly they are down low so I think baby is usually head down, but not always. There still seems to be quite a bit of room in there because I can feel big movements from time to time.

I think we may have settled on a girls name- first and middle- and there is one boy middle name that we agree on. But we're still at a loss for a boy first name.

Micah tells my belly, "I love you baby!" many times a day. When he feels sad he likes to hug my belly. He likes it best when it's uncovered so people occasionally get a glimpse of its full glory when Micah is sad in public.

I know seven weeks is going to pass quickly! I am consciously enjoying and appreciating the current status of our family. It will be forever different once there are five of us. This is a wonderful time of anticipation for all of us.