Week 33

**First off…please forgive any out of focus pictures.  Hubby hasn’t quite learned how to use the new camera yet.  🙂

How Far Along:  33 weeks

Size of Baby:  This week your baby weighs a little over 4 pounds (heft a pineapple) and has passed the 17-inch mark.

Total Weight Gain/Loss:  Gained approximately 32 pounds so far.  My OB from last week’s appointment said I’m right on track!  Of course Halloween is right around the corner and if hubby and I keep eating these I may not stay on track very much longer!

Maternity Clothes:  Last week I said I was mostly in maternity clothes as I had been for the past few months.  Today, I discovered a lot of my sweaters from a few years ago (when I was slightly bigger than I like to be) fit my pregnant belly!  Yay!  (I’m wearing one of those sweaters in the pictures for this week.)  I have found I don’t really like many of my maternity clothes anymore and I’m not quite sure why.  I’m ready to wear normal clothes again!

Gender:  A little boy

Movement:  Tons and tons.  He has gone from making the “muscle twitch” movements from early on to full body somersaults!  Sometimes I really do feel like he’s rolling around in there literally.  (I just pictured the crocodile scene from “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” where the crocodiles are eating the bad guy at the end and rolling his body over and over.  That’s just creepy.)

Food Cravings:  I was just talking about this today.  I don’t know if I’m having pregnancy food cravings as much as general food cravings.  Let me explain.  Jeff always makes fun of me because if I’m watching TV and certain foods come on, I automatically start craving those items.  I am definitely advertisers’ target market during the dinner hour.  I’m the one calling Papa John’s after I see their pizza commercial around 6:30p.  Anyhow, I was watching this show called “Top Secret Recipe” on CMT today and the host was trying to decipher Outback’s Bloomin’ Onion recipe.  Ever since about 11A today I have wanted a bloomin’ onion.  So, you see, I don’t think this is really due to pregnancy…just my mental state.

What I Miss:  Feeling normal.  When I walk, I feel like I waddle.  When I get out of bed, I basically have to roll out.  When I climb stairs, I have to stop and catch my breath at the top.  When I walk for long periods of time (like at work), my abdomen feels a little painful.  I’m ready to sleep any way I want (when I can) and I’m ready to not cry over the stupidest things.

Sleep:  As much as I complained in the paragraph above, honestly I’m sleeping better than a lot of other preggo ladies out there, from what I can deduce.  Some nights I get up to pee 3 or 4 times, but honestly, I usually only get up once between 2:30 and 3:30a.  I go to the bathroom before bed, then during those hours, then again when I wake up.  Only if I had a lot of water right before bed do I go more than that.  I think it’s strange (but normal if that makes sense) that I get up around the same time every night!

Symptoms:  Two symptoms have really stood out in the past week:  itchiness and dull aches.  I touched on the itchiness a little bit in my last post.  It’s very strange.  Have you ever had a bug bite you just can’t quit scratching?  That’s how my skin feels.  Certain parts on my body start itching like crazy and, try as I might, I just can’t help but scratch them!  I have tried moisturizer, which helps a little bit, but really I usually just have to grit my teeth and ride it out.  Right now, my left hand and my left side itch.  When I mentioned it to my doctor, she said it was normal, but if it got much worse to let them know.  Apparently there is a liver condition called “intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy” that is a backup of bile in your body.  It causes your skin to itch like crazy and can be potentially harmful to the baby.  I am keeping an eye on things and have been instructed to call the doctor if it gets worse.

Tyler wants to show his belly too…

Best Moment This Week:  Finding an OB I love!  Now, this may sound like an insignificant thing to some people, but to me it’s fabulous!  I have had not so great luck with OBs in the past, so finding someone I really feel comfortable with is such a bonus!  I have heard a lot of great things about her so when I finally got an appointment with her I was over the moon excited.  She lived up to all the expectations I had of her.  I could tell she really loves her job, which is a great thing to feel.  Of course, I’m not guaranteed to have her as my delivery doctor, but at least she’ll be my OB for the rest of my appointments.

Another thing I loved about this week was receiving and putting together the stroller and car seat!  Jeff and I put them together on Saturday and then yesterday we installed the car seat in my car.  We still have to get a mat for the car since I have leather seats and then get it checked by a professional though.

What I Am Looking Forward To:  The baby shower this weekend!  I’m so excited to see everybody!  I, being the foodie person I am, will be making the food for the party.  I honestly love to entertain, so making the food doesn’t feel like a chore at all.  I have spent the last two days cleaning here and there to get the house sparkling for this weekend.  Of course, cleaning so early means I’ll just have to go back and clean again on Saturday morning.  Oh well.  At least I’ll have help.  Thanks, Mom!

Any Fun Gifts/Purchases Received/Made:  I talked about this already but my mom sent the Travel System (stroller & car seat) this week.  I also exchanged the curtains out for the right size.  I had mistakenly purchased 65″ ones instead of 84″ ones.

I can’t believe I’m 33 (well, nearly 34 now) weeks along.  I think in no time I’ll be posting Peanut’s birth story on here!  I can’t believe Jeff and I are going to be parents.  It still feels surreal…