33 weeks

"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."

We went to Kentucky this weekend for my cousin's wedding. We had a great time, but it was rough on me. On top of feeling huge, being on my feet so much caused a lot of swelling. The dressy black boots I wore didn't help either - my legs looked like sausages. Still, I was very glad that we were able to go! Luke enjoyed the ceremony and reception - specifically the music. He was jamming away in there. It was also probably pretty entertaining for everyone else to watch the pregnant woman dance. :)

The worst part was that while we were there I started to have a pain in my abdomen, just to the right of center, about halfway between the belly button and breasts. It sort of felt like a bruise just under the skin at first and now feels like a muscle is torn. It hurts to touch, the top of the skin sort of hurt, and as the day went on it became painful when I moved or just sat there. If I felt full from eating/drinking it hurt. Anytime Luke moves and presses in that area it hurts, and if I sneeze or cough I feel like someone is trying to rip my insides open. As it was getting worse, not better they checked it out yesterday to make sure it wasn't anything with the placenta or galbladder. We're confident that it is just the rectus abdominus muscle. In pregnancy it sometimes can split (called diastasis reci) and while I don't think it's typically painful, for whatever reason it's awful for me. It doesn't help that it's exactly where his butt is, and anytime he shifts (I swear, the kid just cannot get comfortable) it irritates it ever more. Basically by the end of the day I'm near tears. Laying down is the only thing that really helps - in fact, by morning it doesn't hurt at all! So anyways, I'm just hoping it starts to feel better soon. I don't put this on here to complain, but more so that I remember. This blog has become my journal of the pregnancy and this seemed worth mentioning.

So that this isn't a completely downer post - here is a picture of his foot from the appt (toes at the top, heel at the bottom.)

Also, in case anyone is wondering, his head is down on the right, with his back curved around to the left and his butt sort of in the middle where it's painful, and then his legs/feet tend to move. Sometimes they are curved around enough to be in front of his face. Other times he somehow stretches to have some part of his legs/feet poking up in the ribs

How far along: 33 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: +26.8
Maternity clothes: yes, although I felt like such a cow this weekend in them.
Stretch marks: I still don't see them, but my mom saw my belly the other day and said they are there.
Sleep: Yes please
Best moment this week: Feeling Luke jam along to the music at the wedding reception.
Movement: He doesn't so much kick/punch anymore - it's more of a roll as he adjusts his position. He specifically likes to stick his butt out.
Food cravings: Um, anything sweet?
Gender: Boy!!!
Labor Signs: Nada
Belly Button in or out: Outie
What I miss: Wearing my wedding badn
What I am looking forward to: Several things! Our first baby class is on Thursday evening and then I have another baby shower on Saturday!

And I'll leave you with a funny thing that Jason said. He was emailing back and forth with an old coworker, talking about the joys of being a parent. She was telling Jason to just wait, he'll get to experience all sorts of "fun" things too. Jason's response? "Luke will be the perfect angel baby who will never do anything but smile and fart rainbows. Don't you bad mouth my baby!" I thought it was so funny and snorted out my hot chocolate when I read that.