Week 33

What? Seriously? I've been so focused on our family events and preparing to start working in a new district that I keep finding myself surprised when I get my BabyCenter emails. A couple months ago I was going stir crazy, wishing I was farther along; that the baby was already here. Now I'm really content. I'm sure that will change as her due date gets even closer, and I know going back to work is going to be physically challenging. Inservice and orientation hasn't been too bad, as a large portion of it is meetings and I am able to stay off my feet. I asked my doc about all the pelvic pain I've been having. I had a little at the end with Gracie, but not this early, and not this intense. He explained that a woman's pelvic bone is actually two bones that butt up against each other and when pregnant, the pressure can make those bone seperate up to a half inch. No wonder it hurts to stand, walk, move. . . It's also been causing a lot of lower back pain. These pains are my concern with starting work, I try to circulate around my classroom and not sit while kids are in my room but I'm afraid that may not be feasible until after the baby is born.

BabyCenter Says:

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.