Baby Update: Week 33

Baby:  The big news of the week has been that Thor has flipped!!  He is no longer feet-down, but is now head-down and ready to go.  Baby is now about 4 1/2 pounds and up to 19 inches long.  With his size, he is starting to get cramped, and so his moves and kicks are becoming increasingly more pronounced (and painful!).  Antibodies being created by Mom are being passed on to baby to keep him healthy when he arrives in the world.  

Baby and I had a checkup last week, and the baby/I am now measuring at 35 cm, about 2 cm larger than I should be.  I asked the doctor if that means I can go two weeks early, and she just laughed.....

Mom and Dad:  Mitch and I attended our childbirth class on Saturday, which was the first of two classes we will take together.  (This is the only one that deals with the actual birth - the other one talks about what to do once the baby comes home.)  We were both excited to learn what we were in for, and we did indeed learn a lot!  Mitch became squeamish once during the childbirthing video (which is quite impressive, as I had anticipated him to be much worse), and I was squeamish during the epidural video (while the thought of childbirth is scary, that needle (and the rare, but possible side effects is scarier to me).  The most informative parts of the class were the timing of the contractions and when it indeed is time to go to the hospital, and the breathing techniques that we practiced.  While I feel prepared as to what is exactly going to happen, I haven't quite connected it to the fact that I actually have to go through it all!  Maybe I should have thought about this a little more before we got ourselves in this predicament....

We had a beautiful final shower this past weekend, and now our house looks like a baby tornado has gone through it.  We have done a lot of washing and folding and organizing, and we're hoping to have the nursery completely done and ready in two weeks.  Hopefully.

Here is my 33-week photo:

 

I feel like a giant, and women at the grocery store and Target have given me sympathetic "Oh, you poor thing!" comments when I tell them when I'm due.  They really make you feel good about yourself.  To make myself feel even larger, I thought I'd post a picture with this same shirt on, taken at the beginning of April - 

Not only is this shirt extremely faded, but it is stretched (almost) to the max.  I used to like this shirt, but I'm so sick of wearing it.  I'm ready for regular clothes again......with the exception of those pregnancy pants.  I can get used to elastic for life.