And now a pineapple!

17.2 to 18.7 in, 4.2 to 5.8 lb

33 weeks: Baby weighs as much as a pineapple

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. These bones don't entirely fuse until early adulthood, so they can grow as his brain and other tissue expands during infancy and childhood.

Baby may grow up to a full inch this week alone, and his brain is developing like crazy. Pretty soon, he'll be able to coordinate breathing with sucking and swallowing. Also, his bones are hardening, and he's started to keep his eyes open when he's awake.


So time is winding down.  I can't believe I only have something like 47 days left- amazing!!  Our little Owen is a busy bee, kicking me like a ninja.  Seriously last night he was kicking my stomach so hard, even Scott was able to see it jump and spasm from the other end of the couch.  I was so happy Scott could finally see with his own eyes how active Owen has become.  Speaking of last night, I had a little bit of a scare.  I dozed off while reading and was awoken about 3:50 p.m. with some cramping.  My first thought was that it was just some round ligament pain from turning a particular way. Well about 4 minutes later I got it again, only this time I could tell that it was clearly a Braxton Hicks contraction.  These are also called "false labor" because they don't necessarily mean I am in actual labor, it is just my uterus preparing itself for the coming birth down the road.  No real big deal until I got another 4 minutes later and then another and then another and another..... I was getting very regular, very strong BH, not painful necessarily... just intense.  And 3-4 minutes apart for a good solid 45 minutes.  From what I read you shouldn't get more then 4 in an hour and I had already far surpassed this.  I spoke with my friend who is a Doula, and she advised me to drink a bunch of water and then lay down on my right side.  If the contractions don't stop after that I need to call my doctor.

So I drank a ton of water and let myself relax.  The contractions didn't go away completely, but they did slow down.  I was only getting one here and another about 30 minutes later and then again an hour after that.  By about 8:00 they were done.  This morning Jackson and I went to the mall so he could run around some in the play yard.  Once I was walking a bit I got two more BH, but so far that is all.  I have my appointment with my doctor on Wednesday morning, so I will bring it up to her then.  I am hoping that all of this is just due to a bit of dehydration.  I have upped my water intake and am trying to make myself rest (a little hard to do with a 3 1/2 year old!) more often.  Fingers crossed and I will keep you all posted!