33 weeks, but who's counting? (I totally am, at this point!)

33 weeks

"How your baby's growing:
This week your baby weighs a little over 4 pounds (heft a pineapple) and has passed the 17-inch mark. She's rapidly losing that wrinkled, alien look and her skeleton is hardening. The bones in her 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."

I know that fellow pregnants Kate, Kitty and Lan are ready to go. Meaning:
For Kate, her due date is today! They've had their birthing pool up for weeks. She spent yesterday on the couch, in a bikini, eating fruit (it was hot in Oakland!)

For Kitty (due late July) "ready" means she and Abel finished the nursery this week, had a shower today, and got their final sono this week.

For Lan (due late July/early Aug) "ready" was yesterday, when she and Michael purchased the remaining birth goodies, ordered the birthing kit, and got all the necessities organized into bags, just like the midwives want it.

This week we'll get our goodies together, order the pool, ordered the birthing kit (yesterday!) and send out our final list of needs to friends/family who wanted to "get whatever is still needed."

"Ready?" Us? No. Not yet. But I plan to be good to go for week 36.

Back to the website's wisdom:

"How your life's changing:
As your baby fills out even more of your belly, lots of things might start to change: Whereas before you were sashaying, you may find yourself waddling. Finding an easy position to sit in — let alone sleep — is becoming more of a challenge. And bumping into chairs and counters is par for the course.

"You may be feeling some achiness and even numbness in your fingers, wrists, and hands. Like many other tissues in your body, those in your wrist can retain fluid, which can increase pressure in the carpal tunnel, a bony canal in your wrist. Nerves that run through this "tunnel" may end up pinched, creating numbness; tingling, shooting or burning pain; or a dull ache. Try wearing a splint to stabilize your wrist or propping your arm up with a pillow when you sleep. If your work requires repetitive hand movements (at a keyboard or on an assembly line, for instance), remember to stretch your hands when you take breaks — which should be frequently.

"Many women are still feeling sexy at this stage — and their partners often agree. You may need to make some adjustments, but for most women, sex during pregnancy is fine right up until their water breaks or their labor starts."

Achiness: Only after a hike or a long day out and about
Sex: Yes, please, thank you. Ross gave me a naughty book (The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty) for my birthday. I read a few pages. Bathed. Made Ross bathe and... let's just say that a while later Ross vowed to buy me the rest of the series.