Today marks the beginning of my 33rd week. A full-term pregnancy is 37 completed weeks. It's insane to think that in 5 short weeks, delivery will be fair game. Where did the time go?! As Zoe's birth draws closer, I'm starting to have "new mom" fears. Will I be a good mom? Will I enjoy being a mom? Will I still find time to enjoy lunch, dinner or a spa outing with a good friend? Will Trevor and I figure out a way to stay connected as a couple? How will I strike the infamous "work/life balance"? And the list goes on. Being a Type A personality, I wish I could figure out answers and solutions to all of these questions in advance, but I can't. I'll just have to do what every other mother does....take it one day/one moment at a time. That drives me crazy! But I wouldn't trade any of this for the world. I truly cannot wait to be Zoe's mommy!
As far as pregnancy symptoms are concerned, it's still more of the same. Lots of acid reflux/heartburn, back aches abound, and I'm still having minor hand and foot swelling. I'm also officially experiencing Braxton Hicks contractions. In addition, I can't seem to eat anything these days without dropping food on my chest or belly. What's up with that?! This year Trevor and I started a tradition of giving one another a gag gift for Christmas. His gag gift to me? A set of bibs! Too funny! I hope I don't jinx myself, but I haven't had a nosebleed in awhile. YAY! Oh, and now I wake myself up with my snoring. LOL. My weight gain is still good. As of today, I'm up 13 lbs. from my pre-preggers weight.
Zoe this week: she is losing that wrinkled, alien look and her skeleton is hardening. The bones in her skull aren't fused together just yet because they will need to move and slightly overlap to get her through the birth canal. Even after birth, they won't fuse until early adulthood so they can grow as Zoe's brain and other tissue expands during infancy and childhood. Zoe is developing her own immune system so that she will be able to protect herself, with help from some antibodies from me, from mild infections. She's also acting more and more like a baby by closing her eyes when she's sleep and opening them while she's awake. Awww.... The level of amniotic fluid in my uterus has reached it maximum this week, so there's more Zoe than fluid now. That explains all of the thumping and bumping I'm feeling. Between now and Zoe's birth, she can gain a third more weight or even double (yikes!) her weight, and depending on her current height, she can grow a full inch more this week alone. Wow!
Zoe is anywhere between 17 to 19 inches in length, and she weighs approximately 4.5 lbs. (about the weight of a pineapple ~ yum, mommy's favorite fruit):
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