Bump Watch: 33 Weeks

Last night at small group, one of the guys noted that our baby will be born "next month." I'm not sure how I hadn't realized that before, but it's true -- Eggi is due at the end of January, which is in fact next month. It was one of those moments of clarity that hit me every once in a while during this pregnancy -- the baby's going to be born soon! And he's going to be a real baby! With his own mind and volition and wants and needs and fears and hopes and...

Wow. It's incredibly exciting to look forward to having a baby, but it can also be overwhelming to think about what it means to become a parent... Please keep praying for us in these last few weeks as we try to prepare as much as we can!

And on to the real reason why you clicked through to this blog post -- our 33-week bump watch photo!


Slowly getting bigger and bigger... :) And Eggi is definitely getting a lot stronger. I mentioned this last week, but it's even more pronounced this week -- his kicks and punches are getting so much stronger now. In fact, a lot of the time, they really hurt! But even when I get a breath-stealing jab to my side, it's still an exciting affirmation of our little son's continued growth. It's a good thing that he's continuing to get stronger, right?

And here's the weekly blurb from BabyCenter.com --

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.

This actually reminds me of a story a friend, Kathleen, told me a few weeks ago... Apparently, when her mom was pregnant with her, her doctors told her that she needed to make sure to get enough calcium, along with all the other normal vitamins needed for healthy growth and development. Well, Kathleen's mom took her doctors very seriously. Throughout the entire pregnancy, she drank milk at every meal, and pretty much only drank milk whenever she was thirsty. No osteoporosis or weak baby bones for this pregnant mama! Her labor was really long and difficult -- they all thought it was just because this was her first baby. But when Kathleen was finally born, they realized that she didn't have a soft spot on her skull. The bones that aren't supposed to be entirely fused? Yeah, Kathleen's skull was more fused than most, making it very difficult for her to fit through the birth canal.

When she told me this story, I was flabbergasted. And very impressed with her mother for still being able to deliver naturally! Kathleen paused for a moment, and then said, "Yeah, my mom didn't have any other kids after me."

So I've been trying to get a good amount of calcium -- definitely don't want this outlier of a story to cause me to have a nutrient deficit -- but I'm glad I don't love drinking milk as much as Kathleen's mom apparently did!

We've got a lot of baby-related fun on deck for this weekend, so stay tuned for more exciting updates!