Week 33: Becoming More Immune

Week 33 brought 2 more showers for Baby G! We are feeling very lucky to have so many people "shower" us (ha ha :) ) with celebration and gifts for the baby. First, Tom's parents threw us a shower in Wisconsin where many of his relatives and friends from the church he grew up in were able to come to. My parents also came for it so that was fun to have all four of the grandparents-to-be together! Tom's favorite gift from that shower had to be the Packers onesie and matching Packers stocking cap we got. I'm sure Baby G will get lots of use wearing it this football season! Here's a photo of the Denisons and Getchius's at the shower:

Then in the middle of the week Tom's coworkers threw a shower for the both of us. It was very sweet that they invited me along too. We played a game there where we had to guess the costs for a bunch of typical baby items--diapers, bottles, nooks, formula, etc. We're still newbies at buying for most baby items so it was a good reality check to get an idea of how much each of them cost. For some we overbid, others we under bid, so it was educational. Tom's boss's wife knit a blanket for us, so we've definitely gotten lots of really thoughtful gifts from these showers! With the three showers in a row the nursery has really come together. Really the only other things we need are a rocking chair and a changing pad to change his diapers on, then the room will basically be complete. Yay!

This week we also had a prenatal appointment with our nurse practitioner. Baby G is measuring right on target. I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but up to week 36 they measure the height of your uterus in your stomach and for every week it measures 1 centimeter. So this week it's 33 centimeters high. I guess after week 36 a lot of babies start to drop lower so it's less accurate after that. But regardless, I think it's pretty neat that the measurements work like that. We also learned this week that at my doctor's office the latest they let women go overdue is 1 full week overdue. So it's nice to know that the longest I'll be pregnant is a full 41 weeks-whew!

As for baby, this week he has maxed out the amount of amniotic fluid that there will be till his due date. With this, his kicks and punches feel a bit more pronounced--and that's true! Also pretty neat: I'm passing antibodies to him to help build his immune system.

This week I was hit with significantly worsening back pain. This is really frustrating for many reasons as I really like to be active and it's been difficult not feeling up to moving around as much. Tom has been a trooper giving me extra back rubs and our heating pad has been getting a lot of use too. I've also been doing more of my workouts in the pool at the gym we go to which helps to take some of the pressure off. An old coworker of mine recommended a place for pregnancy massages that I'm going to check out next week. They evidentally have tables that allow you to be able to lay on your stomach so I'm really looking forward to that.

Finally, here's week 33's baby bump: