If you are 33 weeks pregnant it means you have already reached your 8th month of pregnancy. Only two more months to go! You would feel like these 8 months were shorter than this last one and passed in a jiffy. The lesser time left on your due date, the more impatient you would become. Your emotions would be all over the place right now.
Pregnancy is just not about celebrating baby showers, getting maternity shoots, and baby-proofing the house. These things surely make pregnancy fun but you must prepare yourself for becoming a parent first. Preparing the house can wait but preparing yourself mentally for the changes that would come along with the baby is an important step.
Don’t worry if you find yourself clueless or anxious about how to be good at parenting. It is no rocket science! You would learn it gradually after the arrival of the baby. We are damn sure that you would be a natural and amazing parent.
Pregnancy Week: 33
The size of the baby at 33 weeks is similar to the size of a pineapple. It measures about17 inches (42.9 centimeters) in height and slightly more than 4 1/2 pounds (2,103 grams) in weight, approximately. It is showing tremendous growth every week now as it gets ready to roll out of your womb and take its first gasp of fresh air.
Pregnancy Week 33At this point, being 33 weeks pregnant, your baby has developed its bones by now. Although, the plates of bones on your baby’s skull are still very malleable. It is a good thing as it facilitates easy passage of the baby through the birth canal during the delivery. This way you could easily squeeze out the baby without his head getting stuck. A couple of spots of its skull would remain soft even after its birth. These spots would eventually develop later when the baby’s brain is developed. These soft spots or gaps are scientifically called fontanelles.
Your baby would now keep on adding half a pound a week until birth. It would get heavier and its kicks and fists would feel sharper to you now. With such a big baby inside your uterus, the amount of amniotic fluid has relatively reduced. That is another reason why its poking and nudging feel so sharp nowadays.
Your baby can now differentiate day and night. The uterine walls have become thinner and translucent, letting light to pass inside your womb. Since your baby’s five sensory organs have developed, s/he would be able to differentiate between day and night hours. However, this doesn’t mean that your baby would remember and develop a sleep routine that involves night hours. It is completely upon your baby’s moods and wishes, we wish you good luck with that.
The highlight of this week 33 is that your baby has an immune system of its own now. Your body passes a lot of antibodies to your baby which helps him/her develop its own immunity system. This way your baby would be fighting germs and bacterias once s/he comes on the earth-side.
33 weeks pregnant symptoms
You must be thinking that only 7 more weeks are left and all these aches and pain would have reached its full potential by now. Sadly, that is not the case. At 33 weeks pregnant, you might experience new pregnancy symptoms or discomforts. The growing 33-week baby bump is likely to cause a few changes in your body.
1. Rib pain
During pregnancy, your uterus keeps enlarging to support the baby. This enlarging causes the ribs to expand to provide space for the same. Consequently, your uterus puts pressure on your chest. In addition to that pressure, your little human’s constant kicks and fists in your ribs bones can also aggravate the pain.
All these factors, joining forces, can lead to occasional rib pains and swelling of the cartilage in the chest wall called costochondritis. This swelling is very painful, consult a doctor if it becomes unbearable.
2. Shortness of breath
In the third trimester, your growing baby bump can eventually cause you to experience shortness of breath. The always growing uterus wall takes quite a room, now inside your body. This enlargement of the uterus pushes back the diaphragm and lungs by squeezing them to fit in the abdomen. These adjustments result in shortness of breath. Dyspnea or shortness of breath is a common pregnancy symptom and about 62% of pregnant women complain about it.
33 Weeks Pregnant Ultrasound
Your baby’s most organs, muscles, and bones have fully formed and developed by now. The toenails and hair on its head have also come up nicely. You would find your baby sucking its thumb and swallowing amniotic fluid in coordination now. In the scan, you would also notice your baby shutting and opening its eyes.
Pregnancy Week 33It can also move its face muscles and open and close its mouth on its own. The baby doesn’t have enough room now and constantly jabs, kicks, and pokes your belly and rib bones. Your baby is giving the finishing touch to its newly developed skills and organs. Very soon, it would be 100% done with that and ready to pop out.
Some Self-Care Pregnancy Tips
Here are the self-care pregnancy tips:
Dealing with shortness of breath
- Take breaks and rest during the day. Constantly working can exhaust you and put pressure on your lungs.
- If you feel uncomfortable, try changing positions.
- When you feel out of breath, move your arms up in the air that it could reach overhead, while standing or sitting. This way, your body would stretch a little bit, providing space for lungs.
- Bring those childbirth breathing techniques into play when you feel short of breath.
- Make sure that you wear loose and comfortable fitting clothes.
- If these things do not seem to improve your condition, contact your doctor and discuss alternate ways for relief.
Only one more month is left for your little one’s arrival. You must have prepared yourself for your labor and delivery by now. It is time that you also start learning things about the postpartum phase. The postpartum period comes with its own share of changes. With the right care and preparation, you would easily go through the postpartum phase as well. Fasten your seatbelt as this ride is not over yet!
Also Read; Questions Every Pregnant Lady Thinks About
