Welcome to Week 33 of Your Pregnancy!
Your Baby in Week 33 of Pregnancy
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Week 33 of pregnancy will mark the start of rapid weekly weight gains for your baby. He or she will add approximately 1/2 pound per week from now until the end of their time in your uterus! While your baby may only be four pounds right now, in just six weeks, it will have almost doubled its weight and be at seven pounds! The average weight for babies at birth is between six and nine pounds. Factors such as your weight, your spouse’s weight, your pregnancy conditions (gestational diabetes or extreme morning sickness, for example) also are part of the equation of your baby’s weight. The exact weight can never be predicted, until they are born and placed on that scale.
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All of the organs are formed and working within their respective systems in the body around week 33 of pregnancy. Your baby’s body will put on the finishing touches to get each organ ready to function on their own at this point. They will gain a little in size and weight, but their overall development has been set for several weeks now. Each organ is intricate in design and purpose, and is in great working order.
Consider your baby’s body as a little race car. All systems are ready to go, but they are warming up and revving their engines in anticipation of the green flag. The green flag being their birthday, of course! The crew chief (your body) may be tweaking a little, but no large adjustments are going to be made anymore.
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More rapid brain growth will occur in week 33 of pregnancy and this will increase your baby’s head size. It will grow almost a whole 1/2” in diameter during week 33. The brain is growing and making room for even more brain cells to develop. Those brain cells are what make everything work within your baby. Many baby’s head will be the biggest part of their body when they are born – but don’t worry, the body will soon catch up.
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Your baby’s movements may seem more sporadic in week 33 of pregnancy than they used to because they are rapidly running out of free space. Your baby can move his arms and legs, and the head can go back and forth, but the slams and kicks and punches may cease because of the lack of momentum when swinging or flailing his limbs. Whole body twists and turns are very limited – which is probably good for you. The time for doing flips are gone, and if they can manage one, it will be quite uncomfortable for you! You would be able to see your whole abdomen move if the baby were to turn over.
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All of your baby’s bones are hardening by week 33 of pregnancy, with one major exception. The skull will remain pliable and in pieces for several months after the delivery. The way that the skull is separated leaves an open or “soft” spot at the front of the forehead. This “soft spot” won’t be completely covered for eighteen months to two years, when the skull bones have all fused together.
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Your baby’s adrenal glands are working by week 33 of pregnancy. The adrenal glands are best known for producing adrenaline and other hormones. With an increase in adrenaline in their system, it may activate your adrenaline and give you some side effects, such as lactating! Adrenaline rushes are when you have a jolt of fear, excitement or other strong emotion stemming from an action or event.
For example, many people say adrenal rushes are great when skydiving or riding a roller coaster, neither of which you should ever consider when pregnant! You may also have a lot of adrenaline in your system after watching a scary movie or being startled.
- The skull bones are in large pieces so that when the head moves out through the birth canal, it can compress slightly, making its exit quicker and easier. Because the head is the largest part that has to pass through the birth canal, the smaller it can compress, the better it will be for both of you!
- The baby’s soft spot will require no special care, other than making sure it isn’t hit or bumped (at least too often). Babies are tough and resilient and can even withstand a little sibling “attention” without getting hurt. Often times you can see the soft spot and it looks like it is pulsing – when it reality it is the blood pumping through a vein that lies near that area.
Your Body in Week 33 of Pregnancy
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In week 33 of pregnancy you will have more amniotic fluid than in any other time during your pregnancy. The amniotic fluid will continue to surround your baby until your “water” sac breaks. When the “water breaks”, that means the sac holding the amniotic fluid has ruptured and the amniotic fluid trickles, leaks or rushes out, depending on how and when the sac was ruptured.
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Your abdomen will probably stick far enough out that you can’t see your toes anymore when you look down at week 33 of pregnancy - from a combination of baby size and weight, amniotic fluid and placenta. Don’t feel bad, this is from your baby growing inside of you so you should be proud that you can’t see your feet!
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Inside of your uterus, and without a care that it is full of amniotic fluid, your baby is practicing taking deep breaths. This will get them prepared for that first wail after delivery. Taking deep breaths with amniotic fluid may bring on more cases of the hiccups for them, but they are usually short lived at this point.
If they aren’t short lived and become uncomfortable for you, try lying down to ease the pressure on yourself. Since your baby is so big now, when they get the hiccups it might put direct pressure on your diaphragm and lungs and when they hiccup, it could actually cause you to hiccup.
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