Pain in my a**....literally

So it's week 33 now and all of a sudden I am plagued with serious lower back/upper butt pain and it's BAD. I am not sure if it's sciatica, but it feels exactly like the description of what sciatica is. My feet and ankles are still swelling alot through the day and now I have this horrible pain that is making it hard to even walk! The only thing so far that seems to ease the pain is ice for 20 min and heat for 20 min a few times throughout the day. Not to be a complainer, but how am I going to get through 7 more weeks of not being able to walk without pain? YIKES! I have our normal 2 week appointment with the doc tomorrow and will see if there's anything I can do to feel better. Someone today suggested a back brace to me and another person suggested compression hose. Check out a pic of the hose...pretty funny, but I'd gladly wear them EVERY day if it helped me feel better.

Besides the back pain, I'm feeling good otherwise. My energy level is great, my spirits are high (I'm super excited for the impending birth) and I am not feeling too nervous about anything. Sleeping IS a bit difficult lately because my right hand keeps falling asleep while I'm asleep, but that is a small obstacle compared to the a** pain :)

For something fun, I learned a few new things about my little bun today from my favorite online pregnancy source (whattoexpect.com). Here is a quote from an email that I received this morning.

"If your uterine walls had eyes, here's what you'd see: your fetus acting more and more like a baby, with his or her eyes closing during sleep and opening while awake. And because those uterine walls are becoming thinner, more light penetrates the womb, helping your baby differentiate between day and night (now if only baby can remember that difference on the outside!).

And good news! Your baby has reached an important milestone about now: The development of his or her own immune system that (along with antibodies from you) will be able to provide protection from mild infections."

Oh how I wish my uterine walls had eyes, or a camera. Now that he's getting bigger, my little bun is moving around so much that I can see his little limbs making waves through my belly. Last night I was laying on the couch with ice on my back wishing that my video camera wasn't so far away (on the other side of the room) so that I could record all of the crazy moves my belly was making. Maybe I'll catch it tonight when he's doing his exercises!