Weeks 35-38

TEN GROWTH MILESTONES AT THIRTY-FIVE TO THIRTY EIGHT WEEKS

Wow! It's almost time, to greet baby into her new world. What is happening now?

1. Baby weighs from 6 to 7 ½ pounds.
2. She measures 18 to 20 inches.
3. This is her "finishing" stage, and baby gains a tremendous amount of subcutaneous fat, filling him out for birth.
4. The lanugo hair has disappeared.
5. Some of the vernix caseosa has disappeared, and it seems that just enough of this cheesy substance remains to lubricate him for a smoother passage during birth.
6. By this time baby has pretty much run out of room and is tucked up like a little ball.
7. During the final weeks inside the womb, baby sucks, swallows, breathes, and blinks.
8. He steps, turns his head, and sucks his thumb.
9. He grasps and clasps his hands, practicing all the movements he will need after he makes his appearance in the world.
10. The air sacs of his lungs are now lined with a substance called surfactant, that keep the lungs expanded after each breath, enabling nearly all babies born at this stage (even early in this stage) to breathe air outside the womb...