Week 36

Week 36: Your baby is still packing on the pounds — at the rate of about an ounce a day. She now weighs almost 6 pounds (like a crenshaw melon) and is more than 18 1/2 inches long. She's shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered her body as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that covered and protected her skin during her nine-month amniotic bath. Your baby swallows both of these substances, along with other secretions, resulting in a blackish mixture, called meconium, will form the contents of her first bowel movement.

At the end of this week, your baby will be considered full-term. (Full-term is 37 to 42 weeks; babies born before 37 weeks are pre-term and those born after 42 are post-term.) Most likely she's in a head-down position. But if she isn't, your practitioner may suggest scheduling an "external cephalic version," which is a fancy way of saying she'll try to coax your baby into a head-down position by manipulating her from the outside of your belly.

Hi Belle!

Daddy and I can hardly wait till tomorrow...why? Because we have another ultrasound scheduled to take another little peek at you. Please cooperate this time, OK? Last time you had your little feet up to your face and your hands were covering your face too. What a flexible little girl you are. This time, we want to see the pretty face of yours... Mommy's gonna drink a glass of orange juice before our appointment so you move around a bit.

We probably don't need the external cephalic version because we already know that you are positioned head-down. It feels really funny when you wiggle your little head! And Mommy feels your hiccups low down in her pelvis area too.

That's all for now...see you tomorrow, little Belle!

Love, Mom