Week 34!!! (six weeks to go)

New News!

Your baby now weighs about 4 3/4 pounds (like your average cantelope) and is almost 18 inches long. His fat layers— which he'll need to regulate his body temperature once he's born — are filling him out, making him rounder. His skin is also smoother than ever. His central nervous system is maturing and his lungs are continuing to mature as well. If you've been nervous about preterm labor, you'll be happy to know that babies born between 34 and 37 weeks who have no other health problems generally do fine. They may need a short stay in the neonatal nursery and may have a few short-term health issues, but in the long run, they usually do as well as full-term babies.

Baby can recognize and react to simple songs...time to start practicing your lullabies! In fact, baby will recognize frequently sung tunes after birth and probably find them soothing. Less cute news: He now urinates about one pint per day. Get the diapers ready!

As of this week your baby has grown so large, he takes up most of the available space inside the uterus and can no longer float around your womb. Your baby is now about 4.7 pounds.

More developments this week:

• Adrenal glands. Your baby's adrenal glands grow and produce corticoid hormones. Together with prolactin from the pituitary, they will stimulate lactation.
• Skin. The vernix coating on your baby's skin grows thicker to better protect him. Your baby's skin gradually becomes less red and wrinkled as the fat beneath it fills out and stretches the skin.
• Skull. His skull bones are still quite pliable and not completely fused together at the top of his head. That will make it easy for him to slip down the relatively narrow birth canal.

He will continue to gain about two or more pounds in the next six weeks. Now that your baby's brain has formed billions of neurons, it must accomplish the even more complex feat of hooking the neurons and synapses together. Your baby's brain is forming trillions of connections, making it possible for him to learn in the womb. All of this brain development may be the reason that your baby sleeps frequently at this stage. He may even be dreaming—his eyes dart around rapidly just as an adult's might in REM sleep. Your child's development is in no way complete at birth. In the first year after birth, a baby's brain triples in size and becomes three-quarters of its adult size.

Making the drop. If your baby is a boy, his testicles are now descending from his abdomen into his scrotum. Occasionally, one or both testicles fail to move into position before birth. In this case, your baby's testicles will probably drop before his first birthday. If your infant's scrotum seems large right after birth, don't worry: The swelling is due to extra fluid and will go away in a week or so.

No vacancy. Your baby is moving around less frequently, mostly because of the cramped quarters. Of course, it may not seem as if he's settled down—now that he's so big (about 4.7 to 5 pounds and 15.5 to 16 inches long), you can feel even the slightest movement. In fact, since your baby is right up against the wall of the uterus, you're probably getting good at guessing which body part (foot? elbow? arm?) is protruding.

Baby blues. "Guess what color my eyes are now?" Regardless of the eye color your baby will end up with, right now his eyes are blue. The pigmentation process in his iris won't be complete until his eyes have been exposed to light for several weeks after birth. His final eye color may not be evident for years.

So, I went to the Doctor on Friday- Dad went with me to meet my amazing Doctor- and everything was great! I asked her how much she thought that he weighed about now and she said probably 5 pounds!! And at the rate that he's growing and I'm gaining weight (which is a pound a week for me and he gains half of that a week- so 8 oz.) and we have 6 weeks left- I'm think he'll be an eight pounder! This upcoming weekend (July 17th) I'm meeting up with my sorority sisters, which I'm so excited about! This weekend was pretty chill for us though. We went to Brazil, IN and went to My Dad's business partner (Garry's) property- that has lakes and 4-wheeler's, etc. on it for their company party. It was a really good time! Other than that I just hung out! Mr. tiny man is still active, but I can tell he's getting so big because he can't move around a lot- just arms or legs, but no flips! I go back to the Dr. on July 26 and then start going everyweek from then on out...I'll only have 4 weeks left at that point! It's going so fast that I can't belive it! He'll be here before I know it and I can't wait. My next focus is finding a name....no, I still havnt picked one out yet! I think I'll probably get about 3 that I like and then see which one he looks the most like once he's born! That's about all that I have for now! Talk with you next week!


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