Our baby's development at 36 weeks:
- 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.
- I'm hanging in there. I'm getting very anxious and I'm so excited that I am considered full-term at the end of this week! I'm also really happy that I made it through all of the major events (showers, alumni game) without any issues and now I can just focus on getting everything ready for baby's arrival. The alumni game was a little tough - mostly because it was about 100° with about 100% humidity. Surprisingly, though, I swelled up more the night before (after our alumni dinner) than I did Saturday. Friday night, it looked like I had rolled both of my ankles - you couldn't even see my ankle bones. I've definitely got the waddle down (although my mom says I've been waddling for a while) and I really think that he has dropped. I have almost constant bladder pressure. I am back to going to the bathroom at least twice a night and sleeping gets more and more uncomfortable every night. Baby is still incredibly active - some days it feels like he sleeps for about an hour total. I don't think he has moved from the head down position in weeks, but he does a lot of rolling around. I still haven't had any Braxton Hicks contractions.
- Not really anything in particular - but I have noticed a big increase in my appetite. I have been eating a lot and my portions are probably bigger than they should be. But at this stage of the game, I don't really care all that much. Maybe he is going through a growth spurt or something :)
Baby looks like:
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