Today We Are 36 Weeks Pregnant

No comments from the peanut gallery, please!

How Our Baby Girl Is Growing:

Our baby girl 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.  Our baby girl swallows both of these substances, along with other secretions, resulting in a blackish mixture, called meconium, which will form the contents of her first bowel movement.

At the end of this week, our baby girl 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, Dr. Katz may suggest scheduling an "external cephalic version," which is a fancy way of saying he'll try to coax our baby girl into a head-down position by manipulating her from the outside of my belly.

Modified from: http://www.babycenter.com/6_your-pregnancy-36-weeks_1125.bc?read_more=1&scid=mbtw_preg36:932&pe=2UxuZCY

Baby Shower

Margaret's Peaceful Backyard

Kira's Clothesline by Aunt Courtney

Lots of Love for Kira





Gramma Patricia, Aunt Katie & Cousin Ava



Aunt Courtney & Baba Mary Ann

Last Saturday, I had the pleasure and privilege of being "showered" by the most wonderful women. Chrissy, Courtney, Katie, Lital, Lauren & Marissa hosted a lovely shower for me at Chrissy's precious mom, Margaret's, house.  Everything happened so fast, I didn't even get to thank all my loving family and friends for celebrating the upcoming birth of our baby girl.  Thank you all for the beauty you bring to my life.

Today We Are 35 Weeks Pregnant

How Our Baby Girl Is Growing:

Our baby girl doesn't have much room to maneuver now that she's over 18 inches long and tips the scales at 5 1/4 pounds (pick up a honeydew melon).  Because it's so snug in my womb, she isn't likely to be doing somersaults anymore, but the number of times she kicks should remain about the same.  Her kidneys are fully developed now, and her liver can process some waste products.  Most of her basic physical development is now complete — she'll spend the next few weeks putting on weight.

Modified from: http://www.babycenter.com/6_your-pregnancy-35-weeks_1124.bc?read_more=1&scid=mbtw_preg35:920&pe=2UxuZCY

Today We Are 34 Weeks Pregnant

How Our Baby Girl Is Growing:

Our baby girl now weighs about 4 3/4 pounds (like your average cantaloupe) and is almost 18 inches long.  Her fat layers — which will help regulate her body temperature once she's born — are filling her out, making her rounder.  Her skin is also smoother than ever.  Her central nervous system is maturing and her lungs are continuing to mature as well.  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.

Modified from: http://www.babycenter.com/6_your-pregnancy-34-weeks_1123.bc?responsys_count=1&scid=mbtw_preg34:912&pe=2UxuZCY

Today We Are 33 Weeks Pregnant

How Our Baby Girl Is Growing:

This week our baby girl weighs a little over 4 pounds (heft a pineapple) and has passed the 17-inch mark. She's rapidly losing that wrinkled, alien look and her skeleton is hardening.  The bones in her skull aren't fused together, which allows them to move and slightly overlap, thus making it easier for her to fit through the birth canal.  (The pressure on the head during birth is so intense that many babies are born with a conehead-like appearance.)  These bones don't entirely fuse until early adulthood, so they can grow as her brain and other tissue expands during infancy and childhood.

Modified from: http://www.babycenter.com/6_your-pregnancy-33-weeks_1122.bc?read_more=1&scid=mbtw_preg33:908&pe=2UxuZCY 

Our 32-Week Bump

I have to admit, I'm really beginning to feel the weight.  And in the last couple of weeks, I've become terrified by the idea that our baby girl might grow to be seven to nine pounds by the time she is born.  I was only 6 pounds, 6 ounces when I was born, but Prescott was a healthy 8 pounds, 11 ounces!  And our baby girl's cousins seem to line right up with their genes: Miller cousin Ava weighed in at 6 pounds, 10 ounces when she was born May 8th, and Littlefield cousin William weighed in at 8 pounds, 9 ounces when he was born just last night.  Considering that our baby girl weighed in at approximately 3 pounds, 2 ounces almost three weeks ago and she is supposed to gain about half a pound a week for the remainder of the pregnancy...it's possible she could weigh in at about 8 1/2 pounds when she is born!  Oh my!

Today We Are 32 Weeks Pregnant

How Our Baby Girl Is Growing:

By now, our baby girl weighs 3.75 pounds (pick up a large jicama) and is about 16.7 inches long, taking up a lot of space in my uterus.  I'm gaining about a pound a week and roughly half of that goes right to our baby girl.  In fact, she'll gain a third to half of her birth weight during the next 7 weeks as she fattens up for survival outside the womb.  She now has toenails, fingernails, and real hair (or at least respectable peach fuzz).  Her skin is becoming soft and smooth as she plumps up in preparation for birth.

http://www.babycenter.com/6_your-pregnancy-32-weeks_1121.bc?read_more=1&scid=mbtw_preg32:904&pe=2UxuZCY