36 Weeks Pregnant!

How your baby's growing:

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’ve pretty much reached that point of “I’m ready for the baby to come & not be pregnant anymore” phase. I’ve loved being pregnant, despite all the fears I’ve had. But now I’m so ready for meet my little girl. The only other reason I don’t want her to come yet is that I’d like a little more time to get her room & the rest of the house in order. This is my final week of work but it’s only half days. So hopefully I can muster up some energy to get some things done this week & maybe more next week.