Week 29

• The few flutters of movement have given way to hard jabs and punches that may take your breath away.
• Your baby should move at least 10 times in an hour.
• Your baby weighs about 2 pounds, 9 ounces.

Week 30

• Your baby continues to gain weight and layers of fat.
• In preparation for respiration after birth, your baby will mimic breathing movements by repeatedly moving the diaphragm.
• Your baby may get the hiccups, which you may feel as rhythmic twitches in your uterus.
• Your baby now weighs 3 pounds!

Week 31

• Your baby is urinating approximately several cups of urine a day into the amniotic fluid but this fluid is replaced several times a day.
• The milk glands in your breasts may have started to make colostrum by now.
• Your baby now weighs 3 pounds, 5 ounces.

Week 32

• Eyelashes, eyebrows, and the hair on your baby’s head are evident.
• The lanugo hair that has covered your baby since the beginning of the second trimester is falling off, although some may remain on the shoulders and back at birth.
• Your baby is 11.4 inches (29 cm) from crown to rump.

Week 33

• Your baby can listen, feel, and even see somewhat.
• Your baby’s eyes can detect light and the pupils can constrict and dilate in response to light.
• Like a newborn, your baby sleeps much of the time and even experiences the rapid eye movement (REM) stage – the sleep stage during which our most vivid dreams occur!
• Your baby weighs about 4 pounds.

Week 34

• The vernix coating on the baby’s skin is becoming thicker, whereas the lanugo hair is almost completely gone.
• By now, most babies will be in position for delivery. Your health care provider can tell you if your baby is positioned head or bottom-first.
• Babies born at 34 weeks usually have fairly well developed lungs.
• The average size of a baby at this stage is 5 pounds (2,250 grams) and 12.6 inches (32 cm) from crown to rump.

Week 35

• This week begins your baby’s most rapid period of weight gain – about 8 to 12 ounces (226 to 340 grams) each week.
• Your baby is now cramped and restricted inside the uterus – so foetal movements may decrease, but they may be stronger and more forceful.
• Your baby weighs about 5 pounds, 5 ounces.

Week 36

• The wrinkly, tiny foetus you may have seen on earlier ultrasounds has given way to an almost plump baby.
• There is fat on your baby’s cheeks, and powerful sucking muscles also contribute to your baby’s full face.
• Your baby now weighs a little under 6 pounds.

Week 37

• Your baby has developed enough coordination to grasp with the fingers.
• If shown a bright light, your baby may turn towards it in your uterus.
• He or she continues to develop fat at the rate of half an ounce (14 grams) a day.

Week 38

• You may notice that your weight gain has decreased or ceased.
• Since your baby has had the muscles to suck and swallow amniotic fluid, waste material has been accumulating in his or her intestines. Cells shed from the intestines, dead skin cells, and lanugo hair are some of the waste products that contribute to meconium, a greenish-black substance that constitutes your baby’s first bowel movement.
• Your baby weighs about 6 pounds, 6 ounces (2,900 grams) by now and measures about 13.4 inches (34 cm) in length from crown to rump.

Week 39

• Umbilical cords, which carry nutrients from the placenta to the baby, vary in size but on average are about 22 inches (55 cm) long and half an inch (1–2 cm) thick.
• Your body has been supplying the baby with antibodies through the placenta that will help the baby’s immune system fight infection for the first 6–12 months of life.

Week 40

• Only 5% of women deliver on their estimated due dates, and many first-time mothers find themselves waiting up to 2 weeks after their due date for their baby to arrive.
• Your baby’s skin may have skin discolorations, dry patches, and rashes – these many variations are completely normal.
• A baby born at 40 weeks weighs, on average, about 7 pounds, 4 ounces (3,300 grams) and measures about 20 inches (51 cm).