36 weeks - ALMOST FULL TERM!!

This week, baby is the size of a beachball... :-)

Here's what's happening in baby-town this week...

• The baby is about 19 inches (48 cm) long.


• Weight is around 6 pounds (2.7 kg).


• The baby's body is becoming chubby as fat layers build.


• Between now and birth they may gain about an ounce (30g) a day


• You may feel contractions of the womb, called Braxton Hicks contractions

While it says that your baby weighs six and a half pounds this week and measures 19 inches long, this is only an estimate. In general, babies are gaining half a pound per week now. Baby continues gaining weight as fat deposits and is forming creases in the neck and wrists.

You may feel contractions of the womb, called Braxton Hicks contractions, which can be used to perform and practice breathing exercises. You may be visiting your caregiver weekly up until the birth. Regular internal exams may begin, to see if your cervix has softened, thinned, dilated or if your baby's head is dropping into the pelvis. Any of these could be signs of impending labor but there are no guarantees and you could be waiting for weeks yet. Your baby is almost ready, a pair of kidneys and the liver has begun processing some waste products, the only organ still to mature is the lungs.

This week your baby may drop into the birth canal, this is called 'lightening' or 'dropping'. If this is not your first baby, this 'lightening' may not occur until right before labor. Your care provider may refer to it by saying that your baby is now 'engaged'. The majority of babies are now in the birth position, either head down (vertex) or butt down (breech), most will maintain this position until birth. Any movements that they make are more likely to be rolls from side to side.You may notice when this happens because it will suddenly become much easier for you to breathe. While breathing becomes easier, walking may be the exact opposite. If your baby has dropped you may find yourself visiting the bathroom much more often as baby is resting right on top of your bladder again.

Your baby continues to put on weight at about ½ pound each week. This layer of fat will help your baby regulate his body temperature after leaving your climate-controlled womb. In fact, your baby will be 15 percent fat at birth (and you ... well that's another story). Even in the womb, your baby can listen, feel, touch and see. The only thing separating him from living in the outside world is a little thing called the birth canal. Other highlights this week:

His gums are firm with ridges that look somewhat like teeth, though his actual pearly whites won't start breaking through until he's between three months and a year old.

Your baby has definite patterns of sleep and wakefulness—opening his eyes while awake and closing them while sleeping. Your baby will become alert and turn his head toward light and sound just as a newborn would—except when you put on that Celine Dion CD. Then the baby puts his hands up, turns away and gurgles, "Oh no you didn't!"

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.

Here's me at 36 weeks...

Well...I can't believe we are almost there!! This coming Sunday I will be 37 weeks and therefore considered "Full Term."

I feel like we are finally ready, and if baby takes a few more weeks, it will be nice to get a little rest before the big day! We have worked hard, and everything is ready and set, which make me feel very much at ease. The nursery is ready, the clothes and baby items are washed and put away, my hospital bag is packed, and the house is totally clean.

This is what I did this last weekend...cleaned. My mom and mom-in-law came over on Friday and we spent the entire day DEEP cleaning my house. In fact, I don't know that my house has ever been as clean as it was by the end of that day! They were so amazing, and I totally couldn't have done it without them. I was completely exhausted by the end of the day and I only did a third of the work. I have the most amazing mom's!! Thank you so much!

So, now we await God's perfect timing and the arrival of our precious son, Judah. We can't wait to meet him and begin this new adventure that God has for our lives! I praise Him daily for the precious gift he has given us...thus the very reason we are naming him Judah Nathanael which means "Praise for the gift of God"!!