The big news this week is lung development—baby's respiratory system is almost completely mature. That means if your baby was born this week, odds are he'd be a healthy bouncing baby with a just a little help from his friends (aka, the NICU). Some of the specifics are:
Your baby can now detect light and tell the difference between night and day (of course that ability will miraculously disappear once he's born and up all night screaming). His pupils will constrict and dilate in response to light. If you shine a flashlight on your belly, your baby may shy away from the light as if to say, "Cut it out, Ma. You're soooo annoying."
The bones in your baby's skull are soft and are not yet fused together. In other words, now is not the time to teach him how to do a headspin while breakdancing. This pliability allows the bones to overlap; making that trip down the tight birth canal possible (and resulting in that surprising cone head look your baby will sport for the first few days post-birth. Don't worry, it's totally normal and that's what hats are for.)
Your baby will continue to pack on the pounds gaining around ½ pound a week from here on out.
Your baby weighs about 4½ pounds, as much as a grownup duck, and is approximately 17.5 inches long, about the same as a collarbone-length pearl necklace.
That's our weekly update from our friends at 3dpregnancy.com. Babycenter.com says the baby is currently proportioned like a pineapple, weight-wise. I agree - he is big and heavy! And based on his frequent stretching and re-positioning, I'm pretty sure he's got very little room to maneuver.
I have also read that my vivid dreaming will kick back up again. I can definitely attest to that! Last night I dreamed that I had the baby, but I had to keep him in me most of the time (he went in and out of me through my mouth). I was trying to breastfeed but he wasn't getting enough, so I had to supplement - with strawberry instant breakfast, fed through my ribcage to him while I was "storing" him in me. So weird! And that was all before Dan even came to bed last night. :)
And one final thought for this post - maternity clothes are a total pain! They're designed for women who are 5-6 months, not before and not after. It took months for me to fit into the clothes I bought (but I couldn't squeeze into my normal clothes anymore), and now that I'm into the 8th month most of my clothes are getting too tight and/or too short. It's a daily struggle to keep my growing stomach covered! But I also refuse to buy more clothes this late in the game, so I'll have to make what I have work. Oh well...I could have worse problems than a wardrobe malfunction!
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