Weekly FUN Facts on Baby King's growth:
Check out the FUN Facts section weekly for the changing life of baby King in terms of fruits & vegetables. All of these descriptions come directly from babycenty.com. At the beginning of this blog, I wanted to try each fruit/vegetable every week to ensure that baby king was receiving all the proper allotment of nutrients she needed, so far so good (except with the turnips ewwwwww). Stay tuned…
Week 36: Our 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. Our 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, our 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.) She’s already in the head-down position. After next week, Baby J can feel free to make her debut because mommy surely is ready!!! Take a look at this weeks progress:
Week 34: Our baby now weighs about 4 3/4 pounds (like an 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. If anyone has been nervous about preterm labor, you’ll be happy to know that 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. Take a look at this weeks progress:
Week 33: This week our baby 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. Take a look at this weeks progress:
Week 32: By now, our baby 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. The doctor expects me to be gaining about a pound a week and roughly half of that goes right to our baby. 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. Take a look at this week's progress! We are ALMOST there!!!
Week 31: This week, our baby measures over 16 inches long. She weighs about 3.3 pounds (try carrying four navel oranges) and is heading into a growth spurt. She can turn her head from side to side, and her arms, legs, and body are beginning to plump out as needed fat accumulates underneath her skin. She's probably moving a lot, too, so I may have trouble sleeping because our baby's kicks and somersaults keep me up. I’m told to take comfort: All this moving is a sign that our baby is active and healthy. Take a look at this week’s progress:
Week 30: Baby King is about 15.7 inches long now, and she weighs almost 3 pounds (like a head of cabbage). A pint and a half of amniotic fluid surrounds her, but that volume will decrease as she gets bigger and takes up more room. Her eyesight continues to develop, though it's not very keen; even after she's born, she'll keep her eyes closed for a good part of the day. When she does open them, she'll respond to changes in light but will have 20/400 vision – which means she can only make out objects a few inches from her face. (Normal adult vision is 20/20.) Take a look at this week’s progress:
Week 29: Baby King is growing rapidly now. This week she weighs about 2 1/2 pounds (like a butternut squash) and is a tad over 15 inches long from head to heel. Her muscles and lungs are continuing to mature, and her head is getting bigger to accommodate her growing brain – which is busy developing billions of neurons. Every day, about 200 milligrams of calcium is deposited in our baby's skeleton, which is now hardening. With this rapid growth, it's no surprise that our baby's nutritional needs reach their peak during this trimester. Take a look at this weeks progress:
Week 28: By this week, baby J weighs two and a quarter pounds (like a Chinese cabbage) and measures 14.8 inches from the top of her head to her heels. She can blink her eyes, which now sport lashes. With her eyesight developing, she may be able to see the light that filters in through your womb. She's also developing billions of neurons in her brain and adding more body fat in preparation for life in the outside world. Take a look at this week’s progress:
Week 27: This week, baby king weighs almost 2 pounds (like a head of cauliflower) and is about 14 1/2 inches long with her legs extended. She's sleeping and waking at regular intervals, opening and closing her eyes, and perhaps even sucking her fingers. With more brain tissue developing, our baby's brain is very active now. While her lungs are still immature, they would be capable of functioning — with a lot of medical help — if she were born now. I have to chalk up any tiny rhythmic movements I feel to a case of baby hiccups, which may be common from now on. Each episode usually lasts only a few moments, and they don't bother her, so I’m just told to relax and enjoy the tickle. Take a look at this week’s progress:
Week 26: The network of nerves in our baby's ears is better developed and more sensitive than before. She may now be able to hear both mommy and daddy’s voice as we chat with each other. She's inhaling and exhaling small amounts of amniotic fluid, which is essential for the development of her lungs. These so-called breathing movements are also good practice for when she's born and takes that first gulp of air. And she's continuing to put on baby fat. She now weighs about a pound and two-thirds and measures 14 inches (the length of an English hothouse cucumber) from head to heel. Take a look at this week’s progress:
Week 25: Head to heels, our baby now measures about 13 1/2 inches. Her weight — a pound and a half — isn't much more than an average rutabaga, but she's beginning to exchange her long, lean look for some baby fat. As she does, her wrinkled skin will begin to smooth out and she'll start to look more and more like a newborn. She's also growing more hair. Take a look at this week’s progress:
Week 24: Our baby's growing steadily, having gained about 4 ounces since last week. That puts her at just over a pound. Since she's almost a foot long (picture an ear of corn), she cuts a pretty lean figure at this point, but her body is filling out proportionally and she'll soon start to plump up. Her brain is also growing quickly now, and her taste buds are continuing to develop. Her lungs are developing "branches" of the respiratory "tree" as well as cells that produce surfactant, a substance that will help her air sacs inflate once she hits the outside world. Her skin is still thin and translucent, but that will start to change soon. Take a look at this week's progress:
Week 23: Turn on the radio and sway to the music. With her sense of movement well developed by now, our baby can feel me dance. And now that she's more than 11 inches long and weighs just over a pound (about as much as a large mango), we may be able to start seeing her squirm underneath my clothes. Blood vessels in her lungs are developing to prepare for breathing, and the sounds that our baby's increasingly keen ears pick up are preparing her for entry into the outside world. Loud noises that become familiar now — such as our dog, BAM BAM, barking or the roar of the vacuum cleaner — probably won't faze her when she hears them outside the womb. Take a look at this week's progress:
Week 22: At 11 inches (the length of a spaghetti squash) and almost 1 pound, our baby is starting to look like a miniature newborn. Her lips, eyelids, and eyebrows are becoming more distinct, and she's even developing tiny tooth buds beneath her gums. Her eyes have formed, but her irises (the colored part of the eye) still lack pigment.
If we could see inside my womb, we’d be able to spot the fine hair (lanugo) that covers her body and the deep wrinkles on her skin, which she'll sport until she adds a padding of fat to fill them in. Inside her belly, her pancreas — essential for the production of some important hormones — is developing steadily. Take a look at this week's progress:
Week 21: Our baby now weighs about three-quarters of a pound and is approximately 10 1/2 inches long — the length of a carrot. We may soon feel like she's practicing martial arts as her initial fluttering movements turn into full-fledged kicks and nudges. We may also discover a pattern to her activity as we get to know her better. In other developments, our baby's eyebrows and lids are present now, and since we are having a GIRL, her "woman parts" have begun to form as well. Take a look at this week's progress:
Week 20: Our baby weighs about 10 1/2 ounces now. She is also around 6 1/2 inches long from head to bottom and about 10 inches from head to heel, the length of a banana.
For the first 20 weeks, when a baby's legs are curled up against her torso and hard to measure, measurements are taken from the top of her head to her bottom — the "crown to rump" measurement. After 20 weeks, she's measured from head to toe.) She's swallowing more these days, which is good practice for her digestive system. She's also producing meconium, a black, sticky by-product of digestion. This gooey substance will accumulate in her bowels, and we’ll see it in her first soiled diaper (some babies pass meconium in the womb or during delivery).
Take a look at our progress below:
Week 19: Our baby's sensory development is exploding! Her brain is designating specialized areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch. Some research suggests that she may be able to hear our voice now, so we are starting to read aloud, talk to her, put music near her. Our baby weighs about 8 1/2 ounces and measures 6 inches, head to bottom — about the size of a large heirloom tomato. Her arms and legs are in the right proportions to each other and the rest of her body now. Her kidneys continue to make urine and the hair on her scalp is sprouting.
Week 18: Head to rump, baby king is about 5 1/2 inches long (about the length of a bell pepper) and she weighs almost 7 ounces. She's busy flexing his arms and legs — movements that we’ve started noticing more and more. Her blood vessels are visible through her thin skin, and her ears are now in their final position, although they're still standing out from her head a bit. Take a look at this weeks progress:
Week 17: Our baby's skeleton is changing from soft cartilage to bone, and the umbilical cord — her lifeline to the placenta — is growing stronger and thicker. Our baby weighs 5 ounces now (about as much as a turnip), and she's around 5 inches long from head to bottom. She can move her joints, and her sweat glands are starting to develop.
Week 16: I was told to get ready for a growth spurt and YES, it definitely happened! Baby King doubled her weight and added inches to her length. Right now, she’s about the size of an avocado: 4 1/2 inches long (head to rump) and 3 1/2 ounces. Her legs are much more developed, her head is more erect than it has been, and her eyes have moved closer to the front of her head. Her ears are close to their final position, too. The patterning of her scalp has begun, though her locks aren't recognizable yet. She's even started growing toenails. And there's a lot happening inside as well. For example, her heart is now pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day, and this amount will continue to increase as she continues to develop.
Week 15: Baby King now measures about 4 inches long, crown to rump, and weighs in at about 2 1/2 ounces (about the size of an apple.)
Her legs are growing longer than her arms now, and she can move all of her joints and limbs. Although her eyelids are still fused shut, she can sense light. If you shine a flashlight at your tummy, for instance, she's likely to move away from the beam. There's not much for your baby to taste at this point, but she is forming taste!!!
Photo of weekly progress below:
Take a look at how shes looking:
From head to bottom, she measures 3 1/2 inches — about the size of a lemon — and she weighs 1 1/2 ounces. Her body's growing faster than her head, which now sits upon a more distinct neck.
