Baby Update: 36 Weeks

I'm 36 weeks pregnant and have 28 days until my due date. Cullen is still the size of a large cantaloupe, weighing in at around 6 pounds and measuring 19 to 22 inches in length. I'm so ready now. I hope he comes a little early, but I know the odds are not in my favor with a first child. Cullen is still moving around a lot and he is jabbing his elbows and feet into my sides. I am really looking forward to the ultrasound on Monday where we find out his measurements, estimated weight, and if I've dilated any more. With the way my stomach has ballooned the past week or two, I have hope that his weight is above the 5th percentile now!

Week 36 Summary: Your baby is still packing on the pounds — at the rate of about an ounce a day. Forget your aching back (and everything else!) by trying to focus on your baby, who is now about six pounds and 20 inches long, with soft bones and cartilage to allow a safer journey through the exit door. Most of his systems (from circulatory to musculo-skeletal) are ready for prime time. Blood circulation, for instance, has been perfected and your baby's immune system has matured enough to protect him from infections outside the womb. Other systems, however, still need a few finishing touches. Inside his little gestational cocoon, your baby has relied on the umbilical cord for nutrition, meaning that the digestive system — though developed — hasn't been operational. So your baby will take the first year or two to bring that system up to speed.  He's shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered his body as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that covered and protected his skin during his nine-month amniotic bath. Your baby swallows both of these substances, along with other secretions, resulting in a blackish mixture, called meconium. 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.)