Up to 34 weeks
Thirty-four weeks after your last period, your baby is perfectly formed. All her proportions are exactly as you’d expect them to be at birth. She still has some maturing to do, though, and some more weight to gain before she’s ready to be born.
Your Baby’s Progress
Her organs are now almost fully mature, except for her lungs. These aren’t yet completely developed, although they’re making increasing quantities of surfactant, the fluid that will stop them from collapsing once she begins to breathe air. She makes strong movements that can be felt on the surface of your abdomen. Almost all babies born at this time survive.
Her skin, nails, and hair Her skin is now pink rather than red, because of the deposits of white fat underneath it. Fat deposits , build up under her skin to provide energy and regulate her body temperature after she’s born. The protective vernix caseosa that covers her skin is now very thick. Her fingernails now reach the ends of her fingers but her toenails are not yet fully grown. She may have quite a lot of hair on her head.
Her eyes Her irises can now dilate and contract. They’ll contract response to bright light, and also to allow her to focus, although she won’t need to develop this skill until after she’s born. She can close her eyelids, and she has begun to blink.
Her position Some babies take up the head-downward position about now, but there’s still plenty of time-most don’t engage until after 36 weeks. She may remain in the breech (bottomdown) position until birth, although most babies do turn on their own.
Her Support System
From this month the placenta layers may start to thin. To make estrogen, the placenta converts a testosterone-like hormone that’s made by your baby’s adrenal glands. By this month these glands are as big as those of an adolescent, and every day they produce 10 times as much hormone as an adult’s adrenal glands. They’ll shrink rapidly after birth.
The amniotic sac, or bag of waters, contains a large amount of fluid, most of which is the baby’s urine-she can produce as much as a pint (half a liter) of urine every day. Excess vernix caseosa, nutrients, and products necessary for the maturing of the her lungs are also in the amniotic sac. The umbilical cord is large, strong, and tough. A firm, gelatinous substance surrounds the blood vessels and prevents kinks or knots in the cord that could affect your baby’s blood supply.
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