Week 36

Your Baby

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!”

Your baby is now around 18½ inches long and nearly 6 pounds—just about as big as a breadbox!

via 36 Weeks Pregnant – 3D Pregnancy Calendar

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Another pretty tough week, but we got through it.

We’ve learned of a new glucose test this week, the two-hour one.  Mom to be has had the one hour test, the three-hour test, and now the two-hour test.  What is the two-hour test you may ask?  Basically mom to be fasts from midnight until her appointment.  Then she goes to the lab and has her blood drawn.  We then go home and mom to be has what she normally has for breakfast.  When she takes that last bite of breakfast the clock starts ticking.  Two hours from the last bite we must be back at the lab in order for mom to be to get more blood drawn (no results as of today – Thursday).  So mom to be has now been through all three glucose tests and handled them like a star.  I am proud of her.

Mom to be is experiencing swelling in her legs so any mothers out there who have advice on how to correct it, we would be more than happy to listen to it.  Epsom Salt baths and cucumber water has helped so far, but nothing beats staying home and resting.  When mom to be has the time to just rest with her feet elevated her legs seem to respond well to that.

I guess that is it for this week.