Week 32: Practice time

Baby Bear is almost four pounds and about 19 inches. I should be gaining about a pound a week and roughly half of that goes right to 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. In these last few weeks, it's all about practice, practice, practice as she hones the skills she'll need to survive and thrive outside the womb, from swallowing and breathing to kicking and sucking. Baby Bear has also probably settled into the head-down, bottoms-up position in in prepartion for birth. That's because the fetus's head fits better at the bottom of the inverted, pear-shaped uterus. It also makes it easier during childbirth for Baby Bear to come out head first.