Week 39- Baby Boy Mini Watermelon

How your baby's growing: Your baby's waiting to greet the world! He continues to build a layer of fat to help control his body temperature after birth, but it's likely he already measures about 20 inches and weighs a bit over 7 pounds, a mini watermelon. (Boys tend to be slightly heavier than girls.) The outer layers of his skin are sloughing off as new skin forms underneath.

How your life's changing: At each of your now-weekly visits, your caregiver will do an abdominal exam to check your baby's growth and position. She might also do an internal exam to see whether your cervix has started ripening: softening, effacing (thinning out), and dilating (opening). But even armed with this information, there's still no way for your caregiver to predict exactly when your baby is coming. If you go past your due date, your caregiver will schedule you for fetal testing (usually a sonogram) after 40 weeks to ensure that it's safe to continue the pregnancy. If you don't go into labor on your own, most practitioners will induce labor when you're between one and two weeks overdue — or sooner if there's an indication that the risk of waiting is greater than the risks of delivering your baby without further delay.While you're waiting, it's important to continue to pay attention to your baby's movements and let your caregiver know right away if they seem to decrease. Your baby should remain active right up to delivery, and a noticeable slowdown in activity could be a sign of a problem. Also call if you think your water may have broken. Membranes rupture before the beginning of labor in about 8 percent of term pregnancies. Sometimes there's a big gush of fluid, but sometimes there's only a small gush or a slow leak. (Don't try to make the diagnosis yourself. Call even if you only suspect you have a leak.) If you rupture your membranes and don't start contractions on your own, you'll be induced.

from BabyCenter

Baby: Congratulations! You've reached the final weeks in your pregnancy (if you haven't delivered already!) (I haven't, thanks for reminding me). Your baby has probably reached his birth weight by now. Most babies weigh somewhere between 6-8 pounds when they are born. Boys are usually longer and heavier than girls. Not much has changed from last week, all his internal organs are ready to support him in the outside world, he's developed healthy amounts of baby fat over the past week, his immune system is developing and will continue to develop after he is born.

Mom
How are you feeling? It's almost time for delivery! You may have been preparing for delivery for months now, but do you know about the changes that will take place in your body after delivery?

The Baby Blues – This is the happiest time of your life, right? This is what you've been waiting for...so why do you feel so sad? You may have heard people mention, "The Baby Blues" which refers to a state of heightened emotion after you give birth in which you may cry more easily than is usual for you or you may have trouble sleeping, you may feel irritable, sad or on edge. More than 80% of women report feeling blue immediately after birth so, if you feel this way, you aren't alone and you're not a bad person, a weak person, a bad mother or any other negative thing you could possibly tell yourself.

from PlanningFamily

We're back in the melon aisle, I see. It's crazy how baby has grown. All the way from a blueberry at our very first appointment to a 7 lb mini watermelon! WOW! Tomorrow is our 39 week appointment, and we will be meeting the midwife at our practice for the first time. As I've nervously said before, Dr. Uma is off taking her board exam this week. I'm guessing nothing has changed b\c I really don't feel any different, but we'll see for sure tomorrow. We're also working on getting our belly pictures scheduled. Should be able to do them sometime this week. Nothing like waiting until the last minute. At least we're packed, have our carseat in place (although we're still trying to get it checked) and have baby's room set up.

I'll let you know how tomorrow goes!!