Week Thirty Three: Lanugo is disappearing
You are 33 weeks pregnant. (fetal age 31 weeks)
- The baby inside you is now about 4.4 pounds (2 kg) and around 17.5 inches (44cm) in length.
- The diameter of the head is about 8.5cm.
- The baby fuzz, lanugo, is disappearing.
- Your baby drinks about a pint of amniotic fluid a day.
- You may gain a pound a week (500g) for the rest of your pregnancy.
- Half of your weight gain will go directly to your baby.
The baby is using it's lungs to practice breathing by inhaling amniotic fluid. Your baby is drinking about a pint of amniotic fluid a day now and urinating the same amount. The early baby fuzz, lanugo, is disappearing now and being replaced by actual hair. The nails of your baby are now long enough to reach to the tip of the fingers or beyond and may need trimming as soon as she is born. She may scratch her face even before birth.
You may gain a pound a week for the rest of your pregnancy. Do not stop eating or start skipping meals as your weight increases. Both you and your baby need the calories and nutrition you receive from a healthy diet.
Calcium intake is extremely important during pregnancy because the baby will draw calcium from the mother to make and harden bone. This can greatly weaken her own bones and teeth because the developing fetus will take minerals from the mother's skeletal structure as and when needed.
Pregnancy Today
Your baby's skin has changed from a reddish color to pink and will be smoother now as he continues to lay down fat. She may grow over an inch in length this week, and there's probably more baby than amniotic fluid in your womb now. As a result, you'll feel every prod or kick she makes more than ever!
Her immune system is able to give her protection from mild infections. She's still receiving antibodies from you, which are important, and will continue to do so after birth when you breastfeed. She may be in a head-down position ready for birth now. Your doctor will check to see whether this is the case and, if so, how engaged her head is.
Baby Center
This week your baby weighs a little over 4 pounds (heft a pineapple) and has passed the 17-inch mark. She's rapidly losing that wrinkled, alien look and her skeleton is hardening. The bones in her skull aren't fused together, which allows them to move and slightly overlap, thus making it easier for her to fit through the birth canal. (The pressure on the head during birth is so intense that many babies are born with a conehead-like appearance.) These bones don't entirely fuse until early adulthood, so they can grow as her brain and other tissue expands during infancy and childhood.
The Bump
Baby's now the size of a honeydew!
Things are heating up inside as well: Baby may grow up to a full inch this week alone, and her brain is developing like crazy. Pretty soon, she'll be able to coordinate breathing with sucking and swallowing. Also, her bones are hardening, and she's started to keep her eyes open when she's awake.
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