- WEEK 31 -

well, ahniér's now measuring an impressive 18" & weighing in at over 4# [about the same as 4 large navel oranges] - we can still expect her to gain at least 3-5# & possibly more, before we meet her - with each added layer of baby fat, her skin starts to look more & more like it will be when she finally gets to see the light of day - in the 3rd trimester all she's doing is growing big enough so that she can be born - from now until the end of the pregnancy, she'll gain weight faster than she'll increase in length - due to the deposits of white fat underneath the skin her skin's no longer red, but is now the wonderful newborn brown color - we can expect our miracle-gro muffin to gain about a ½# of weight per week from now until about 2 weeks before birth - great, that's just what mama wants to hear...even more weight to carry around!

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her brain's working overtime & developing faster than ever - connections between individual nerve cells are growing at a fast clip & she can now perceive information from all 5 senses - sure, she can't smell anything right now, but that's only because she's still submerged in amniotic fluid & needs to be breathing air to get a whiff of anything - lucky for us, ours might possibly be one of the very first scents she breathes in, a scent that'll quickly become her very favorite

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so what's she doing all day while mama's busy feathering her nest for her arrival? - making faces, hiccupping, swallowing, breathing, pedaling with little hands & feet along the uterine wall, & even sucking her thumb - in fact, some babies suck their thumbs so vigorously while in the womb, that they're born with a callus on their thumb [what a little sucker!]

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by now her lungs & digestive tract are nearly mature & her irises can now dilate & contract in response to light - her fingernails may reach the end of the hands, too - she's still developing & immune system's gained substantial strength over the past few weeks getting her in full gear to face our disease ridden world o’ wonders - her cute little noggin’ [which could already be covered with luscious locks or just pretty peach fuzz], is still soft because the skull bones haven't yet fused together - as much as that sounds a little too vulnerable, their 'skull softness' allows for a much smoother passage through the birth canal during labor...something both mama & ahniér will appreciate when it’s finally time to 'go'! - also, some babies will have that 'soft spot' on their head for up to one year after birth - mama may worry that if she's breathless from walking or sometimes even just sitting that ahniér's in danger...this' not true - she's getting plenty of oxygen from mama's placenta