MamaMagic Milestones Winter 2014 | Page 17

Week 34 Your baby is the size of a cantaloupe melon. Length: 45 cm Weight: 2.2 kg At 34 weeks your baby will start making his way towards your pelvis to assume his position for birth. This will cause another weight shift and a waddle in mom. He will also be acting like a newborn, with his eyes wide open while awake and closed while sleeping. Week 35 Your baby is now approximately the size of a honeydew melon. Length: 46.2 cm Weight: 2.4 kg It is common that your movements will lull your baby to sleep and he will become active when you rest. He will continue with the same pattern when born, until he learns that sleeping should be done at night! Week 36 Your baby is the size of a big leafy romaine lettuce. Length: 47 cm Weight: 2.6 kg Your baby could drop into the birth canal at any time… so be prepared! Week 37 Your baby will now be as long as stalk of Swiss chard. Length: 48.6 cm Weight: 2.9 kg Many babies now have a full head of hair with locks up to 3.5 cm long. But he could just as easily have no hair at all. Full term babies can be born from 37 weeks; if born before 37 weeks they are considered premature. Week 38 Your baby has now grown to be as long as a leek. Length: 49 cm Weight: 3 kg If you don’t know yet if you are carrying a boy or girl a clue could be the size of your bump – boy babies tend to be bigger than girl babies, on average. Weeks 39 Your baby now resembles a watermelon in size and weight. Length: 49.5 cm Weight: 3.3 kg Your baby is probably shedding the greasy vernix from his skin, which turns the clear amniotic fluid a milky colour. Weeks 40-42 Your baby is now a slightly bigger watermelon than last week. Length: 50 cm Weight: 3.5 kg Your baby is more than likely one of 96 % of babies who is ready to come out now. The average baby weighs about 3.5 kg and measures in at 50 cm at birth. The Guinness Book of Records for the world’s heaviest baby sits at 10.8 kg, and the lightest at 260 g – which, while these are extreme cases, does go to show how much babies can vary!