36weeks

Our baby is still packing on the pounds — at the rate of about an ounce a day. She/he now weighs almost 6 pounds (like a crenshaw melon) and is more than 18 1/2 inches long. She/he's shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered her body as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that covered and protected her skin during her nine-month amniotic bath. Our baby swallows both of these substances, along with other secretions, resulting in a blackish mixture, called meconium, will form the contents of her first bowel movement.

At the end of this week, our baby will be considered full-term. (Full-term is 37 to 42 weeks; babies born before 37 weeks are pre-term and those born after 42 are post-term.) Most likely she's in a head-down position. But if she isn't, your practitioner may suggest scheduling an "external cephalic version," which is a fancy way of saying she'll try to coax our baby into a head-down position by manipulating her/him from the outside of your belly.