I'm back in town from Tampa for our first Week 32 Update. To get us caught up, we'll have an update today, an update tomorrow, and a Belly Pic update on Monday. Then we'll update one more time on Tuesday to kick of Week 33 before Antoinette's Mom gets to town on Wednesday. She doesn't know it yet, but we are going to try and get her into the Belly Pic for Week 33 standing next to her pregnant daughter, so Charlotte, if you're reading this, prepare yourself for your Belly Pic photo op.
The picture this week is a picture of a baby born at Week 32. This is approximately the size little Billy would be if he were born today. The picture is all about giving you a sense of scale as to what Antoinette is carrying around all day inside of there.
All right, onto the little guy. Billy is weighing in at approximately 4 lbs. now. Crown to rump, he's just under a foot long and if stretched head to toe, he's a bit under a foot and a half in overall length. To create a little more perspective for you, here are our target ranges. For a typical full term baby (Week 37-Week 40), the average infant born weighs 6-8 lbs. and is between 19 and 20 inches long, give or take. That being said, we'll use 7 lbs. and 19.5 inches as our target weight/length. That means Billy should be over half the target birth weight (55%) and has nearly reached his target length at birth (87%). As you can see, the remainder of pregnancy will be focused with packing quality bone, muscle, and fat density onto his miniature frame, not to mention increased development of his organ systems and of course, his brain.
With her uterus expanding all the way up to about 5 inches above her belly button, Antoinette's belly has really begun to stick out, which you will see in the Belly Pic on Monday. Antoinette will only have two more doctor appointments before she begins going to the doctor weekly, marking the final phase of pregnancy.
As for little Billy, he's a snoozer. Doubling your body weight in less than two months is exhausting work and he'll spend that time sleeping about 90-95% of his days. Studies have shown that this time of rest includes REM sleep, indicated by electrical impulse mapping and under lid eye movement. The child appears to be dreaming, although about what is anyone's guess. And since we can't possibly recall that far back, we'll probably never know other than an educated guess. If dreams are a processing to some level of experiences and their placement in long term memory, the existence of REM sleep is interesting. At least in relation to a rapidly expanding sensory capacity. In other words, with each passing day, Billy's ability to touch, taste, smell, hear, and see are increasing, and each of those improved sensory capabilities results in a mountain of additional data to be processed and stored in his developing brain. This need to process and store, combined with the body's rapid expansion and energy usage in both of these endeavors seem to result in the increased need to rest and dream.
At this point, the little guy is probably spending most of his time in a head down position. Since he has nearly reached his full length, he has some long, skinny legs and arms that need to stretch out occasionally. Antoinette's expanding uterus is performing that expansion directly into her rib cage. When you package an unborn infant with increased muscle mass and a need to stretch at short notice with a uterus that is pressing close to a rib cage, the results are often startling. Billy's karate chops are getting stronger. The best solution to this problem seems to be sitting upright with proper posture. Doing so increases the room inside the uterus and actually moves the rib cage a bit farther away from the baby. It can also alleviate constant pressure if a foot gets caught under that rib.
Finally, the little guy's wrinkly skin is filling out as increased fat deposits continue to develop beneath the skin's protective surface. He has also begun to exhibit all of the natural abilities required to properly breastfeed. If you were able to touch the side of his face in the womb, he would turn his head toward the sensation as if positioning himself toward a food source. If you were to touch the bottom of his lip gently, he would open his mouth. These reflexes are natural instincts in newborn children helping them in the feeding process. The baby continues to perfect the ability to "latch on" using his thumb and also continues to prepare for milk by swallowing increasingly larger amounts of amniotic fluid. At birth, he will be an eating and pooping machine.
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