Week 38

It's possible the baby may weigh close to seven pounds this week (although I'm thinking he may be under 7 lbs...) and may be measuring about 20 inches long. Fetal development is nearly complete as the baby tends to a few last-minute details like shedding the skin-protecting vernix and lanugo into the amniotic fluid (which he swallows..... eww) and some of it winds up in his intestines where it — along with other shed cells, bile, and other waste products (yum) — will turn into your baby's first bowel movement (meconium) and perhaps his first diaper change. He's also producing more surfactant, a substance that prevents the air sacs in his lungs from sticking to one another once he starts to breathe. So, at 38 weeks, all systems are (almost) a go!!! Very exciting!

Meanwhile, my body is tending to its own final touches before the big day, one of which is getting that milk machine up and running. Part of the process is producing colostrum, a thin yellowish liquid that's the precursor to breast milk.

Colostrum is full of antibodies that protect your newborn, and has more protein and less fat and milk sugar (the better to digest it) than the breast milk that arrives later. I read that many women start leaking around this time, but I haven't yet (that I know of)... This may be TMI but I thought it was REALLY cool.... what I read said that if I wasn't leaking but was curious about this miracle substance, that I could gently squeeze my areola to express a few drops... I thought about it........ and I wasn't really that curious but reading that MADE me curious so I tried it and it worked!!! I was really excited! It was so weird but really cool! It made me feel like he's going to be here REALLY soon! And when he gets here, he's ready to be fed! :)