She can turn her head from side to side and open and close her eyes. She will also be practising her sucking and swallowing to prepare for feeding. Her lungs are continuing to mature, producing increasing amounts of surfactant. Baby is possibly weighing something between 1.5kg and 2kg and could be 29cm or so long from head to bum. As baby’s living quarters become more cramped, those movements you feel may change to become less sharp and jabby, and more slow and deliberate.
During these final weeks of pregnancy, your unborn baby begins to store iron in her liver, which is her way of storing energy and iron until she starts eating solids, about 4 to 6 months after birth. The mother-to-be hosting all this baby growth and development can start to feel a little tired by now if her own iron stores are getting low. Your blood volume has increased 40 to 50 per cent since you became pregnant – which has also required plenty of iron! Make sure your diet includes some lean red meat, vitamin C (which aids the body’s absorption of iron) and leafy green vegetables to make sure your own stores of iron don’t get too low.
Baby’s skin is becoming soft and smooth as she plumps up in preparation for birth. She’s rapidly losing that wrinkled, alien look and her skeleton is hardening. Not long now before you will be holding her in your arms and seeing what she looks like for yourself.
Just like adults, all babies are different and develop at varying rates in the womb. This information gives a general idea of your baby's development and progress.