Your baby is still putting on the pounds ¡X about an ounce a day. She weighs about 6 1/2 pounds and is nearly 21 inches long.
You may begin to feel an increased pressure in your lower abdomen and notice that your baby is gradually dropping. This is called lightening or engagement and your lungs and stomach will finally get a chance to stretch out a little ¡X breathing and eating should become easier. However, walking may become increasingly uncomfortable ¡X some women say it feels as if the baby is going to fall out. Also, you may still feel as if you need to go to the bathroom all the time.
The good news is that by the end of this week, your pregnancy will be full-term and you could give birth any day now. (Babies between 38 and 42 weeks are considered full-term ¡X a baby born before 38 weeks is preterm and after 42 is post-term.) At your weekly visit, your doctor or midwife may check to see if you've started dilating (when the cervix opens) and effacing (when the cervix thins), and what position the baby is in, which is a way of estimating how far the baby has dropped into the pelvis. Make note of it so that once you're in labor you can tell your nurse at the hospital.
¡@
¡@