Ãh¥¥¹Lµ{ Pregnancy

Week 38

Your baby weighs close to 7 pounds and is about 21 inches long. Your baby's head is now cradled in your pelvic cavity ¡X surrounded and protected by your pelvic bone. This position clears some much-needed space for her growing legs and buttocks.

 Many babies now have a full head of hair, with locks from 1/2 to 1 1/2 inches long. But don't be surprised if her hair isn't the same color as yours. Dark-haired couples are sometimes thrown for a loop when their children are born with bright red or blond hair, and fair-haired couples have been rewarded with Elvis Presley look-alikes. And then, of course, some babies don't have any hair at all.

Speaking of hair, most of the downy coat of lanugo that covered your baby from 26 weeks has disappeared, and so has most of the vernix caseosa, the whitish substance that enshrouds the baby. Your baby will swallow her lanugo and exterior coating, along with other secretions, and store them in her bowels. These will become your infant's first bowel movement, a blackish waste called meconium.

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