32 Weeks

My Baby
Sure, 37 weeks is the magic number -- that's when your baby is officially deemed full-term, even though pregnancy may go to 40 weeks or beyond! But this week is also an important one for early arrivals, since almost all babies born at this stage or later survive and go on to have very healthy, normal lives. By this time all of his major organs are fully functioning except the lungs, which need just a bit more time to mature completely. This week your baby will also start to shed that downy hair (lanugo) that's covered his body for the past few months. He'll lose most of this fuzzy coating by the time he's born, but you may spot some errant hairs on his back or shoulders.
At around 4 pounds, your baby's taking up a lot of space in your uterus now -- so much so that it's getting a bit crowded for kicking. So don't be alarmed if you don't feel him moving quite as much, though it's a good idea to count your baby's movements occasionally to make sure all's well in there (it's best if you can do this while you lie on your left side for a while). If you feel anything fewer than 10 kicks, rolls, flutters, etc., in two hours, call your doctor to double-check that everything's A-OK.