Tuesday, April 15, 2008

What's Wee Up To This Month? Installment Ten

FINAL INSTALLMENT!

Month Ten -- Weeks 37-40

Unless you're already a parent or have lots of friends who are, you're probably wondering why there have been 10 monthly installments to this big adventure. Let me explain...

Short answer : Women are pregnant for 10 months, not 9.

Long answer : Baby doctors are not interested in tracking pregnancies in any unit larger than weeks (and can even calculate in days when they're measuring the baby on a sonogram photo). Human moms are pregnant for 40 weeks (well, a baby is due after being carried around for 40 weeks). Since the number of days in a month is typically closer to 28 than 35, we'll call every 4 weeks equal to 1 month. Divide 40 by 4, get 10, and there you have it. Ten months is longer than nine months, for sure, but it's nothing like 22 months, which is how long elephant moms carry their "little" babies around. I think the 9 month concept probably is a count of how long a woman is pregnant once she knows she's pregnant, if you follow me without my using any explicit language. So now you know, and knowing is half the battle!

Size -- Wee is probably going to spend all month at around 20 inches (head-to-toe), which is where he finished last month, and will grow from about 6 pounds to 7 or 8 pounds (and hopefully no more!).

Development --His senses are all ready to go! He can taste, feel hot / cold / pressure when Chris spanks his little bottom for messing with his mom, hear, and see. His vision won't be too good for the first few months after he's born, but he should be able to see within about 6 inches of his face right away.

Appearance -- Like a real baby!

Rachel's belly at 36 weeks


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