Thirty-six Weeks Pregnant

I am still packing on the pounds — at the rate of about an ounce a day. I now weigh almost 6 pounds and am a little under 19 inches long. I'm shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered my body as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that covered and protected my skin during my nine-month amniotic bath. I swallow both of these substances, along with other secretions, resulting in a blackish mixture called meconium which will form the contents of my first bowel movement.

At the end of this week, I will be considered full-term. (Full-term is 37 to 42 weeks; babies born before 37 weeks are pre-term and those born after 42 are post-term.)