Pregnancy Week 34

Week by Week

34-weeks This week of pregnancy, your baby is almost 19 inches in length and weighs almost 5 pounds now. Your amitotic fluid will reach its maximum capacity this week (about 2 pints), so your baby will be resting on the walls of the uterus rather than floating in the amniotic fluid.

Your baby is drinking about a pint of that amniotic fluid each day and urinating the same amount. Urine, along with sweat and other fluids from your baby, help to make up the amniotic fluid. Your baby’s growth rate has slowed down some but is still steady, as he or she continues to put on weight and fill out. Your baby’s skull is still pliable and not completely joined, so that he or she can ease out of the birth canal.

The top of your uterus has risen to almost 6 inches above your belly button at this point in your pregnancy and you may have gained 24-30 pounds. As your growing baby moves lower in the birth canal, you may be feeling like he or she will fall out, with the added pressure. This may be quite uncomfortable at times and if you are concerned about it, contact your doctor or midwife. They just might perform a pelvic exam to check to see how low your baby’s head is. Braxton Hicks contractions may be getting more numerous and stronger now, which is typical as your due date approaches.

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