38 Weeks

Baruch is 38 weeks old. Ready to pop any moment!!

Can you tell if you’re carrying a boy or a girl? One hint may come from the size of your baby — boys tend to be slightly heavier than girls. Babies at week 39 weigh about 6.8 to 7 pounds / 3 to 3.2 kilograms and continue to build the fat stores that will help regulate body temperature after birth. Your little one’s organ systems are fully developed and in place, but the lungs will be last to reach maturity. (Even after your baby is born, it may take a few hours before she establishes a normal breathing pattern.)

Wondering what colour your baby’s eyes will be? Most Caucasian babies are born with dark blue eyes and their true eye colour — be it brown, green or blue — may not reveal itself for weeks or months. The colour of your baby’s eyes in the first minutes after birth won’t last — exposure to light changes a baby’s initial eye colour. Most African and Asian babies usually have dark grey or brown eyes at birth — their dark eyes becoming a true brown or black after the first six months or year. Multiracial children often turn out to have the most beautiful coloured eyes.

When Baruch eventually pops out, this is what (s)he’ll look like:

Newborns have big heads, no necks, short legs and big, distended torsos. In short, they look like ET. Because newborns have spent an average of 12 hours squeezing through the birth canal, their head can often be a little pointy. Babies born by caesarean often have an edge, beauty-wise, because their heads don’t have to squeeze through the birth canal.

Don’t be alarmed by the soft spots on your baby’s skull, known as fontanelles, which allows the head to compress enough to fit through the birth canal. The rear fontanelle takes about four months to close, while a front one takes between nine and 18 months. Also expect your baby’s genitals to be somewhat swollen from the extra dose of female hormones he got from you just before birth; the face and the eyes can appear swollen as well. His lips will be pink and his hands and feet blue for the first few hours of life

Your baby’s skin

Newborn skin varies in appearance according to how many weeks pregnant you were when your baby was born. Premature babies have thin, transparent-looking skin and may be covered with lanugo, a fine, downy hair. Babies born prematurely will also still be covered with vernix, a greasy white substance that protects his skin from the amniotic fluid. Full-term and late babies will have only a few traces of vernix in the folds of their skin. Late babies may also have a slightly wrinkly appearance and very little, if any, lanugo.

Birthmarks — ranging from temporary off-coloured patches to permanent splotches — are common. About half of all babies are born with milia, white dots on their faces that look like tiny pimples. These disappear in time.

What colour will his hair be?

Whatever your own and your partner’s hair colour, be prepared for some surprises: remember, you are both carrying genes from former generations. Dark-haired couples have been thrown when their children are born with bright red or blond hair and vice versa. And then there are the parents who bemoan their baby’s baldness. In fact, newborn hair doesn’t actually have much bearing on what your child’s hair will eventually turn out like. Raven-haired newborns can grow up to be blondes, while blondes often turn into brunettes.

Of course, your baby may be completely bald when he is born, in which case you won’t know his hair colour till a little later on.

How about his eyes?

Wondering what colour your baby’s eyes will be? Most Caucasian babies are born with dark blue eyes and their true eye colour — be it brown, green, hazel or blue — may not reveal itself for a few months. The colour of your baby’s eyes in the first minutes after birth won’t last — exposure to light changes a baby’s initial eye colour. Most African and Asian babies usually have dark grey or brown eyes at birth, their dark eyes becoming a true brown or black after the first six months or year. Mixed race children can have a variety of different eye colours. It’s even possible for babies to be born with eyes of two different colours, although this is rare.

Big head eh? Takes after his/her father then….