Pregnancy At Week 32

What Size Is The Baby In Pregnancy Week 32?

By far the best part is finding out the size of that little baby in your belly, so without further adieu: Coconut. Get out!? You are doing fantastic! That means the baby is getting to be about 19 inches long and almost four pounds.

What Does Baby Look Like?

That little baby is starting to get a little bit of fat forming under the skin. That helps to give the skin less of a transparent look. In addition to giving those sweet baby rolls.

Hopefully the baby has settled into a head down position. If the baby is head up the doctor may refer to this as being breech. Less than 5 percent of babies will end up staying in breech position by the time the show is on the road for birth. That means that you should not worry, mama.

Baby is in a curled position at this point as the space starts to get a little tight. Who knew in pregnancy week 32 room would start getting sparse?

What Else Is Happening To Baby This Week?

There is a lot of practicing going on this week. The baby is working on swallowing and sucking. There is some practice with breathing and kicking. Don’t ask me why he/she needs to practice kicking. You’re the parent. What are you teaching?

Baby’s sleep cycles are about 20 to 40 minutes long at this time.

What is Going on With Mom?

Braxton Hicks contractions may have found their way into your life. This is your body flexing muscles in preparation for pushing that baby out. The feeling is like a hardening or bunching of your uterus. The frequency usually picks up as you get closer to the day of the birth. Think of these as a warm-up. Something to keep in mind if this isn’t your first birth, these contractions will usually start earlier and have more intensity in women that have had more babies.

If the contractions continue after changing position then they could be the real things. Additionally if they get stronger and more regular that is another sign that this could be a preterm labor situation. Call your provider for direction on how to proceed.

You may find that you are getting stretch marks. Try not to bet to upset. I read somewhere that up to 90% of women get them. That means that you have a lot of good company if you do. If you don’t … well keep that to yourself.

Ultra Sound Photos

Are you aware that until recently ultrasound photos were not available in 3D or 4D options? That you had to go to the doctor to have them done? If you would have told me a couple years ago that you could get all these things done I would be shocked. This can be beneficial or it can be a less desirable thing as you will see in the following paragraph.

The ultrasound was traditionally a prenatal tool for quite a few years. This tool allowed doctors to do measurements and to see any problems prior to birth. The measurements include those of the baby, measurements in amniotic fluid, and where the placenta is located. Knowing this information can help plan for a safe birth.

Nowadays they are still used for that, but they are also available for a quick peak into the womb to see how things are. The FDA does warn against having the ultrasound done just for “fun.” There is greater power involved in a 3D machine than the regular one. Additionally when an untrained ultrasound tech does them, they are unable to give as much info. This can create some worry for the mother. Or if the mother sees something on the screen she can unduly worry over normal things. The best rule of thumb would be to check with your provider before getting one of these scans in order to verify that it is ok.

Activities to Try

Dream Journal

This could be very entertaining later on. Your dreams are being affected by the hormones from pregnancy and you may find you have some pretty vivid dreams. This will be fun to review in the future.

Eat Regular Snacks

You might find that you aren’t hungry now that it’s so crowded in your belly. Snacking will keep your energy up while not overfilling you up. Big meals could make you uncomfortable.