Week 31: Another day... another ounce

Fetal development in pregnancy week 31

~length
16 in | 41 cm

~weight
3.3 lbs | 1.5 kg

This week, your amazing growing baby is around 3 pounds and 17 inches tall.
With each added layer of baby fat, your baby's wrinkly raisin skin starts to look more and more like it will when they're born.

The heavy news: you can expect your miracle-gro muffin to gain about a half a pound of weight per week from now until about two weeks before birth.

Your baby's developing immune system has made some serious gains over the past weeks getting them in full gear to face our disease-ridden world o’ wonders.

Even so, a large majority of your child’s immune strength will need to come from your milk in the first year.
Their cute little noggin’ (which could already be covered with luscious locks or just purty peach fuzz), is still soft because the skull bones have not yet fused together.

As disturbing as having an infant with a soft cracked skull sounds, it's pretty much a necessity for passage through the birth canal during labor.

If your baby is in your birth canal for an extended period, they'll come out with a bit of a cone head, as a result of their skull plates being compressed while in your rather snug birth canal. It's normal, harmless and their skull will even out into a more round, less cone-heady shape in the next few weeks.

Oh, and FYI: your baby may have that “soft spot” on their head for up to eighteen months after birth.