Week 32: Your pregnancy
Your baby's growth: Rapid changes
Your baby is now about 4 pounds—an incredible increase of almost 2 pounds from last month—and about 15.5 inches long.
Your baby's appearance changes rapidly this week. Most of the wrinkles disappear from her face, and there may be a lot of hair on her head. In fact as the lanugo hair on her body begins to fall off, the hair on her head grows even faster. By week 32 some babies already have a thick head of hair while others have only a few strands.
Other developments this week:
- Nails. Your baby will have completely formed fingernails and toenails.
- Head movement. She can turn her head from side to side.
- Organs continue to mature.
- Sucking. Your little one's sucking muscles have matured and enable her to latch on and breastfeed once she arrives. A good sucking pattern is also a sign of good brain and muscle development.
- Dreaming. Toward the end of the eighth month, she begins dreaming during sleep, according to brain scans. Due to her impressive brain development, her sleep will now include both REM and non-REM sleep stages. REM stands for "rapid eye movement," the dreaming stage of sleep.
What's happening with you
- Weight gain. You've probably gained about 3 to 4 pounds this month. Don't be alarmed—gaining a pound a week is quite normal during the last trimester because your baby's demand for nourishment increases as she experiences the final growth spurt before birth.
- Numb and/or sensitive spots. As the skin on your belly expands, you may notice numb spots or highly sensitive areas on your upper abdomen or rib cage. This is because as your skin stretches, the nerve fibers in it stretch too. This can create extremely sensitive or insensitive areas on the skin, but this sensation will cease once your baby arrives.