$Unique_ID{PAR00434}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{Pregnancy:  The Eighth Month:  Your Growing Baby}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{
Editors of Consumer Guide
Ellis, Jeffrey W
Ellis, Maria}
$Subject{Eighth Month Growing grow growth Fat skin lungs surfactant muscles
bones nervous system nerve nerves arms legs movements head-first cephalic
position breech cesarean section transverse positions}
$Log{
Your Growing Baby (Eighth Month)*0043401.tif
32-Week Fetus*0060206.tif}

Miracle of Birth


The Eighth Month:  Your Growing Baby


     During her eighth month in the womb, your baby will grow to a length of
16 to 18 inches and weigh four-and-a-half to six pounds.  Fat is being formed
beneath her skin, wrinkles are disappearing, and her body is continuing to
fill out.  In these last few weeks of pregnancy, she may gain nearly half a
pound of weight each week.  This is an incredible amount of growth when you
stop to think that by the fifth month she weighed only about 12 ounces.
     Within your baby's lungs, a substance called surfactant is being formed.
Surfactant will prevent the baby's delicate lungs from collapsing when she is
born.  The lungs are the last organ in your baby's body to mature, and once
the lungs are ready, your baby can easily survive outside your body.
     The movements of your baby's arms and legs are now much stronger and more
coordinated than in previous months because her muscles have grown larger, her
bones have hardened, and her nervous system has developed more nerve
connections.  While once her movements were twitches and flutters, they are
now purposeful and graceful.  You may actually be able to identify movements
of the arms and legs as they push up on the uterus and make small bumps
beneath your skin.
     Now that the baby has grown to a length of 16 to 18 inches, however, she
can no longer move her body around as freely as she could when she was
smaller.  Soon, by virtue of her size, she will have to stay in one position
until birth.
     The most common position for your baby to be in during the last two
months of pregnancy is the head-first or cephalic position--with her head in
the lower part of your uterus and her legs and buttocks up near your chest.
At this stage of pregnancy, about 95 percent of babies are in the head-first
position.
     In some cases, though, the baby may be in the breech position--that is,
with her feet and buttocks in the lower part of your uterus and her head up
near your chest.  About three percent of babies are in the breech position
during the last two months of pregnancy.  In some cases, your doctor may be
able to turn the baby from a breech to a cephalic position within the uterus.
A breech baby, however, can be born vaginally as long as the baby's head will
fit through the pelvic area.  Otherwise, a cesarean section may be performed.
     Rarely, your baby may be in the transverse position.  Here, instead of
the baby lying up and down, she is lying crosswise or perpendicular to your
body, with her head on one side of your uterus (for example, to the right) and
her legs and buttocks on the other side (for example, to the left).  The
problem with a baby lying in the transverse position is that she cannot fit
through your pelvis and vagina this way.  Only one baby in a thousand is in
the transverse position at the time of birth.  If the position of the baby
makes vaginal delivery too dangerous or simply impossible, a cesarean
section will generally be performed (see The Ninth Month:  Ask the Doctor).
     It may be possible for you to tell the position of your baby by the force
and location of her movements.  Since she makes the most powerful movements
with her legs, her legs are probably in the area of the abdomen where you feel
the most forceful kicks.