Welcome to Week 34 of Your Pregnancy!
Your Baby in Week 34 of Pregnancy
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The baby’s bone marrow is producing the platelets in the blood by week 34 of pregnancy. Blood platelets are clear and irregular shaped cells that are present within the red blood cells. The platelets are what work to form clots when you have a cut or an open wound that bleeds. The clots will prevent a person from losing too much blood.
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Blood platelets work with potassium and calcium to form a clot or a scab over a wound. When your baby gets to be preschool and school-aged, you will probably see a lot more evidence of how the platelets work for your child! Many children seem to be one huge scab during the summer months when they play hard outdoors.
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By week 34 of pregnancy your baby has now fallen into a regular sleeping pattern. You may even be able to recognize it. They may naturally take a nap while you are quiet, working at a desk or lying down. Or, the opposite may be true and they think it is play time when you are trying to rest! You can never control or predict how your baby will react. This sleep cycle pattern may continue even after they are born. If you can predict it now, you have a good chance of predicting it – or something very close to it – when they are a newborn.
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While your baby is sleeping, their eyes will be closed. When they are awake, the eyes remain open the whole time, even though they are in the uterus. The eyelids will blink and the eye will move around and look at their surroundings.
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The hair that is present at week 34 of pregnancy is lying on the scalp. There may be waves around a cowlick or the hair may be perfectly straight. You will know soon enough! The amniotic fluid and vernix that covers your baby keeps the hair from floating – so even with a 3D or 4D ultrasound, you would have trouble telling how long it is, or what the texture is. You might not be able to sense what color the strands are, but you will definitely know if there is a little or a lot of hair present.
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The lanugo has all but disappeared by week 34 of pregnancy and has made its way into the meconium stores. The vernix, the fatty coating over your baby’s outside, is now thicker to make up for it. However, the vernix will begin to thin the closer you come to the end of your pregnancy. The vernix thins only as the fat under your baby’s skin gets thicker. Both were important for temperature regulation, but now that the fat under the skin is thick, the vernix won’t be needed as much. Your baby may be born with a little bit of vernix or none at all. If they are born with some, it wipes off easily during their first bath.
- The fat is piling up on the elbows and knees by week 34 of pregnancy. Even though elbows and knees are bony, there is fat present around the joint and the muscle material. All places on the body need to be kept warm, and the elbow and knee are no exception.
- Once your baby is born, they may put on enough fat that the elbows and knees will dimple with all of the fat around it! And your baby will look adorable, whether they have fat rolls or not. Fat is what makes up most of the baby’s half a pound weight gain each week. Bone strengthening and fluid make up the other little bit of weight.
Your Body in Week 34 of Pregnancy
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Was that a contraction or was it just false labor? You’ll be asking yourself this question repeatedly from now until you are officially in labor. Before, you could just chalk up the quickening to Braxton Hicks, but now that you’ve reached this point in your pregnancy, it may be hard to tell! You have probably been told a thousand times that you’ll have no problem knowing when it’s true labor, but if you’ve never experienced it before, then how do you really know?!
These aren’t failsafe, but here are some “real” clues about real labor pains:
- The pains are steady and increase as they progress
- The pains, or contractions, will come in regular intervals and gradually grow closer together
- The pain may be sharp and take your breath away, make it hard to stand, or make it hard to concentrate on anything else but the pain shooting around your abdomen!
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False labor pains (such as Braxton Hicks) symptoms include:
- The pains aren’t a consistent length or distance apart and don’t have any rhythm in their occurrences
- Taking a warm shower makes them stop
- They do not get closer together or eventually quit all together.
Try to relax and put your feet up. If the contractions do remain consistent and become twelve minutes apart, or if you just need some peace of mind, don’t hesitate to call your doctor. You might just be having your baby!
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One thing to consider is circumcising your little boy. The standard procedure during the 1900’s was to have all little boys circumcised because of health reasons. Now, medical researchers are saying circumcision isn’t necessary but a choice for parents to make of their boys. It is considered cosmetic, unless you are Jewish, then it is because of your religion.
Circumcision involves removing the foreskin of the penis. There are several ways that the procedure is done, with many now being non-surgical. A local or topical numbing agent can be used if the skin is removed immediately or none is needed if the procedure involves string and waiting.
All are very safe but the debate is over how much pain it truly causes your infant. Some say a lot, while others say it is none. However, remember the choice is yours and yours alone, whether you decide to circumcise or not for religious or moral reasons. Your obstetrician can give you all of the information you need to investigate the procedure ahead of time.
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