Pregnancy week 35

You

You are probably feeling pretty tired and cumbersome by now. You may be feeling anxious or irritable and have mood swings again. You may also feel a heavy dragging feeling in your pelvis, as the weight of your baby bears down. You may be experiencing vivid and unsettling dreams, which is your mind's way of adapting to an approaching life change. A watery fluid may start leaking from your breast. This is colostrum and is the first breast milk you produce, usually after the birth.

Sometimes, particularly in second and subsequent pregnancies, it's produced several weeks before labour. You may find that pressure from the baby's head causes you to leak a tiny amount of urine. Your baby can by now recognise and react to simple songs. Try singing a nursery rhyme to see if it affects her. If your bump aches you could be straining the ligaments that support the uterus. Avoid lifting and standing for long periods and you could try using a support belt.

Your baby

Your baby has spent the last two weeks growing in preparation for birth. Your baby responds very strongly to pain, light and sound. The volume of amniotic fluid shrinks as she fills almost all the space in your womb. The placenta has reached maturity, has stopped growing, and now begins to age. At birth it will weigh about one sixth of your baby's weight.

Your baby's intestine fills with a dark green, sticky substance called meconium (made of dead cells and waste from the liver and bowel). She may pass this during labour if she becomes distressed. Her lungs are fully formed but still need to mature.

Your baby's skin is becoming less transparent and more pink rather than red. Toes and fingernails are now fully grown. She produces cortisol to help the lungs develop in preparation for birth. A boy's testicles will drop into the scrotum and a girl's breasts and sexual organs may be swollen by hormones. They will shrink after the birth. Your baby will be gaining 1oz a day now.