Your baby is now developed enough to be considered full term if they were born this week. If you’re feeling tired and overheated at the moment, it’s because your body is working harder to nurture your baby and support their extra weight.

Your baby’s development

At this stage, your baby measures around 48cm in length and weighs an average of 2.8kg.

Because your baby now has less and less room to move, their movements may feel more like squirming than kicking.

Your baby’s face has filled out, their neck has thickened and their eyelids can now open and close easily. They even have eyelashes.

If you shine a light on your bump, your baby may turn towards it in the womb.

They have also developed enough coordination for them to make grasping motions with their fingers. This shows they are getting ready for life in the outside world.

Your Body

You are probably feeling tired and overheated at the moment. This is because your body is working overtime to nurture your baby and support their extra weight. The more blood that your body circulates to you and your baby, the more calories you’ll need and with all this extra energy being used, the warmer you’ll become.

If you’re too hot, why not try some of these ideas to help you cool down:

• Keep a gel mask in the fridge, to put on your eyes when you are resting
• Place your hands and wrists under cold running water to cool down your bloodstream
• Keep a cooling water spray, or mini-fan in your handbag to refresh you when you are out and about
• Drink plenty of water to keep you cool, hydrated and replace the fluids you’ve lost through perspiration
• Place your feet in a bath of cool water

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Please note: These pregnancy week-by-week articles, are meant to give you a general sense of the growth and development going on within you. However, it’s important to remember that every baby develops differently, even during pregnancy.