Baby at 30 Weeks Pregnant 🚼
Tipping the scales at 3 pounds and stretching in at 16.5 inches long, Baby Natural continues to bulk up. From this point forward, he'll gain about a half a pound per week. Go baby!
In other news, don't expect Baby Natural to come out peachy clean and fresh-faced. Many babies are red—even blueish—in complexion due to the strain of birth and their transition to breathing air. My daughter was also bruised and puffy since her birth was so fast and furious.
Many babies emerge covered in a white, creamy coating called vernix caseosa, which—true story—mean "cheese varnish" in Latin. Your baby began producing vernix about 10 weeks ago to protect his skin from being pickled in amniotic fluid month after month. Made up of lipids, amino acids, and proteins, vernix supports good thermal regulation, moisturizes baby's sensitive skin, and helps baby slide down the birth canal during labor.
If you're giving birth in a hospital, your nurse or even OB-GYN may want to wipe the vernix off right away or even give baby a bath. Don't let them!
Vernix is antibacterial and antimicrobial and protects baby from pathogens inside and outside the womb. Since vernix smells like breastmilk, it may also encourage early initiation of breastfeeding from baby. Even the World Health Organization recommends leaving the vernix alone. If necessary, blood and fluids can be wiped from baby’s face, but don’t wash away baby's vernix. Instead, rub it in!
Learn more about vernix here.
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You at 30 Weeks Pregnant 🚺
Congratulations, mama, you're about 3/4 through your pregnancy!
Things are gettin' real. And if you are anything like me, you might be getting nervous about the big day. (I mean, the idea of pushing something the size of a watermelon through your legs is intimidating to say the least!)
Your mental state is so important walking into birth. Your body knows what to do, but fearful thoughts and emotions can get in the way.
- Maybe you're afraid you'll have a bad vaginal tear.
- Or, that you'll give birth in the car.
- Or, that you'll end up with a C-section.
I speak from experience when I say that you can drive yourself crazy with all of these "what ifs."
But doing positive birth affirmations can change that. You need to regularly flood your mind with positive thoughts about your pregnancy, your body, your baby, and your birth.
Check out this post about the power of birth affirmations. You can also grab a deck of our popular pregnancy affirmation cards or our birth affirmation tracks.
Know that you can and will ROCK your birth, no matter how it unfolds.
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