(upbeat music)
- At about seven pounds and
21 inches long on average,
your bun in the oven is now
a fully cooked loaf of bread.
He's still got some
work ahead of him though
before he makes his big debut.
He'll lose the vernix, that waxy coating
that's been protecting
his fragile fetal skin
from amniotic fluid, and he'll shed
any remaining lanugo,
the fine hair that was
temporarily covering his body.
Wondering where it all goes?
Once the vernix and lanugo are shed
into the surrounding amniotic fluid,
your baby ingests them along
with other waste products,
such as bile, urine and old cells.
These all percolate in
those teeny intestines
ultimately winding up in his
diaper as the very first,
very dark green and very
sticky poop, known as meconium.
Might not be a tasty first meal for him,
but it's pretty efficient.
Also gearing up for the big
day are your baby's lungs,
now fully and mature but
still producing surfactant
in large quantities to
ensure that the transition
from watery womb to wondrous
world is a smooth one.
Your little diver's been
practicing his breathing moves
under water for months
and he's just about ready
to try out the real thing.
As baby prepares for life on the outside,
the placenta, his lifeline
in this underwater world,
starts to slowly deteriorate.
Not to worry, it still
has plenty of life left
to sustain your little
one until the big day.
(upbeat music)
