Fetal development - 32 weeks pregnant

Written for Canada
Approved by the BabyCenter Canada Medical Advisory Board

Your baby now weighs approximately 3.75 pounds/ 1.7 kilograms and is about 17 inches / 42 centimetres long from head to toe. Although his lungs won't be fully developed until just before birth, your little one is inhaling amniotic fluid to exercise his lungs and practise breathing.

Some babies have a head of hair already, others have only a few wisps. Thick hair at birth doesn't necessarily mean thick hair later on but children with fine hair in childhood usually have thinner hair in adulthood.

If your baby is a boy, his testicles should be descending from his abdomen into his scrotum. Sometimes however, one or both testicles won't move into position until after birth. In two-thirds of all baby boys who have undescended testicles at birth, the condition corrects itself by the boy's first birthday.

You're probably gaining a pound/ 450 grams a week, largely because your baby is likely to gain more than half his birthweight during the seven weeks before delivery. Make sure you are eating well in these last few weeks.

�?Note: Experts say every baby develops differently -- even in utero. These fetal development pages are designed to give a general idea of how a fetus grows in the womb.