34 WEEKS PREGNANT
Lungs are close to fully mature
Baby this week: about 44.8 cm — head to heel · about 2.1 kg
≈ 44.8 cm — about the size of a cantaloupe
Illustration enlarged for clarity — the amber marker shows true relative size
Your baby this week
- The lungs are nearly mature, with just a bit more development left
- The waxy vernix coating and downy lanugo hair start to shed
- The central nervous system and lungs continue fine-tuning ahead of birth
- The fetus has settled into a fairly consistent sleep-wake pattern
Your body this week
- Frequent, shorter sleep stretches at night are common as comfort becomes harder to find
- Some notice their belly button flattening or even popping out
This week's tip: This is a reasonable week to start packing a hospital bag, so it's ready well before your due date.
Want the bigger picture — organ development, nutrition, scans and warning signs for this stage? See month 8: Getting ready for the outside.
Sizes and milestones are typical ranges — every pregnancy runs on its own clock. Educational content; your prenatal care team's guidance always comes first.