Her growth, in terms of her length, will soon slow down, but she'll continue to gain weight until she's born (Hill 2019a). She weighs about 1.3kg (2.9lb) at this stage (Hill 2019a).
White, greasy, moisturising vernix coats your baby's skin from head to toe and from back to front (Singh and Archana 2008, Taïeb 2018). Vernix helps to protect her skin from its long immersion in amniotic fluid.
Vernix is also antimicrobial, keeping bacterial and fungal infections at bay (Taïeb 2018, Visscher et al 2015). Your baby's immune system is also busy developing to help protect her against infections (Hill 2019b).
If you shine a torch or a bright light at your bump, you may soon feel your baby respond by turning her head. However, her eyesight is still developing, so try again in a couple of weeks if she doesn't respond now (Moore et al 2019a).
Your baby's eyesight will continue to develop after birth. When she's born, she'll only be able to see faces and objects within 20cm to 30cm (NHS 2018, von Hofsten et al 2014).
The amniotic fluid surrounding your baby has been increasing every week, but this growth has been slowing as your baby gets bigger. By 37 weeks, the volume of the amniotic fluid will peak at between 700ml and 1,000ml (between 1.4 pints and 1.6 pints) (Carter 2017, Hill 2016c, Moore et al 2019b). This will tail off by the time you reach your due date, when the fluid levels will drop to about 600ml (1 pint) (Hill 2019c).
Check out our pregnancy guide to see what changes could be happening to you at 30 weeks pregnant.
Why you need to wee so often
Find out what causes frequent urination during the last trimester.More pregnancy side-effects videos
Note: every baby develops differently. This page is designed to give you a general idea of how a fetus grows in the womb.
References
Carter BS. 2017. Polyhydramnios and oligohydramnios. Medscape. reference.medscape.com [Accessed November 2019]Hill MA. 2019a. Fetal development. University of New South Wales Embryology. embryology.med.unsw.edu.au [Accessed November 2019]
Hill MA. 2019b. Immune system. University of New South Wales Embryology. embryology.med.unsw.edu.au [Accessed November 2019]
Hill MA. 2019c. Placenta - membranes. University of New South Wales Embryology. embryology.med.unsw.edu.au [Accessed November 2019]
Moore KL, Persaud TVN, Torchia MG. 2019a. Fetal period. Chapter 6 in The developing human: clinically oriented embryology. 11th ed. Elsevier
Moore KL, Persaud TVN, Torchia MG. 2019b. Placenta and fetal membranes. Chapter 7 in The developing human: clinically oriented embryology. 11th ed. Elsevier
NHS. 2018. Getting to know your newborn. NHS, Health A-Z, Pregnancy and baby. www.nhs.uk [Accessed November 2019]
Singh G, Archana G. 2008. Unravelling the mystery of vernix caseosa. Indian J Dermatol 53(2):54-60. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov [Accessed October 2019]
Taïeb A. 2018. Skin barrier in the neonate. Pediatr Dermatol 35 Suppl 1:s5-s9. onlinelibrary.wiley.com [Accessed November 2019]
Visscher MO, Adam R, Brink S, et al. 2015. Newborn infant skin: physiology, development, and care. Clin Dermatol 33(3):271-80
von Hofsten O, von Hofsten C, Sulutvedt U, et al. 2014. Simulating newborn face perception. J Vis 14(13):16. jov.arvojournals.org [Accessed November 2019]
