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Day Number 260 | 37 weeks
Your baby is now considered "full-term" and is fully formed. Your baby may be born with fingernails that are very long, which means giving your baby a "manicure" may be one of your first acts as a new mom or dad!
"Gina was difficult," says Todd Franco, a father from Pennsylvania. "Unfortunately she came into this world scratching and clawing anything in her path. We all bear scars of her wrath, pretty much all over the nose and cheeks. With her, we had to wait until she was good and sleeping, and then we went at her double-teaming her with the nail clippers."
"Be very careful when trimming nails not to cut nails shorter than the end of the finger, and never trim the nails by tearing or pulling them, which can lead to infection," says family physician Dr. David Fay.
Read Caring for Baby's Nails: Tips to Trim Without Fear.
A Word About Apgars
Your baby will also have his or her first test right after delivery. The Apgar score is a measurement of a newborn's response to birth and life outside the womb. Ratings are based on Appearance (color); Pulse (heartbeat); Grimace (reflex); Activity (muscle tone); and Respiration (breathing). The score is taken at one and five minutes (sometimes also 10 minutes) after birth, the high score being 10 and the low score being 1. This scale was named for its creator, Virginia Apgar (1909-1974).
Want to learn more about your soon-to-be newborn baby? Take our quiz Head to Toe: Getting to Know Your Newborn.
"Arianna Rose arrived loudly Wednesday morning at 8:45 a.m.," says Dawn Marie, new mom and Site Guest. "What a screamer, a lot louder than Angelina was. She weighed in at 7 pounds, 2 ounces, and 19 1/2 inches long. She is such a good baby so far, nursing like a champ, 'eliminating' like a champ, sleeping like a champ [and got] 9 out of 10 on the Apgar, no jaundice."
Read Apgar Scores: An In-depth Look at Baby's First Test.
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