Mother's body and baby's development in 36-40 Weeks

Your Journey Finally Ends ! And another one starts, one with a baby in your arms soon 

At 36 weeks...

At 36 weeks of pregnancy, you could be thrilled, exhausted or restless to get this over with and start the new phase of parenting. If your baby’s head is engaged (almost inside the pelvic cavity), you will start to feel pressure on your cervical area and this can be discomforting and might make you urinate more often. The upside of this development is that as the baby passes down, breathlessness decreases as the pressure is gradually being relieved. At 36 weeks, the baby is about 34 cm tall and weighs around 2.5 kg. 

At 37 weeks... 

At 37 weeks, “not being able to sleep” becomes the chief complaint. You might visit the toilet more often than usual and this will be mostly during the night, and the baby’s movements might have started to get worrisome for you due to sleeplessness, try to rest up or sleep during the day. The complain of vaginal discharge may have started to become more concerning now and this is normal so don’t worry about this for now. 

At 37 weeks, your baby looks just like a newborn at this time and is 35 cm tall weighing around 30 kg and is getting heavier by the day. It will probably have fully functional lungs and have a firm hand grasp, can do hiccups and little jumps in your tummy. At this point your breasts can be leaking colostrum. You might be experiencing Braxton Hicks contractions and these even though might be discomforting at present are actually healthy for the baby and are preparing all your pelvic floor muscles for labor and birth. 

At 38 weeks...

At 38 weeks of pregnancy, the baby is 35 cm tall and weighs around 3.2 kg, most of the lanugo has disappeared but the vernix continues to protect the baby’s skin from the harmful effects of amniotic fluid on skin.

The baby’s bowel contains meconium, that will act as the first few poos and the color of this will range from black to green to yellow as the baby starts to consume milk. 

At 39 weeks...

At 39 weeks, the cervix starts to thin out- this is called “effacement.” You could be experiencing “show” at any moment now, if the water breaks, observe the smell and color of the fluid and report to your designated hospital for birth. If the baby’s head has made it to your pelvic cavity then this will start producing a pressure on the pelvis. You’ll have increasing Braxton Hicks contractions and it will become hard to tell them from real contractions.

At 39 weeks, your baby’s growth will become less dramatic as its about to be born. At this stage it is 35-36 cm tall and weighs around 3.3 kg with a lot of fat under the skin. In a boy, the testicles have completely descended into the scrotum. The vernix also disappears by this time and just some of it may be left under the arms, the elbow folds or under chin. The baby’s head starts to drop lower in the pelvis and this will relieve some pressure. 

If you do reach 40 weeks, its just the closing time now, hold on! 

40 weeks is the due date time and if you haven’t gone into labour yet, its not worrying but know that it will happen soon. In Pakistan, most babies are born before this stage.