39 Weeks Pregnant


Baby

Your baby is probably 50cm tall and weighs 3.5kg, and will continue to grow slowly. The boys usually weigh more than girls. The lanugo (fetal hair), that was covering the body of the fetus, is now gone. Some newborn babies still have some vernix on their arms and shoulders, but it is absorbed into the skin of the child itself quickly. He hiccups, blinks, swallows, pees and makes breathing-like movements. The child’s lungs are working intensively and produce a substance that keeps baby from suffocation when he or she makes the first breath.

You

If you feel tingling and abdominal pressure, it means that the cervix becomes softer and starts to open. You may feel difficulty in sleeping. Birth does not usually start with the dramatic outbreak of amniotic fluid like in Mexican telenovelas. Sometimes only spoonful of the amniotic fluid drips at once, and sometimes the fluid breaks out in active labor process, in the third case, a child can even be born in the amniotic sac. It may actually be difficult to distinguish whether the leak is amniotic fluid or urine. If you are unable to keep it back, it is amniotic fluid for sure.

Approaching childbirth is signaled by the discharge of the mucous plug, frequent and strengthening painful contractions. During the last weeks of gestation many women see weird dreams.

Ideas

  • Pack a handy nursing bra or three into your hospital bag.
  • Rest and focus on yourself.