Congratulations on coming this far because week 40 means you and your baby are officially about to meet each other really soon! Many pregnant women take precautionary steps and prepare for the arrival of the baby by reading up on various pregnancy related material. We’ve got you covered too!
Your baby is making remarkable progress as she develops in the womb. Some of these developments include:
Also, your baby’s body is successfully breaking down bilirubin by moving across the placenta where it gets flushed out with the other waste products. Once the baby is born and the umbilical cord is cut, her body will have to get rid of the bilirubin on its own. This will normally take a few days. Sometimes it gets built up in the baby’s body and hence the baby may contract Jaundice. This can be taken care of by exposing her to light.
40 weeks pregnant baby size would be between 2.7 Kgs to 4 Kgs by weight and will measure between 19 inches to 22 inches long (though a lot of babies who are born smaller or bigger have grown up to be healthy). Your baby will be of the size of a watermelon at this time.
Your body changes during pregnancy to accommodate and nurture the growing foetus. It is important to know that it is not necessary that your water will rupture before the onset of labour. In fact, very few women experience this. Even if your membrane ruptures, it will be a slow trickle or leak or even a small gush.
Pregnant women may experience the following symptoms:
The baby at this stage will drop lower in the pelvis, thereby increasing the discomfort in the pelvic region. This is very common at 40 weeks.
It is okay if you can’t sleep as anxiety can keep you up at night. You may want to indulge in some relaxing activities like reading a book or writing a journal. Plenty of rest is also advised.
Since you can’t sleep properly you are bound to feel tired. So, make sure you have some peace and quiet time to help you relax.
Those false contractions that you’ve probably been experiencing all this while (Braxton-Hicks) may actually ‘not be so false’ anymore. Time your contractions to analyse how far apart they actually are. In case time difference between two contractions is very less, you may have actually reached an early stage of labour.
Even at 40 weeks, there might be no signs of labour. However, you can expect these signs to arrive soon. These include:
There are multiple ways to do this.
The doctor will put his or her gloved finger inside the cervix and sweep the membrane. This helps in producing prostaglandins that help to soften the cervix and induce labor. At this time, you may feel intense cramping and a little bit of bleeding. This procedure might be a little uncomfortable.
The amniotic sac can be ruptured to start labour. This is called amniotomy. Here, the doctor will break or rupture the amniotic sac using a thin plastic hook. This is done only when the head of the baby has moved down or for a partially dilated cervix. For some women, the labor can happen within a few hours of breaking the water. However, it should be kept in mind that this varies for every woman.
Two weeks after the due date, if you are still pregnant then it is officially post-term. 12% to 13% women have a post-term pregnancy. The good news is that the baby must come at some point and the bad news is that it could take another two weeks at most.
An ultrasound of the baby at this stage will allow the doctors to know how developed the baby’s lungs are. A non-stress test will be done to monitor baby’s movements and see how her heart rate holds up during contractions. If the test results indicate that the baby will do better outside than inside the uterus, then labor can be induced.
Below is a list of 40th week pregnancy food items a mother can consume during this period.
Below are a few tips that a mother can follow to keep herself comfortable.
A few things that a mother needs to have in hand before her bundle of joy gets out are:
With the baby ready to come out anytime now, watch out for all the signs that may point to the start of labour. Also, make adequate arrangements so that when the time comes you can head to the hospital without any difficulty.
Read this article in Arabic: الأسبوع 40 من الحمل