Congratulations! Week Forty Of Pregnancy

Week 40 Of Your Baby’s Development!

Your baby is the size of a watermelon

While you can think of your baby as something similar to the size of a watermelon, truth be told, the size of babies at birth does differ quite considerably. He could be anywhere between 6-9 pounds and still be perfectly healthy. Length-wise he could measure somewhere between 19 to 22 inches.

The fetal development of your baby is complete at this stage, however his nails and hair will continue to grow more.

At birth, your baby’s head will still have two soft spots (fontanelles), where the fusing of the skull has not completed. This will help baby to ease down the narrow birth canal by shifting it’s skull bones over each other and is why many babies are born with a ‘cone’ shaped head (baby’s head settles into a normal shape shortly after birth).

Your baby has already developed the skill to respond and react to you after birth. Once born, she will instinctively close her finger on an object near her and search for the nipple on your breast to feed by turning her head (called rooting). She will not be able to see your face very clearly at birth as her vision has developed only to be able to see around 2.5 cm.

Week 40 Of Your Health, Mind & Body Changes

Congratulations! You are officially at the final stage of your pregnancy, so get ready to meet your baby any day now. Your amazing journey with your new born is about to begin. This week will create a picture in your head of cuddling your new born and experiencing all the new ‘firsts’ you will be doing as a mom. On the other hand, you may feel a little frustrated because of so many months of waiting in anticipation for the birth of your baby. Everyone at mominthesix wishes you well on your birthing journey!

” I was 39+3 and went for a long beach walk, listening to my hypno-birthing audio’s. It may have just been a coincidence, but my labor started the next morning.” Kristy

There’s no need to worry about your waters breaking embarrassingly while you are out in public. That’s right, it rarely happens unexpectedly like in Hollywood movies. Rest assured that only 15 percent of women experience rupturing of the amniotic sac (your waters breaking) before labor actually begins. And chances are, you’re not going to be out shopping once you’re in labour!

Week 40 Of Your Next Steps!

You may not be considered ‘Post–term’ yet. Doctors would give you a couple of weeks more. But a regular check up is important to make sure that the baby is thriving. You could go for a ‘Biophysical profile’. This is an ultrasound to check the overall movement of the baby. The baby will be checked for breathing movements, quantity of amniotic fluid around it and whether the baby is flexing her limbs. The doctor will also do a non-stress test to monitor the fetal heart rate.
By this time, you should definitely have your hospital bag packed or at least your list of things to take with you.
Remember, the due date is not an exact science and only an estimate. If you’re feeling impatient you could always try some of the good old fashioned wives tales to try and bring on labour. But stay clear of any dangerous activities like swallowing cod liver oil, that might cause you to become sick and dehydrated.