Pregnancy Week by Week: Week 33 - Week 40

Week 33
You may now be able to distinguish the baby’s bottom from, for example, a foot or knee. You feel its movements as prods and kicks – it may be too big now to swoop around in the amniotic fluid.
Your baby has probably adopted the most usual head-down position, in which it will stay until the birth.

Week 34
Through the walls of the uterus, the baby can differentiate between dark and light, and is bathed in a red glow when sunlight is on your tummy.

Week 35
You may have backache. This is because ligaments and muscles supporting the joints in the small of your back soften and relax.
The baby’s bottom presses against your diaphragm. At this stage of its development, the baby measures approximately 44 cm and weighs around 2.5kg.

Week 36
Clinic visit may be every week from now on. If this is your first baby, it will probably engage some time this week or soon after, or may have done so already. Your lump will be noticeably lower down, and your breathing will be easier, although you may need to pass urine more often, and your sleep may be interrupted.
The baby is almost fully mature, and any time now the presenting part may drop down into your pelvis ready for birth. It is about 49 cm long.

Week 37
If you have chosen a hospital birth, you will have a chance to tour the birth rooms of the hospital. The baby is rehearsing breathing movements, although there is no air in its lungs. In this way amniotic fluid passes into the baby’s trachea, sometimes giving it hiccups!

Week 38
There is little space for maneuvers, and you may be aware that the baby moves less now. Instead of whole body movements, there are only jabs from the feet and knees, and the strange, buzzing sensation inside your vagina as the baby’s head moves against your pelvic floor muscles.
The baby may be putting on as much as 28 g a day at this stage.

Week 39
Your cervix is ripening in preparation for labour. You may feel heavy and weary and have strong contraction. The amniotic fluid is renewed every three hours.
The baby’s bowels are filled with greenish black meconium, excretions from the baby’s alimentary glands mixed with bile pigment, lanugo and cells from the bowel wall – this will be its first motion after birth.

Week 40
The long awaited day is near, and you probably feel fed up with being pregnant. You may have a mixture of apprehension and excitement. You may notice slight diarrhea.
The baby is about 55 cm long. You feel sharp kicks under your ribs at one side or the other. The presenting part presses against the softening cervix. You are very close to the time when you will be able to hold your baby in your arms and see your baby face to face.

article by Sheila Kitzinger