Week by week pregnancy guide: You and your baby at Week 40

How Big is Your Baby?

Your Baby’s Development

In this week by week pregnancy guide, you’ll learn that:

• Because he’s yet to make his way through the birth canal, your baby’s skull bones are not yet fused. This allows the bones to overlap a bit if the journey through the birth canal proves to be a bit tight. This is called molding and explains why your baby’s head is more oval than round.

Pregnancy Symptoms

• You will continue to feel uncomfortable as your baby makes his way down your pelvis. You will feel sharp pains in the abdomen, your vaginal area, and along your legs.

Pregnancy Care

• Don’t lose sleep over when and where your water will break. Sleep is rare enough as it is.
• Learn to recognise when your amniotic sac has ruptured. Amniotic fluid is usually colorless and odorless. If you notice fluid that looks yellowish and smells of ammonia, you are probably leaking urine.
• Another method to test if your amniotic sac has ruptured is by attempting to stem the fluid’s flow by squeezing your pelvic muscles (Kegel exercises). If the flow stops, it’s urine. If it doesn’t, it’s amniotic fluid. If your water breaks and the fluid is green or brown, call your doctor immediately. It could mean that your baby has had a bowel movement (meconium) in your uterus.

Your Checklist

• With your baby due any minute, the best thing to do is to kickback and relax. Catch up on some well-deserved beauty sleep.

Your next week: 41 weeks pregnant

Your previous week: 39 weeks pregnant

Do you have questions on this week by week pregnancy guide? What are your current concerns, mums? Leave us a comment below!