36-40/41/42 Weeks

Finally, you entered your last month and everything is gearing toward your child's birth. Now that you're counting your last weeks, it may seem that time can go by more slowly. Waiting is not easy and the anticipation can be stimulating but also tiring. Enjoy this last days and take this last opportunity to get everything ready.

Your Baby // Developments
During this month, your baby will gain about 1/2 pound a week. This means that at the day of is birth we will have two more pounds.
At the beginning of this month your baby is developing in his lungs a substance called "surfactant". This substance is needed for the baby breath properly and maintain his lungs inflated. And when "surfactant" be fully developed your baby will be ready to born. His lungs will be mature and ready to function at 37 weeks, and after this happens you will be able to safely deliver at any time.
Your baby's body may still be covered with vernix (a creamy coating) and lanugo (soft, downy hair) that protects his skin in the amniotic fluid. If your baby is a boy, his testes will fully descend into the scrotal sac this month.
Two weeks before you go into labor or after you labor begins, the baby may "fall" lower in the abdomen or pelvis in a head-down position. This event is known as "lightening". You don't have to wait long, soon you will see your baby in the outside world.

Your Body // Changes
You may be at your last pregnancy month, but changes keep happening in your body. The baby has taken almost all the space in your abdomen squeezing your other organs, so you probably will have to pee more often due to the pressure on your bladder. You may also feel short breath or sore under your ribs. You may also be experiencing more severe heartburns what makes difficult for you to eat a full meal at stick out..

Shortness of breath
In the late pregnancy, some women feel that they can't get enough air. This happens because your diaphragm is being pushed upward by the expanding uterus. Your diaphragm may rises 1 1/2 inches (4 centimeters) from is usual position, what may decrease your lung capacity. The increase of progesterone in your body is also acting in your respiratory center in the brain, making you breath more deeply. Due to all this you are taking more air each time you breath than you normally did.
You may be experience some discomfort and this may be worried about your baby's well being. There are no reasons to be concerned, because the expansion of your circulatory and respiratory system are taking place so your baby gets plenty of oxygen. This increase of the oxygen level in your blood ensures an adequate oxygen supply to your baby.
Try to keep your back as straight as possible, because you will breath better. When you sleep, lie propped up on pillows or on your side to reduce the pressure on your diaphragm. If none of this works , your breathing may improve when your baby drops farther down in your pelvis before labor. Of one thing you may be sure, that immediately or quite shortly after birth all this and other pregnancy discomforts will disappear.
In case of your breathing problems are severe, check with your practitioner because they can be a sign of more serious respiratory problems. Finally, you entered your last month and everything is gearing toward your child's birth. Now that you're counting your last weeks, it may seem that time can go by more slowly. Waiting is not easy and the anticipation can be stimulating but also tiring. Enjoy this last days and take this last opportunity to get everything ready.


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