Week 37 of Your Pregnancy
Baby’s Development
Ding! Ding! Baby’s up! Congratulations, mama! Your baby is officially full term and ready to be born. The lanugo and the majority of the vernix that protected your little one’s skin in utero has been shed and swallowed in the amniotic fluid. You are now carrying a complete baby inside of you from tiny toenails to an inch or more of hair on her head.
Although it may be uncomfortable, your pelvis is the perfect place for your baby’s head right now. Still soft, your pelvic bones protect your baby’s head from any unnecessary lumps and bump while leaving the more hearty legs and buttocks to kick away up top.
At this point, your doctor will probably start to check for dilation and effacement at your appointments. As birth approaches, your cervix will begin to thin out (effacement) and open (dilation). Checking the extent of this in an internal exam and determining the position of your fetus will give you a good idea of how close you are to delivery. It can be very hard not to start to panic/get excited when your doctor informs you that you are dilated. Some women have been known to walk around 1 inch dilated for weeks without the onset of labor!
Your Body and Emotions
You may be relieved to know that your uterus will stop growing this week. Yes, it’s true…you won’t get any bigger than you are now! You may actually start to lose weight as your appetite decreases due to your limited stomach space. This is quite normal and may even be a welcome change after weeks of steady growth.
Your obstetrician will probably recommend a group B strep test as you approach your due date. This bacterium is present in the vagina and rectum of 25% of women and although it poses no threat to the mother, it can cause problems with the fetus. If your test comes back positive for Strep B, there is a 99% chance that your baby will be infected at birth. Infected babies have a high chance of developing inflammation of the spinal cord, brain or lungs a few days after birth, all of which can have very serious repercussions for your newborn. A positive test result means that you will be admitted to the hospital early in your labor so that you can be given antibiotics before and during labor. These antibiotics effectively prevent the transfer of Strep to your child and he or she can enjoy adjusting to the outside world in perfect health.
Dad’s Tips
Now that you’re on a practicality kick, it may be time for the two of you to consider sleep arrangements after the baby arrives. Many couples are just so excited about delivery and meeting their new baby that they don’t take the time to think about such banal, but important things.
Where you and your baby sleep has a lot to do with your parenting style. More traditional North American parenting philosophy (Dr.Spock, Dr.Ferber) stresses independence in your child at an early age and believes that sleeping separately is the way to achieve that. The attachment parenting (Dr.Sears) believes that co-sleeping with your child from the very beginning creates more confident, self-assured children. The choice of where your family will be sleeping is up to the two of you. More than anything else in the next month or so, you need to do what feels right and what enables all of you to get the best sleep possible. |
