About You

Week 37 is the eleventh week of the 3rd trimester and you are now at full term, which means your baby can be born anytime. The next couple of weeks are a waiting game. However hard it is to be patient, try to enjoy this time before your baby arrives, and remember to e at well and get plenty of rest. Make sure your hospital bag is packed. Also discuss any contingency plans to your birth plan with your partner now, including what you expect from your partner during delivery. For example, do you really want your partner photographing or videoing you? Or telling you to push? Help them to understand what's most important to you .

Many women at this time become anxious about going into labour – as long as you know the difference between Braxton Hicks contractions and a true labour, then you can relax. Also babies come when they are ready, so there is no use worrying .

About Baby

Your baby now weighs about 2.8 kilograms, and is over 48.6 centimetres (but may be as long as 50cm) from top to toe. Your baby is still gaining weight and is now a full-term baby, which can come at any time. It is shedding the downy coating of lanugo and the protective waxy coating (called vernix caseosa) on the skin starts to disappear, though some traces may still be present when born. Your baby swallows anything shed, and these will stay in the bowels until birth. This is why the first stool will be a blackish mixture, called meconium. Your baby's head is now cradled in your pelvic cavity and is surrounded and protected by your pelvic bones - this position clears some much-needed space for her growing legs and buttocks.

Many babies now have a full head of hair, with locks possibly around 2.5 centimetres long. But don't be surprised if the hair isn't the same colour as yours. Dark-haired couples are sometimes taken aback when their children are born with bright red or blond hair, and fair-haired couples likewise can produce babies with dark hair. And then, of course, some babies don't have any hair at all.

This week’s activities for the pregnancy to-do list

✔Buy a comfortable and supportive nursing bra

✔Treat yourself to a beauty treatment

✔If you have other children, be sure to prepare them for their sibling's arrival

Stock up on nappies and breastfeeding pads/ equipment or bottles and formula if you can’t or choose not to breast feed (or supplement feed)

Note that this article contains general information only and is not intended to replace advice from a qualified health professional.

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