Pregnancy Week 39

Learn From the Specialists

What Your Baby is Doing This Week

The umbilical cord which has been your baby's lifeline is about 22-inches long and roughly half-an-inch thick. The umbilical cord can become wrapped around the baby's neck, generally this doesn't cause any issues but it can necessitate a cesarean birth if the wrap of the cord is causing the umbilical cord to be unable to deliver oxygen and nutrients. A true knot in the cord is very rare and only happens in roughly 1% of all pregnancies.

That waxy vernix that covered your baby from head to toe has disappeared along with the lanugo hair. Most of the vernix that covered your baby's skin has disappeared, as has the lanugo.

Also traveling through the your body to your baby are valuable antibodies that will help build your baby's immune system and fight infections for the first 6-12 months of life after birth.

What Your Body is Doing This Week

Many women mistake Braxton Hicks contractions for labor pains at this point i their pregnancies as they become much more pronounced. These pains may be painful and strong, however they don't increase in frequency or become more and more regular as true contractions do.

Another sign of labor is the classic water breaking. The rupture of your amniotic sac may come in a small, slow trickle or other women experience a large gush of water. Other women don't have their water break at all and it must be broken in the delivery room when they are in active labor. If you think your water has broken, contact your health care provider immediately.

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