Use our pregnancy calendar to see what’s happening in your pregnancy each week.

Suddenly got a frantic urge to clean and sort? Here’s what you can expect from week thirty four of your pregnancy.

Your Baby:

Is the size of a butternut squash

Can hear really well now, so don’t forget to talk to them as much as possible. Even if it does feel a bit strange effectively talking to yourself

Might be getting engaged, how exciting! (No, not like that!)

You:

May find yourself struck with an insatiable urge to clean anything and everything!

Don’t forget to do your pelvic floor exercises, squeezing and holding like you’re trying to stop a wee. You should practice fast ones and ones that you hold for a little longer in order to get the most out of them

May have already weed yourself a little whilst sneezing. Yeah. See above and remember we all forget to do them…

Week Thirty Four

The nearer you get to your due date, the plumper your little one should be getting. This week you’ll have an antenatal check with your midwife, regardless of whether this is your first or fifth pregnancy. It’s normal for your baby to be starting to engage in the pelvis around now, particularly if it’s your first baby, which can mean a couple of things. To start with, they’ll start quoting figures at you about how engaged you are in terms of fifths – so 0/5 is not engaged at all and 5/5 is the head is fully engaged. It’s great if they’re getting in to position but it doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re getting ready to come this week, trust me. I went from 2/5 engaged at this appointment all the way through to giving birth at 41+3 days… which was fine, but the thought that it would be early and then him not making an appearance drove me batty!

Secondly, it’s normal when your baby engages for your bump to change shape. You may find it ‘drops’ noticeably, it may be more uncomfortable to walk or put more pressure on your bladder. You might even adopt the ‘waddle’. It may also mean that your bump appears to have slowed in growth or even decreased in size on the measurement chart, which means you’ll be sent for a precautionary growth scan just to check on baby’s development. Again, it’s nothing to panic about and a good chance to get everything checked over once more before the big day.. that and get a sneak peak of what they look like now, it’s been a while!

Finally, this is the appointment where you’ll discuss and make your birth plan; what your options are, what you want and what you don’t. It’s a good time to flesh out how you feel about things and let your midwife know if there’s anything bothering you. Just be aware that even the most well intended of birth plans can need to change during labour and that’s absolutely fine!

Other fun things this week: Nesting!!! It’s been going on for a while but the urge to have everything sorted and cleaning is strong right now. I’ve forced my husband to decorate not one but two bedrooms (you don’t argue with a pregnant woman), cleaned out most cupboards going and got the baby clothes down from the loft ready to wash, iron and fold away. It’s your body’s way of getting everything ready for the baby’s arrival so my advice? Embrace the crazy cleaning urges while they last!

Missed a week? Catch up on week thirty three

Fancy sneaking ahead? Here’s week thirty five