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

Welcome to ‘early term’. Here’s what you can expect from week thirty seven of your pregnancy.

Your Baby:

Is now considered to be ‘early’ term

Is around 50cm long and tightly curled up

Has thinning eardrums, allowing them to pick up on plenty of ‘out of womb’ noises

You:

Your placenta has reached it’s full size now and is roughly the size of a paper serving plate

May have lost your appetite thanks to a lack of space

Should be taking time to rest and hydrate

Week Thirty Seven

At thirty seven weeks, you’re officially considered to have an ‘early’ term baby. That means your little one would no longer be classed as premature from this point onwards. Previously babies born at 37 weeks would be considered full term but this has recently been revised. What does it mean for you? It means if your baby is born this week it’s likely that it won’t need time in a neonatal unit (although every baby is different!).

The other thing it means is you’re getting really close to meeting your baby. Which means you’re probably pretty uncomfortable. As tempting as it is to slump on the sofa, now’s not the time to slouch. In order to get your baby into the optimum position for giving birth, you want them to be head down and facing your spine. It’s not a problem if your baby is facing sideways but if they’re ‘back to back’ (i.e. their spine is against your spine), it can make your labour more uncomfortable and cause it to last longer. You can help encourage your baby to be the ‘right’ way round with some little tricks such as leaning forward when you sit (rather than slouching on the sofa), lying on the opposite side to the side your baby is on whilst in bed and spending some time on your hands and knees (or leaning over the back of a chair). Whilst not exhaustive, thinking about your own posture and how you sit can make little differences that you’ll almost certainly be pleased of!

Other fun things this week: Heat and tiredness… we all know that hot weather is exhausting anyway but when it comes to pregnancy, it’s a whole different ball game. Keep cool, keep hydrated and try and get some rest. Some women say that they get insomnia close to giving birth and that’s definitely been happening in this household of late; it’s hot, I’m up every hour to get rid of the swimming pool levels of water I’ve been drinking and getting back to sleep is a bonafide nightmare. I suppose at least it’s preparing me for being up with a newborn. Yay.

Missed a week? Catch up on week thirty six

Fancy sneaking ahead? Here’s week thirty eight