Your Pregnancy at Week 37

Your baby is ready to come into this world, is the mother-to-be ready?

After your baby is born, medical professionals will encouraged you to breastfeed. The body will make extra preparations for the expectant mother. Additional oestrogen and progesterone will help prepare for milk production. The breasts will change when this hormone production occurs. Beyond swelling, the nipples will also darken, which is believed to help the baby identify the food source.

A few weeks before delivery, most pregnant women suffer from low back pain, heartburn and sleep apnea making it difficult for them to fall asleep.

It is advised to sleep on your left side with legs slightly bent towards the chin. This position improves circulation to the uterus, helping to deliver nutrients and oxygen to the fetus, while improving circulation and kidney function, and can also reduce leg swelling, hemorrhoids, and varicose veins.

If you have severe edema, you can try to support the legs higher than the abdomen.

As you are term, if you go into labour, it will no longer be considered early labour. Labour contractions are different Braxton-hicks contractions as they will be more regular and last longer over time. If you change positions, the pain will not disappear. Other symptoms at the start of labour include losing your mucus plug (a collection of mucus that forms in the cervical canal ) or waters breaking. However, these can also happen prior to labour which can make infection more likely. Therefore you should seek medical advice if you believe either of these have occurred.