Pregnancy Calendar - Week 39
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Week 39
As the baby begins to settle into your pelvis, it will relieve the pressure from your diaphragm, letting your breathing become easier. Unfortunately, it is now pressing on your bladder making you run to the bathroom every few minutes. The rupture of your amniotic sac could happen any day now. Some women experience a large gush of water, whereas other women feel a steady trickle when their water breaks. If you think your water has broken or you are experiencing regular contractions, talk to your health care provider.
Your baby is now probably over the seven pound mark and can hardly move inside the uterus. The lungs are also nearly fully developed and functional. The umbilical cord that carried nutrients from the placenta to your baby is now 20 inches long (50 centimeters) and is a half inch (1.3 centimeters) thick. Because your baby weighs about 7 pounds (3,250 grams) and consumes all of the space in your uterus, it’s common for the umbilical cord to become knotted or wrapped around him. Most of the vernix that covered your baby’s skin has disappeared, as well as the lanugo.
Your body begins to supply the baby with antibodies through the placenta that will help the baby’s immune system fight infection for the first 6 months of life.
Revision date: June 18, 2011
Last revised: by Tatiana Kuznetsova, D.M.D.
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