36 Weeks Pregnant

Your baby is still gaining weight – about 28g a day. She weighs nearly 2.7kg and is about 47cm long from head to toe. You may begin to feel an increased pressure in your lower belly and notice that your baby is gradually dropping. This is called lightening or engagement, and your lungs and stomach will finally get a chance to stretch out a little – breathing and eating should become easier.

However, walking may become increasingly uncomfortable. Some women say it feels as if their baby is going to fall out. Also, you may still feel as if you need to go to the loo all the time. Check out our eating well guide and stock up on those last-minute nutrients.

The good news is that by the end of this week, your pregnancy will be full-term and you could give birth any day. Babies between 37 weeks and 42 weeks are considered full-term. A baby born before 37 weeks is premature and after 42 weeks is post-term.

www.babycentre.co.uk

Your baby's skull isn't the only soft structure in his or her little body. Most of your baby's bones and cartilage are quite soft as well (they'll harden over the first few years of life) — allowing for an easier journey as your baby squeezes through the birth canal at delivery (and less prodding and poking for Mom along the way). At 36 weeks pregnant, the skull bones are also not fused together yet so that the head can easily (well, relatively easily) maneuver through the birth canal.  
So your little bruiser (who you've now learned won't be bruising you all that much with those soft bones) is now about six pounds in weight and measures slightly more than 20 inches in length. Growth will experience a slowdown now, both so your baby will be able to fit the narrow passageway to the outside and also so he or she can store up all the energy needed for delivery.

By now, many of your baby's systems are pretty mature, at least in baby terms —  and just about ready for life on the outside. Blood circulation, for instance, has been perfected and your baby's immune system has matured enough to protect him or her from infections outside the womb. Other systems, however, still need a few finishing touches. Once such notable example: digestion — which actually won't be fully mature until sometime after birth. Why's that? Inside his or her little gestational cocoon, your baby has relied on the umbilical cord for nutrition, meaning that the digestive system — though developed — hasn't been operational. So your baby will take the first year or two to bring that system up to speed.

www.whattoexpect.com

You will probably start having antenatal checks about once a week now until you give birth so you and your baby can be monitored for any problems such as pre-eclampsia. Your baby’s fingernails are tiny but fully formed and very sharp. You may have to cut them as soon as your baby is born or invest in a pair of scratch gloves for him to wear.

You have probably realised you baby is no longer somersaulting and wriggling as much as space inside the uterus is getting cramped as your baby continues to grow and put on weight. Your baby still sleeps for about 90 per cent of the day and this pattern will continue after he is born. Some new mums are surprised by how much sleep a newborn needs and find themselves twiddling their thumbs. You’d be better off stealing forty winks whilst your baby sleeps to catch up on sleep missed during the night. Fat is deposited under your baby’s cheeks this week adding the final touches to that chubby baby grin you’ll soon see.

Have you started to notice all the dust lurking around your house? Or suddenly decided to tackle the boxes in the attic? This could be the nesting instinct, an urge some women get just before their babies are due to clean, scrub and polish. Interestingly, mothers in the animal kingdom display the same instinct just before their babies are due and find themselves busy making nests or burrows. Find out about what other signs may mean labour is imminent Signs that labour is close.

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