How your baby's growing:

Your baby is still packing on the pounds — at the rate of about an ounce a day. She now weighs almost 6 pounds (like a crenshaw melon) and is more than 18 1/2 inches long. She's shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered her body as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that covered and protected her skin during her nine-month amniotic bath. Your baby swallows both of these substances, along with other secretions, resulting in a blackish mixture, called meconium, will form the contents of her first bowel movement.

At the end of this week, your baby will be considered full-term. (Full-term is 37 to 42 weeks; babies born before 37 weeks are pre-term and those born after 42 are post-term.) Most likely she's in a head-down position. But if she isn't, your practitioner may suggest scheduling an "external cephalic version," which is a fancy way of saying she'll try to coax your baby into a head-down position by manipulating her from the outside of your belly.

How your life's changing:

Now that your baby is taking up so much room, you may have trouble eating a normal-size meal. Smaller, more frequent meals are often easier to handle at this point. On the other hand, you may have less heartburn and have an easier time breathing when your baby starts to "drop" down into your pelvis. This process — called lightening — often happens a few weeks before labor if this is your first baby. (If you've given birth before, it probably won't happen before labor starts.) If your baby drops, you may also feel increased pressure in your lower abdomen, which may make walking increasingly uncomfortable, and you'll probably find that you have to pee even more frequently. If your baby is very low, you may feel lots of vaginal pressure and discomfort as well. Some women say it feels as though they're carrying a bowling ball between their legs!

You might also notice that your Braxton Hicks contractions are more frequent now. Be sure to review the signs of labor with your practitioner and find out when she wants to hear from you. As a general rule, if you're full-term, your pregnancy is uncomplicated, and your water hasn't broken, she'll probably have you wait to come in until you've been having contractions that last for about a minute each, coming every five minutes for an hour. Of course, you'll want to call right away if you notice a decrease in your baby's activity or think you're leaking amniotic fluid, or if you have any vaginal bleeding, fever, a severe or persistent headache, constant abdominal pain, or vision changes.

Even if you're enjoying an uncomplicated pregnancy, it's best to avoid flying (or any travel far from home) during your final month because you can go into labor at any time. In fact, some airlines won't let women on board who are due to deliver within 30 days of the flight.

Fostrets utveckling - gravid vecka 36

Nu är du 36 veckor gången (eller gravid i 37:e veckan, om du föredrar att räkna så). I slutet av denna vecka passerar du en viktig gräns då din bebis sägs vara fullgången. Detta betyder att du, i teorin, kan föda nu. När din bebis gradvis sjunker ner i bäckenet kommer din mage och dina lungor äntligen att kunna expandera lite mer. Nackdelen är förstås att trycket på blåsan kan öka så att du måste gå på toaletten oftare.
Bebisen lägger fortfarande på sig – ungefär 28 gram om dagen. Den väger kring 2,7 kg och är ungefär 45 cm lång.

Vid den här tiden kan du eventuellt känna att bebisen rör sig nedåt och trycket i den nedre buken ökar. Detta gör att dina lungor och din magsäck får mer utrymme och det kan bli lite lättare att äta och andas. Däremot kan det bli jobbigare att gå – för en del kan det kännas som om bebisen är på väg att ramla ut! Det fortsatta trycket på blåsan gör att du kan behöva gå på toa ofta. Fortsätt äta bra, både för din skull och bebisens. Läs vår kostguide om du vill ha inspiration.

I slutet av denna vecka anses du fullgången och bebisen kan i princip födas när som helst från denna tid. (Mellan 37 och 42 veckor räknas graviditeten som fullgången – innan 37 veckor anses bebisen underburen och efter 42 veckor överburen.) När du besöker barnmorskan kommer hon eventuellt att kolla om livmoderhalsen börjat tunnas ut eller rentav vidgas. Barnmorskan kommer också att kontrollera hur bebisen ligger. Denna information skrivs in i din journal så att de vet din historia när du kommer till sjukhuset för att föda.