You’ve reached week 41 of pregnancy – eagerly waiting for labor to begin. This article gives you all the essential information about week 41: how your baby is developing, what’s happening in your body, and how to prepare for birth.

Baby: Your baby is now around 51 cm long and weighs approximately 3.6 kg. Time to get out now 🙏

Placenta

The placenta will continue to transport nutrients and oxygen to the foetus until birth. When the baby is born, the uterus will then contract, detaching the placenta from the uterine wall. The uterus will contract and after a few weeks will be as small as before your pregnancy, the size of a small pear. Even if the uterus has contracted, it takes longer for the rectus abdominis muscles to find their way back.

If the umbilical cord gets caught around the baby’s neck

If it is discovered that the umbilical cord is wrapped around your baby’s neck during delivery, the midwife will monitor this and correct it if necessary. Don’t worry if this happens, it is common for the umbilical cord to get wrapped around the body or neck.

First breath and the umbilical cord

If the birth was normal, the umbilical cord will be cut a few minutes after birth or when the pulsations in the umbilical cord have stopped. Your baby has now taken their first breath and will start breathing oxygen on their own. There is a big change in your baby’s blood circulation when they take their first breath (or scream, which means they are breathing!). In order to get some sort of confirmation that the blood circulation and oxygenation are working, tests will be carried out when your child is approximately one day old, during a paediatric examination known as the NIPE, when the doctor or midwife will check your baby’s heart and breathing sounds.

If your baby is limp immediately after birth and is neither breathing nor screaming, the midwife will quickly assess whether the baby needs help to breathe or some other assistance. The midwife will take your baby to a table with breathing aids and oxygen. If necessary, a paediatrician and paediatric nurse will be called in. If your child needs help and is separated from their mother, the partner will accompany the child, and another midwife and assistant nurse will stay with the mother.

It is rare for a child born vaginally to need care immediately after delivery. In general, 1 in 10 need short-term care, which may include help in getting breathing started during the big transition from amniotic fluid to breathing air.

Planned C-section

A planned C-section can be performed because of breech presentation, placenta previa, expecting twins or fear of childbirth. This is planned as close to the EDD as possible so that your child or children are completely ready to be born. Ideal during the C-section, the pregnant woman is awake and receives spinal anaesthesia. although sometimes a general anaesthetic may be required, normally used if it is deemed necessary to deliver imminently. After checks have been carried out to make sure the anaesthesia has worked, the operation will be performed and the baby is removed from the womb.

Babies may not have time to understand that they should start breathing immediately after a C-section, which can result in short-term respiratory distress. In the event of this, the baby may need care in the neonatal unit. If this happens, the parents will stay with their child at the unit, and may be there for anything from a couple of hours to a few days until their child is completely healthy and ready to go home. However, the vast majority who are born through a planned C-section are perfectly healthy when they are born and come straight to their mother and are allowed to have skin-to-skin contact.

Mother: It seems that your baby is doing very well in your womb. But be patient, it will start at any moment! 👶

Home remedies to induce labour

By now you probably feel like you are done with your pregnancy, and many women try various home remedies to induce labour. We do not know what controls the onset of birth, nor has it been proven what can trigger it.

What is known is that a birth cannot be forced, but the baby will come when it feels ready. If you are impatient, you can focus on doing something other than living in a constant state of waiting. Try to find things that make you feel good and that give you energy. And if you are really impatient, it wouldn’t hurt to try some home remedies…?

There are smaller studies that have shown that pregnant women who eat 5-7 dates per day from week 37+0 started spontaneous labour to a greater extent than the group who did not eat dates during the same period of pregnancy. On top of that, the group that did not eat any dates also needed a labour-inducing drip to help labour.

Oxytocin is the hormone that causes contractions and creates calmness and relaxation. Without oxytocin, the uterus does not contract, and thus you will have no contractions. Without contractions, the baby cannot be born vaginally, so our tip is to try doing activities that stimulate oxytocin production! Put aside all the tips about cleaning up and climbing stairs, and try to relax instead. Whatever makes your mind feel good is the best thing you can give yourself during the last weeks of pregnancy!

Membrane sweep

Membrane sweeping is a method that can stimulate the uterus and assist in helping it to contract, beginning the onset of labour and then possibly the start of labour.
In order to get a membrane sweep, you will need to meet a couple of criteria. First, the pregnancy should be full-term, preferably in week 40+. The baby needs to be low in the pelvis. Then the cervix needs to be ready and able to reach. To find out if it is, the midwife inserts two fingers and feels the cervix. If it has softened, it may be possible to insert a finger and sweep her finger around the cervix, stimulating the membranes, in turn this will then stimulate the release of hormones, the opening of the cervix and the start of labour. However, there is no guarantee that this will work.

Partner: We assume that both of you are now more than ready to meet your baby. Try to turn the wait into something positive!

Oxytocin

Childbirth is aided by oxytocin – our “calm and relaxation hormone” and can be released during massages, so why not massage your partner? Or watch a nice film together, eat good meals together and rest to prepare yourselves. All of this increases the levels of oxytocin, which is also the hormone that drives labour.
If you want to do something nice that will increase oxytocin for your partner, you can run her a bath. She will undoubtedly be very grateful to feel pampered this close to giving birth!