How is our baby doing in the 41st week of pregnancy?

Ready for the world: The entire time during pregnancy you have probably followed your baby's development with anticipation and now it is finally complete. Of course your child will continue to grow after birth, its full vision will develop and the lungs will continue to mature. However, the developmental steps for the time in the womb are already fully completed. Your baby has developed enough surfactant, a substance that reduces the surface tension of the alveoli, to be able to breathe independently in the air without problems. The other internal and external organs can now also work independently.

The time until birth: Your baby uses the remaining time until birth to rest and gather its strength. Before labor starts, it will probably grow a bit more (up to 52 cm) and gain weight (up to 3,600 grams). Many children born after their due date are little heavyweights. As long as your little person in the womb is adequately supplied, there is no reason to worry and it can still spend some time in the cozy belly.

Here's what's next: What the expectant mother can expect from week 41

In the 41st week of pregnancy your uterus presses heavily on the stomach. Diarrhea, abdominal pain, nausea and similar pregnancy complaints are usually the result. Here you will learn what you will probably still face in week 41:

Regular check-up: The prenatal check-up is now performed every two days. If your baby still hasn't shown up 10 days after the due date, you will probably head to the examination every day. The doctor checks the amount of amniotic fluid, because this is vital for your child and is now slowly decreasing. Also the placenta begins to gradually calcify and may supply your baby less well. As long as the doctor has no concerns, the child's heart tones are regular and the nutrient levels are in the green zone, you will have to wait until the natural onset of labor, because there are no risks for mother and child.

Severe restlessness: Once the due date has passed, many women begin to worry and become more nervous, because they don't feel their baby as strongly as in recent weeks. This is, however, because your little miracle is now so big that it no longer has as much space available. Additionally, the calculated due date is merely an estimate, since the exact time of conception is difficult to determine and your baby is often two weeks younger than the current week of pregnancy is. For this reason, you should try to spend the last days calmly and trust your doctor until he or she recommends delivering the little one or you give birth naturally.

41st week of pregnancy: How will our baby be born?

Birth by cesarean section: If during the checks a insufficiency in supplying your baby is detected, your doctor usually reacts quickly and initiates measures to avoid endangering your child, he or she will probably recommend that you deliver by cesarean section. The same recommendation is also given if the examinations in the 42nd week of pregnancy show that your baby is relatively heavy and large or, compared to other children in that week, too small.

Measures to induce labor: In the 41st week of pregnancy, doctors only induce labor when risks and consequential damage arise or already exist from continuing the pregnancy. This includes, for example, an excessively high birth weight. If there are by the course of the 42nd week of pregnancy no signs of impending delivery, your doctor will induce labor – even if you do not experience any health complications. In doing so, he or she or the midwife resorts to naturopathic methods, such as aromatherapy or enemas. However, these procedures should always be carried out only under supervision.

Other options to induce labor include prostaglandins that are artificially introduced into the vagina and soften the cervix. If the cervix is ripe for delivery but labor pains have not yet been triggered, usually an oxytocin drip is used. The infusion of the body's own hormone oxytocin leads in most cases reliably to the onset of labor, so that you will be holding your baby in your arms a short time later.

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