You are now 5 weeks away from your due date, should everything go according to plan. This can be both an exciting and nerve-wrecking time, especially if this is your first pregnancy and you’ve never experienced birth first hand.
Your body at week 35
At week 35 you’ll probably be feeling tired and heavy – your body will probably be feeling the strain of growing a baby. Frequent urination, lower back and abdominal pain, constipation, Braxton Hicks contractions, tender breasts and trouble sleeping are all normal symptoms at this time.
When your baby moves further down into your pelvis (to get ready for birth) you may notice that your shortness of breath improves. While this may help your breathing, it probably won’t help your frequent need to urinate. Your baby moving down is known as lightening or dropping.
Your baby at week 35
Your baby is now roughly the size of a pineapple or melon, has lungs that are almost developed, and a brain and nervous system that are still developing. The musculoskeletal system and the circulatory system are fully developed at this point, and if your baby was born premature they will have a very good chance of survival. Babies born between 34 and 37 are called late preterm, and while they may look like a smaller full term baby there are some challenges that they’ll face being born earlier. Your baby will also start to move into position for birth around this time, moving down into your pelvis.
Things to keep in mind at week 35
During the third trimester it is recommended that you go for a group B streptococcus test. Although this is a common bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract, it can be harmful to newborns. If your test is negative you won’t need to do anything, however, if you are positive you’ll be given antibiotics during labour which will lower the risk of your baby contracting early-onset GBS.
Administered by Medscheme Holdings (Pty) Ltd, Bonitas aims to make quality
healthcare accessible to all South Africans and offers a wide range of plans that are simple to understand and easy to use. The Fund has the largest GP
network in South Africa, a Specialist Network and a host of supplementary
benefits paid from risk and carefully crafted managed care programmes to
cover chronic conditions, cancer, diabetes and HIV/AIDS. This allows members to derive real value for money and stretch their benefits as far as possible
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