You are now in the final stretch of pregnancy, and at the end of this week you’ll only have 3 weeks left until your due date. 37 weeks ago you had your last period – a lot has changed since then! Although 40 weeks is the official length of time for pregnancy, many women give birth before or after this time. If your baby is born between week 37 and 38, they are known as early term babies.
Your body at week 37
At this point in your pregnancy you may often feel tired, and this is usually made worse by the fact that you are generally getting a poor night’s sleep. Normal pregnancy symptoms are abdominal pressure, the frequent urge to urinate, a sore back and pelvis, Braxton Hicks contractions and stretch marks.
Your baby at week 37
At this point almost all babies will have moved downwards into your pelvis, most commonly they will be in the cephalic presentation, which is head down, facing your spine. There are other positions that you baby can be in, such as cephalic posterior position, which is when they face outwards, or a breech position, which is feet first. If your baby is in an awkward position such as a breech, your baby may be delivered by c-section so as to minimise the risk to you and them.
Things for your to keep in mind at week 37
Around week 37 of pregnancy you may start to experience the urge to organise and clean your house in preparation for your new baby. This is known as nesting and is an instinct shared with many other animals. Nesting may have you rearranging your household to make it more baby friendly and you may feel the need to limit social interactions. While this most commonly occurs when your delivery date is close, it can happen at any time during your pregnancy – or sometimes not at all.
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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