At the 37th week of pregnancy, a woman enters a completely new period - prenatal - now the baby is already considered fully term, ready for birth. Some religions claim that right now the baby is finding his personal Guardian Angel. Before the meeting of the baby with his parents, there is very little left, and now a woman needs maximum patience and the ability to focus on the main thing.
Childbirth can actually occur at any time, and therefore for this period it is better not to plan long trips, long walks.
How many months is it?
Week 37 opens the last month of pregnancy. The beginning of 37 weeks is the beginning of the 10th obstetric month of pregnancy, the final stage of the third trimester. Behind nine obstetric months or a little over 8 months according to the usual, calendar calculation. Almost 35 weeks have passed since conception, and 33 weeks have passed from a delay in menstruation. An average of 4 obstetric weeks remain before delivery.
The estimated day of birth is a very conditional date, because it is on this day that only about 5% of babies are born. Most of the births occur earlier or later than the PDD.
36-37 weeks of pregnancy is a very responsible and important time. A woman should know exactly what is happening during this period with the baby and mother in order to be ready for different scenarios.
Feelings of a future mother
The most common question that a woman hears at 37 weeks is when is the birth. This question is very annoying and makes the pregnant woman nervous, because she herself would like to know when they will come, since it becomes more and more difficult to carry the baby every day. Deep down, every expectant mother is well aware that it is better for a baby to be born on time in order to be fully matured, but the desire to give birth as soon as possible now prevails over common truths.
You can understand the mother-to-be: the baby is already so big that gestation turns into a constant test of strength and endurance. The pain intensifies, it is almost impossible to get enough sleep, insomnia, nausea, heartburn, diarrhea and constipation torment. Appetite that is, it is absent. Awkwardness significantly limits the physical capabilities of the expectant mother, reduces her mobility.
For those who still find it difficult to breathe due to pressure from the uterus on their diaphragm, this week may feel much better. In most pregnant women at 37 weeks, the belly drops. This means that the baby lowered his head down, he took such a position, which is the most correct and convenient for birth. Its head is tightly pressed against the exit from the small pelvis, the pressure on the diaphragm decreases. A woman can breathe deeply again, but begins to constantly experience pressure in the lower abdomen, an increased urge to urinate.
Many are interested in how long after the lowering of the tummy, labor begins. There are no uniform standards in this - everything is individual. Usually, after dropping the tiny head, it takes about 2-3 weeks before the contractions begin.
Stirring fetus
The baby's movements still remain a kind of "indicator" of his condition, but normally at 37 weeks they become more rare. You should not be afraid of this, the reduction of movements is a physiological phenomenon. The baby has become big, now he does not have the physical ability to somersault and arrange "dances" as before, because the walls of the uterus already tightly cover his body, he takes up almost all the free space in it.
The amount of amniotic fluid becomes smaller, the placenta begins to "grow thin" and thin, its functions are almost fulfilled, it is aging.
By the 37th week, the child took the only position in which he can somehow still fit in the uterus - flexion. In it, the baby's chin is tightly pressed against the chest, the arms and legs are compactly folded, the baby himself is in a bent position. Movement in this position is very, very limited. Movements with arms and legs now give mom pain and discomfort.
It is recommended that a pregnant woman continue to count episodes of motor activity of her son or daughter. Although they have become more rare, they, as before, should not be less than 10 in half a day. Counting begins in the morning, counting on average lasts 12 hours. If the baby hiccups, it doesn't count as wiggling. If he makes several consecutive movements in a short period of time, this is considered one movement. These are the general rules for counting.
The method that a woman will use when counting can be any. This is the Pearson method, popular among doctors of antenatal clinics, and the Cardiff method, and other methods and methods. The main thing is that the result is within the normal range.
If the movements are less than normal, this may be a sign of prolonged and prolonged hypoxia. The kid, by reducing his physical activity, is trying to save oxygen so much lacking for him.
Increased perturbations are usually characteristic of the initial stage of oxygen starvation. The baby's anxiety, his sharp and short movements are nothing more than a way to get himself more oxygen, so the baby massages the placenta, tries to pull the umbilical cord.
Hypoxia can be fatal to your baby. It often becomes the cause of intrauterine death of a child at a later date, causes undesirable consequences for the health of the child, and affects his nervous system, the state and performance of the brain.
The presence of hypoxia at 37 weeks is a reason for urgent delivery, without waiting for the onset of independent labor.
This information is provided for reference, but not a guide to action. This means that not every decrease or increase in perturbations is necessarily associated with oxygen starvation. A woman should be more attentive to changing her baby's behavior., but do not forget about his individual characteristics, because at this time the expectant mother is already familiar with them.
There are more mobile and less mobile babies. In addition, a wide variety of factors of an external or internal nature, for example, nutrition, weather, mood and well-being of the expectant mother, affect the activity of the child in the womb.
Pain
A pregnant woman usually gets used to pain at this time. Various uncomfortable sensations are now constant "companions" of a woman, and the pain continues to intensify. In one woman, they are more pronounced, in another - less, it all depends on the individual pain threshold. But everyone has pain at 37 weeks, because the body of the expectant mother is experiencing serious overload. Over the past months, weight has increased markedly, because of this, there are periodic pains in the legs, knee joints, ankle. Often women at this time are worried about cramps of the calf muscles, they are associated with a lack of calcium in the body, because the child took it in large quantities.
The uterus continues to grow. This growth is now less intense than before, but the ligaments are stretched, overloaded, and this is what causes the woman to have lower back and back pain, and pulling pains in the lower abdomen are observed. Pulls the lower back, hurts in the right or left side not constantly, but mainly when changing the position of the body, with a long stay in an upright position.
The training contractions become more intense by 37 weeks gestation. They are happening more and more often, but this in no way should worry the expectant mother. This is how her body prepares for childbirth.
At this time, false or training contractions may appear in women who have already given birth before. In primiparas, they usually start long before childbirth. The second or third pregnancy is characterized precisely by the fact that Braxton Hicks spasms appear shortly before the birth itself.
If there are no false contractions at week 37, this is also a variant of the norm. There are many women in the world who do not observe such training contractions of the uterine muscles at all, and this does not in the least prevent them from communicating well and safely giving birth to their babies. Therefore, training fights do not belong to the category of harbingers. They do not contribute to the dilatation of the cervix.
False contractions are very easy to recognize: the uterus is toned for a while, and then relaxes. There may not be a second fight. And this is the main difference between false contractions and real ones, which occur with a certain frequency and an increase in pain.
The fact that labor has begun can be judged by the frequency of contractions - they are repeated at specific, equal intervals of time, intensifying.
If the training contractions by the 37th week are very disturbing, you can correct the position by taking "No-shpa", having rest in a prone position, taking a warm shower. They should be treated calmly, without panic, as inevitable.
The perineum hurts at 37 weeks for two reasons: the baby's head presses on the structures of the small pelvis if the stomach has already dropped, and the process of softening the bone apparatus of the small pelvis before the upcoming birth is in full swing.
Bones and ligaments become more mobile in order to skip the baby's head during childbirth, to enable him to leave the uterus. A special hormone, relaxin, acts on the pelvic bones, which is now produced in the body of the expectant mother in large quantities.
Perineal pain worse at night. The pubic bone may slightly restrict a woman's movement in the morning after waking up. It will take some time for her to step back and allow her to sit down, stand, rearrange her legs while walking.
If the pain is sharp, does not change and does not subside, then you should visit your doctor in order to exclude the development of symphysitis. This is an unpleasant complication of pregnancy. With him, with a high degree of probability, childbirth will be carried out by cesarean section.
37 obstetric week - the last opportunity to heal your teeth. A visit to the dentist and any manipulations in the oral cavity at a later date become undesirable. If you have a toothache, do not postpone your visit to the doctor this week, especially since it is not necessary to endure pain during dental treatment. A woman for such a solid period has already been allowed some painkillers-anesthetics, so the doctor will do everything possible to ensure that the treatment goes with minimal nerve costs for a woman in an "interesting position."
At 37 weeks gestation, the cervix begins to actively prepare for childbirth. It is gradually shortened, smoothed out, this can cause minor pulling pains, as well as a feeling of short "stabbing" lumbago somewhere in the depths of the vagina. You should not be afraid - everything that happens is completely physiological and natural.
If you have pain of the following nature, you should call an "ambulance" at 37 weeks: if they are acute and severe, accompanied by bleeding or other unusual discharge, outpouring of water, discharge of mucous plug. It is impossible to hesitate in this situation: the earlier the pregnant woman is in the hospital, the better for her and the unborn child.
Allocations
By changing the nature of vaginal discharge at 37 weeks, a woman can guess about the approach of childbirth or the onset of complications. In order not to miss the important, you should use thin daily sanitary pads.
Tampons should not be used by pregnant women, as they cause the accumulation of vaginal secretions, which in turn contributes to the multiplication of pathogenic bacteria.
Control over discharge is a prerequisite for your own hygiene during late pregnancy. The discharge at 37 weeks remains fairly abundant, as it was a few weeks ago. However, this week, a woman may notice that there are mucus impurities in the vaginal secretion. This is the beginning of the discharge of the mucous plug, which for all nine months reliably closed the cervical canal from viruses and bacteria entering it and from there into the uterine cavity. Now the cervix begins to open slightly, and the mucous plug can no longer be held in the expanding cervical canal.
Small admixtures of mucus at the current time indicate that the cork is coming off in parts, but if a large clot with or without blood streaks is found on the gasket, the cork has come off entirely. From this moment on, a woman should not take a bath, she should be limited to a shower, she should not have sex in order to prevent foreign microorganisms from entering the uterine cavity.
The plug does not always come off in advance. Sometimes she leaves the cervical canal simultaneously with the outpouring of amniotic fluid, and then the exit of the plug can go unnoticed by the woman. The waters themselves can also escape in parts. This woman will be "indicated" by watery discharge.
Normally, discharge at 37 weeks should remain white or slightly yellowish, have an even consistency without clots, and be odorless. If a woman develops any spotting at this time, an ambulance should be called immediately.
Itching in the perineum may indicate the presence of thrush, especially if it is accompanied by thick white discharge that resembles cottage cheese in structure. Green, gray, brown, foul-smelling discharge this week is a sign of genital infection.
You should get rid of thrush and infections before the onset of labor, so it is important to see a doctor now, because treatment and sanitation of the genital tract will take some time.
The psychological state and mood of a pregnant woman
Fear of the upcoming childbirth is still "reigning" in the minds of the expectant mother, but gradually it recedes and is replaced by agonizing expectation. Many women who are tired of the heavy burden want these "terrible" births to begin as soon as possible. Because of this, a woman may begin to experience a slight depression, become irritable and easily excitable.
Due to the fact that many people suffer from insomnia at night, they want to sleep constantly, but only during the day. Such a shift in the biological cycle causes a psychological imbalance, a woman may begin to feel that this period is dragging on very slowly and will never end.
It is in the last month of pregnancy that relationships between spouses, a woman and her parents often deteriorate. To help the woman at this stage, psychologists work in the consultation. There is no need to be ashamed to seek psychological help, because this is completely normal, this practice is widespread throughout the civilized world.
The expectant mother now needs confidence in the future, that she and her child will be taken care of, and also wants to feel loved and needed.
Therefore, no matter how busy the future dad is at work, he should not forget that his second half is going through difficult times, she needs his support and participation.
Changes in the body
All systems and organs, every cell of the mother's body begin to prepare for the upcoming birth. This is a very complex process from a biological point of view, which involves many different mechanisms and substances.
Uterus
The uterus occupies almost the entire space of the abdominal cavity. The height of its bottom is 32-37 centimeters. From the line of the navel, the uterus rises by 17-18 centimeters.If the baby has not lowered his head down, then it is hard for the woman to breathe, because the bottom of the uterus supports the chest and diaphragm, squeezes the stomach. It is this fact that is the main reason for the very exhausting heartburn, which is familiar to almost all pregnant women firsthand, especially at the end of the third trimester.
The uterus, which presses on the diaphragm, creates a feeling of constant lack of air. After lowering the abdomen, this goes away, but if at 37 weeks the prolapse did not occur and it is still difficult to breathe, you should monitor your well-being, avoid symptoms of lack of oxygen. To do this, a woman should occasionally take a knee-elbow position and take full breaths in and out in it. Such breathing exercises will help to cope with oxygen deficiency and help prepare for childbirth.
Due to the large uterus and its pressure on the bladder, the woman experiences frequent urge to urinate. Most pregnant women get used to going to the toilet several times during the night by this time, but troubles like urinary incontinence can surprise and puzzle them. There is nothing terrible or strange in this. The pressure on the bladder increases the pressure on the sphincter, and now all you have to do is suddenly cough or laugh to make urine leak.
The cervix begins to change rapidly. In the language of doctors - "ripen". According to the condition and length of the neck, a conclusion is now made about the likelihood of childbirth in the near future. The neck becomes shorter - 24-26 mm, its slight opening may appear.
Normally, the internal pharynx begins to open first, and only then - the external one. With an obstetric pessary, which was installed due to cervical weakness in order to preserve pregnancy at an earlier date, they are usually hospitalized at 37 weeks. The pessary is removed after a general examination of the pregnant woman, after which childbirth occurs within a few hours or days. Whereas previously surgical stitches were placed on the cervix, a hospital stay is now also recommended.
The shorter the cervix at 37 weeks, the more likely it is that labor will occur very soon. The ripening of the cervix is an individual phenomenon, and if it has not yet begun, then there is a possibility that the bearing of the baby can last and the birth will occur after 40 weeks.
Weight gain
The weight gain at 37 weeks is already so great that a woman feels it with literally every part of her body. It became difficult to walk, toss and turn from side to side. On average, by this time, a woman adds up to 14 kilograms. And it is recommended to continue to weigh yourself not only on the days of a visit to the antenatal clinic, but also independently, at home, every day... Such control will help the pregnant woman to better understand the processes taking place in her body.
So, an unreasonable at first glance jump in kilograms may indicate the development of gestosis. In this case, you should immediately consult a doctor to assess the degree and form of the complication and determine the further tactics of pregnancy management.
Gestosis itself can be very dangerous for the mother and fetus, especially if weight gain is combined with the appearance of protein in the urine and an increase in blood pressure.
Components of the total weight gain for the entire period of pregnancy at normal rates:
- About 30% is the baby's weight.
- Slightly more than 10% is allocated to the weight of water and placenta.
- More than 12% - the weight of blood, the amount of which in the maternal body increased with the appearance of another circle of blood circulation (uteroplacental).
- About 5% of the increase is the weight of the mammary glands.
- About 15% is spent on fluid, which accumulates in the intercellular space of body tissues. If there is a lot of it, edema appears - internal and external.
What weight is considered normal at this time depends on the complexion of the woman.
- Overweight women can add 8.3 kilograms by 37 weeks of gestation, and this will fit within the standard values.
- Thin and slender individuals can normally add about 14 kilograms.
- Women of average build - just over 12 kilograms.
Different doctors look at the rate of increase in different ways. This is due to the lack of uniform standardized requirements.
Within one week during this period, no more than 300 grams can be added... A woman should remember that now her baby is very intensively gaining its own weight, and in order not to cause complaints from the obstetrician-gynecologist, it is important to eat small portions of food, the calorie content of which is not high.
Many pregnant women report that weight loss began at week 37, and this is also quite normal. There is less water, the placenta decreases, in addition, many note that their appetite has almost disappeared.
Other changes
Complaints that now the chest hurts again, as at the very beginning of gestation, at 37 weeks are quite common. The mammary glands enter the final stage of preparation for lactation. The breasts become more sensitive, the nipples coarsen, and may begin to peel off slightly. Colostrum excretion often increases. Colostrum itself at 37 weeks begins to become more liquid and whitish, whereas before it was thick and yellow.
By this time, colostrum is observed in the vast majority of pregnant women, but most often it accompanies the second or third pregnancy, provided that the woman previously had to breastfeed the baby.
However, the absence of colostrum should not cause a pregnant woman to question and worry. The opinion that the absence of colostrum is a sign that there will be no or little breast milk after childbirth is erroneous.
A large amount of circulating blood leads to an imbalance in blood pressure levels. Therefore, it is not surprising that at 37 weeks the head hurts or is dizzy, throws it into heat and cold, the heart beats more often. The woman gets tired faster, she feels weaker than before. Headaches do not need medical treatment, doctors usually recommend a woman to sleep with an open window, as well as to relax in a well-ventilated darkened room.
Anemia, if any, begins to recede. At 37 weeks, the level of hemoglobin in the blood of a pregnant woman rises. Estrogens, which are produced in considerable quantities, promote hair growth and not only in the scalp. Sweat and sebaceous glands continue to work with increased activity, and therefore perspiration persists. But nails, due to a lack of calcium, become more brittle and fragile.
A woman's skin is now more tender than ever. This is what causes the manifestations of allergies, increased pigmentation. At 37 weeks, pimples may appear, which the woman almost forgot about when progesterone controlled everything in her body. Now the hormonal background has changed, and this can manifest itself in the form of acne.
Harbingers of childbirth
What are they, the harbingers of childbirth, interests every pregnant woman. At 37 weeks they may not be there, but the first "swallows" may appear. Traditionally, unconditional harbingers include:
- shortening of the cervix;
- drooping of the abdomen;
- leakage of amniotic fluid;
- gradual discharge of the mucous plug.
There are also folk signs by which our grandmothers and great-grandmothers were still guided, when no one measured the length of the cervix. It is customary to attribute the appearance of eating disorders, in particular, diarrhea, to the precursors. It is believed that in this way the body of the expectant mother is trying to "cleanse itself" before the upcoming birth. However, do not confuse the precursors and elementary food poisoning. In case of poisoning, a woman is accompanied by vomiting.
Strengthening training bouts is a rather dubious harbinger.
Often popular rumor refers to the so-called nesting instinct as a precursor, when a pregnant woman begins to actively equip her home, "build a nest." Pulling pain between the legs and insomnia are considered a harbinger. Many pregnant women claim that they have almost stopped sleeping at night in the week before giving birth.
Baby development
Your baby is busy with a very important business - he is building up fat and muscle mass. On average, the increase is 50 grams per day. The average weight of the fetus at 37 weeks of gestation is 3100 grams. The estimated weight of the fetus can be determined on an ultrasound scan, however, the doctor will definitely warn that the concept is rather relative, and errors can vary within 300-400 grams.
The growth of the baby reaches 47-49 centimeters. He is already quite large and it is very difficult for him to fit into the uterine cavity. The baby looks just like a newborn, with one amendment - by weight. Otherwise, he is not much different from a newborn.
The entire small child's body is now busy with the most important thing - preparing for its own birth, adaptive abilities are mobilized, the senses are "tuned", immunity is preparing to repel the attacks of the aggressive world located outside the mother's womb.
Appearance
There have been dramatic changes in the appearance of the child. If earlier he looked thin and wrinkled, now the baby has noticeably recovered, he already has chubby cheeks, cute chubby palms and heels. This is made possible by the accumulation of subcutaneous fat. Because of it, the skin has ceased to be red and wrinkled, and thanks to it, the baby can now keep warm, which is extremely important for his successful survival after birth.
From lanugo (thin blond hair) the baby's skin is almost free. The original lubricant was preserved only where there is still a protective need for it - in places of mechanical friction (under the arms, in the elbow and popliteal folds, in the groin). Only one in two dozen babies retains part of the lanugo at 37 weeks. But there is nothing pathological in this, the hairs will fall out in the first days after the baby is born.
The length of the hair on the head of some babies already reaches impressive values - up to 5 centimeters, thanks to the coloring pigments, the baby can already be a brunette or brown-haired, red or light-haired. The cartilages of the nose and auricles have become harder. Because of this, the ears stopped sticking out funny in different directions and acquired a complete aesthetic appearance.
A child has his own individual eye color, facial features, fingerprints, eyelashes and eyebrows. Small nails have grown, and now the baby can scratch herself, since the nail plates confidently rise above the boundaries of the phalanges. The proportions of the body have leveled off, have become more balanced. The skull bones remain mobile to facilitate the birth of the baby's head.
Presentation
Almost all children at this time occupy a head position in relation to the exit from the small pelvis. It is it that is considered the most suitable and safe for the childbirth process. If at 37 weeks the baby is in breech presentation, there is practically no chance that he will change the position of the body in the space of the uterus. At this time, a decision is made to perform a caesarean section in order to minimize the likelihood of the child receiving severe, disabling birth trauma.
Breech presentation, as well as the location across the uterine cavity, are indications for cesarean section. It is usually done for 38-39 or 39-40 weeks.
Before hospitalization, ultrasound is repeated, since medicine knows cases when babies changed their position immediately before the onset of childbirth, however, such stories are rare.
Nervous system
The baby's brain gained weight and significantly increased control over the activities of the entire child's body. The cerebral cortex has convolutions and grooves, the nerve endings are myelinated. Young neurons continue to form at a very fast pace, nerve cells form the connections necessary for the child to develop further. This process will not end even after birth; the nervous system will continue to develop in new conditions.
Several dozen formed reflexes will not let the baby disappear after he leaves the womb. All of them are now formed. These are the sucking and swallowing reflexes, the grasping reflex, and the respiratory reflex. In addition, there are several dozen tendon and tonic reflexes.
Nerve endings that penetrate the delicate skin are able to provide the brain with a full report of touch or changes in ambient temperature. Neural connections are formed between the "control center" (brain) and all the internal organs and systems of the child.
The senses are fully prepared for the independent life of the baby. He hears well enough, as far as the thickness of the mother's abdominal wall allows, sees blurry colored spots, visual acuity and focusing are the tasks of the near future after childbirth. He has a sense of smell and touch, the baby perfectly distinguishes between tastes.
Internal organs
The baby's internal organs are fully formed, they are now only growing and increasing in size and mass. The functions of each organ are perfected and debugged, the entire body of the child works harmoniously like a clock. The boys' testicles descended into the scrotum, but if the gonads are still delayed on the way from the abdominal cavity to the scrotum, then they will certainly descend in the coming days.
The baby's lungs continue to accumulate a special substance necessary for survival and spontaneous breathing - surfactant. There is now enough of it in the alveoli so that the baby can breathe in case the birth occurs this week. The surfactant prevents the tiny bubbles, which, in essence, are the alveoli, from sticking together during the exit. These bubbles in the human body perform the function of gas exchange - the release of carbon dioxide in exchange for oxygen.
In the baby's liver, the formation of lobules is completely completed, the deep structures of the kidneys have also acquired their final complete appearance. Now the kidneys produce up to 500 ml of urine per day, the baby drinks amniotic fluid and pees about once an hour. Urine enters the amniotic fluid, but the environment remains sterile due to the fact that the composition of the waters is renewed every three hours.
A large amount of original feces - meconium - had accumulated in the intestines by 37 weeks. It consists of bile and undigested lanugo particles and exfoliated epithelium. The baby begins to poop after his birth, in the first day or two he will bring out this very first feces, meconium of dark green color.
If a bowel movement occurs in utero now, doctors will try to speed up the birth of the baby, because meconium makes the water unsuitable for swallowing, in addition, the very fact of intrauterine defecation is very alarming, since it very often indicates a clear unfavorable fetus - hypoxia or Rh-conflict.
The baby's heart works smoothly, pumping up to two dozen liters of blood per day. It knocks rhythmically, clearly and loudly. If desired, you can hear it by putting your ear to the pregnant woman's belly.
Viability
Premature birth at 37 weeks is only conditionally called. Pregnancy is considered full-term, and babies born this week are certainly viable. But a lot depends on the individual development of the baby. Sometimes it happens that the amount of accumulated surfactant in the lungs is not enough, sometimes babies born at 37 weeks do not have enough subcutaneous fat to effectively retain their own heat.
Therefore, children who are born at this time are under the close supervision of neonatologists for several days, some babies need resuscitation measures and special conditions for staying for several days after birth.However, often babies born at 37 weeks, in the absence of complications, are immediately applied to the chest and after a day they are transferred to the same ward with their mother.
Even if the baby is not brought in and kept in intensive care, you should not worry. He spent enough time in the mother's womb to successfully adapt to the external environment. There should be no health consequences.
Your child is on ultrasound
Ultrasound at 37 weeks of gestation is performed mainly for medical reasons. Such indications exist in cases where the doctor needs to know exactly the length of the cervix, the size of the fetal head, its estimated weight, if a large or giant fetus is suspected. These data are needed in order to choose the right delivery tactics. Ultrasound helps to establish the degree of readiness of the baby for birth, the readiness of his lungs, presentation.
Ultrasound at 37 weeks can be the final, the last for the entire period of bearing the baby. Doing it yourself only radio, in order to admire the crumbs or find out its gender, in fact, there is no point.
The posture of the child in the womb no longer allows the doctor to carefully examine the genitals of the baby, therefore, gender diagnosis is now very difficult, and the probability of error is high.
Fetometry is an indicator of baby's development. The main dimensions of the head and paired bones allow the doctor to present the proportions of the body of the crumbs, to calculate the estimated weight. Internal organs are evaluated, as well as motor activity and the beating of a small heart. At this time, close attention is paid to the placenta.
The fetometry standards for week 37 are as follows.
A deviation from the indicated values is permissible, but no more than two weeks. If the baby is 2 weeks or more behind the norm, doctors may suspect he has a delay in intrauterine growth. Babies with values ahead of the norm are more likely to be born large.
At 37 weeks, it is recommended to carry out not an ordinary ultrasound, but an ultrasound with a Doppler so that it is possible to assess the work of the placenta, the blood flow rate in the uteroplacental vessels. This information is needed in order to understand how comfortable the baby feels in the mother's womb.
Dangers and risks
The main danger at 37 weeks is falling and injury. The belly has become so large that a woman does not see her own legs when she walks, does not see where she is stepping. This is especially dangerous in winter, if a woman walks alone on her own. But at home you should walk as carefully as possible, because the gait of a pregnant woman is now unstable, you can stumble and fall literally out of the blue.
The woman's immunity continues to remain weak, the natural defenses were suppressed for too long by progesterone to quickly recover, so the risks of contracting the flu or ARVI are high. And even a common cold can lie in wait at any time. Therefore, now it is important to refrain from visiting crowded places, busy and crowded shopping centers, to avoid traveling by public transport, especially if it is an epidemic season outside.
The cold itself or a viral infection for the child no longer pose any danger, but it can greatly complicate the life of the expectant mother. With a runny nose and cough, if childbirth begins, the woman is hospitalized exclusively in the observational (infectious) department of the hospital.
To treat a cold or SARS at 37 weeks of pregnancy, if a woman does get sick, you need only under the supervision of a doctor, since inept self-medication can do much more serious harm than the disease itself. The doctor will help you choose a drug that is safe for the child's health, tell you which of the folk remedies are acceptable. The disease can be overcome without serious complications.
A woman should not lift weights, be very nervous, because all this can lead to premature birth. Even the fact that the baby is considered viable does not negate the need for the last weeks of gestation and should not be underestimated. Stormy emotions, bad habits can also speed up the course of events, and if nature intended to carry a baby for 40 weeks, then it is dangerous to go against her. Do not rush to the hospital.
Quite often, at 37 weeks, a woman is haunted by a delicate and painful problem - hemorrhoids. It is not necessary to assume that everything will pass by itself: childbirth, as practice shows, only intensifies the manifestations of hemorrhoids. Therefore, right now you need to consult a doctor and begin treatment, adjust your diet, and prevent constipation. Loose stools also cannot be ignored. Diarrhea can lead to dehydration.
Analyzes and examinations
At the 37th week of pregnancy, a woman will receive an impressive list of directions for tests that must be carried out before childbirth: such a comprehensive check of the health of the future woman in labor will help doctors better navigate in the last weeks of pregnancy and during childbirth.
Before the scheduled appointment, the antenatal clinic is still taking a general urine test. It is needed in order to know how the kidneys cope with the load, whether a woman has signs of gestosis or gestational diabetes mellitus.
This week, a woman is recommended to undergo general and detailed biochemical blood tests, to do a blood test for antibody titers if the woman has a negative Rh factor, and also to do a coagulogram - an analysis showing hemostasis processes. It is important to determine if the expectant mother has disorders of blood clotting factors, because the birth process, whatever it may be in terms of the technique and methods, is always associated with large blood loss.
A blood test is taken again for HIV, syphilis, hepatitis B and C. If, according to ultrasound, the placenta is recognized as aging too quickly, the woman will be recommended a blood test for the concentration and balance of various hormones. All pregnant women, regardless of history, undergo CTG at 37 obstetric week to make sure that everything is in order with the child.
Recommendations for the expectant mother
The main tips at 37 weeks of pregnancy are about proper nutrition, adherence to a rest regimen, and an attentive attitude to changes in your own body. Besides:
if severe itching of the skin around the chest, abdomen and thighs suffers, a woman should definitely use special cosmetics against stretch marks. You can do with a more economical option - after a shower, rub heated almond, flaxseed or sunflower oil into your skin;
sex is not contraindicated and even useful, because orgasm helps the uterine muscles prepare for childbirth, and the semen contains prostaglandins, which help prepare the cervix for opening. However, sex should be very gentle.
If there is a threat of premature birth, if the cork has come off, water is leaking, sex is contraindicated.
Reviews of pregnant women
Expectant mothers at this time share the secrets of recognizing the harbingers of childbirth, and also compare what helps better from frequent training bouts - "Papaverine" or "No-shpa". Most pregnant women claim that their health has become somewhat worse than a week earlier.
About what happens to the fetus and the expectant mother at 37 weeks of gestation, see below.
