Welcome to the 36th week of your pregnancy journey! You have almost reached your due date and very soon you will meet your beautiful baby. At this point, you might start feeling an urge to go clean everything in your house, tidy the drawers and organize all of your baby’s new clothes.
This is normal at this stage of your pregnancy as it is known as the nesting behavior, many women report that they get the same urges around this stage of their pregnancy, enjoy the preparation period as much as you want, it is quite therapeutic and useful as well.
However, you need to make sure not to overdo it as it might give you some foot pain, try lifting your feet up every now and then to avoid any annoying pain, and most of all, enjoy this week!
By this week, your baby is looking more and more like a cute tiny infant, his legs are getting chubby and his skin is becoming pink-tinted. Your baby’s hearing is getting even sharper this week and might be able to recognize your voice and his favorite music after birth!
On the other hand, if this is your first birth, your baby is going to be changing the position to “drop” lower into your pelvis, this process is called “dropping” or “lightening”.
Changes Happening in Your Body by Your 36th Week
It is essential for women to have an antenatal appointment with their doctor or midwives around this time of their pregnancy to check the size of the bump, the blood pressure, and their urine.
Even though it might be quite difficult to move anywhere during this stage of pregnancy, but it is important as these appointments save lives, the doctor or midwife can pick up the changes in your body that you might not be aware of such as the irregular high blood pressure.
Your baby probably has already moved down into your pelvis which is the position for delivery. But even if the baby’s position is already moved, it does not necessarily mean that you are about to deliver, the delivery might be still a few weeks away.
If your baby still hasn’t changed position to head down the pelvis, you will be offered a helping hand by the midwife or doctor to gently encourage the baby to turn, it is a successful attempt most of the time.
Assisted Delivery
Assisted deliveries are quite rare, only one in ten births are assisted, this means that the baby needed some help to get out of your womb. This could be done using forceps, which are surgical tongs, or ventouse which is a suction cup. Of course, you will be offered a local anesthetic or epidural to relieve your pain.
In some rare cases, women might need an episiotomy, which is a cut to make it easier for your baby to get out. If you need a cut or if you tear, you will be stitched up and back to normal again.
Can You Still Have Vaginal Birth After a C-Section?
This mainly depends on the reason why you have had a c-section, to begin with, if it was due to a medical condition, then you will probably need to have a c-section again, but if there are no medical issues stopping you, you can go ahead and have a vaginal birth. Your doctor or midwife can tell you about the pros and cons of each delivery and you can make your decision.
Symptoms of the 36th Week of Pregnancy
At this stage, your body is preparing you for giving birth, it might be by relaxing your pelvic floor muscles around the bladder. This could mean that you might experience a bit of wee leaking out when you cough or laugh. If this causes you a problem, try using maternity pads, you can stock up a few of them as well as you will need to use them for a while after birth.
Your 36th week of pregnancy symptoms might include:
- Sleeping problems
- Baxton Hicks
- Bleeding gums
- Snoring
- Backache
- Headaches
- Carpal tunnel syndrome
- Random pain around muscles
- Dizziness
- Tiredness
- Sore breasts
- Leg cramps
- Stretch marks
- Thicker hair
- Swollen gums
- Urine infection
- Bloating or constipation
- Spotty skin
- Feeling too warm
- Greasier skin
- Piles
- Vaginal infection
- Thicker hair
Your Baby’s 36th Week Development
Your baby is growing graciously day by day, making it tighter and tighter in there, but you can still feel all of his kicks and movements. By your 36th week, your baby is now around 2.6kg in weight and is about 47.4cm in length from head to toe.
Your baby’s lungs are now fully developed and matured enough to be able to breathe outside the womb without any outer support. It is quite reassuring knowing that your baby can now survive on his own. They get so big so fast, right?
Your baby is also now able to suck and digest your breast milk, however, if you haven’t decided whether to breastfeed or not, learn more about breastfeeding as it can help your baby have an immunity boost in his early years, breastfeeding can help him fight many infections and stomach bugs. And on the other hand, it helps you burn around 300 calories per day!
This Week’s Tip
Track Your Baby’s Movements
As your baby grows bigger, his movements decrease a little bit as it gets tighter in your womb and that gives him less space to move and roll around, you should still be able to feel his kicks and punches, but in case you felt them getting slower or stopping, contact your midwife or doctor to make sure everything is well.