Week 37 Pregnancy VLOG, baby number 5 by Teresa Palmer
What’s baby up to?
Our baby is about 48–49 cm (19 inches) from head to heel. He or she is around 6.5–7 pounds (2.9–3.2 kg) on average. And the size of a bunch of Swiss chard!
We are also at Full term! Wooooo- week 37 is considered early term. Our baby is fully developed now, and if born now, most babies do very well without special care. There’s a little more maturing for the brain and lungs still, which is why many doctors ideally want babies to cook until at least 39 weeks. Baby is plumping up and smoothing out, building a bit more fat under the skin for temperature regulation. Movements may feel different now, my baby shifts their back/bottom from one side to the other like a windscreen wiper so the shape of my stomach contorts so much more now! People can really see all the movement from the outside which I LOVE. At this gestation, most babies are head-down by now (mine was confirmed head down by ultrasound!) which means I’ve been experiencing a lot more Braxton Hicks and lightning crotch as its head hit the nerves around the cervix!
For You
You might feel increased pelvic pressure, Braxton Hicks contractions, or notice the baby “dropping” (lightening).
This can lead to easier breathing but more bathroom trips!
Anything new these weeks?
I’d say physically I’m feeling similar to the past couple of weeks (reflux weeee, sporadic pelvic pain weeeeee, feeling heavy and old and waddley weeeeee) but the new thing this week is really shifting gears into a birthing headspace.
I set up my birthing area which I take you on a tour of in this video!
Challenges
This was actually a pretty emotionally heavy week. We had one day on Thursday 28th August which will go down in the history books hahaha I had 3 fevering children, Mark had a downwards spiral emotionally, I was trying to take care of everyone and everything and tick all these boxes and then found out I have a job 1 week (maybe less) postpartum which is un-turndownable, my midwife came over with her gorgeous motherly energy and suddenly I felt overwhelmed and started crying!! I needed to be mothered. Luckily I have beautiful friends who showed up to help out and our gorgeous family assistant Jess who took some of the stress off too. It was such a big day. Anyway everything turned around, Mark is feeling better, the kids are almost totally better and I’m feeling MUCH better hahaha when it rains, it pours!
Reflections
We can do hard things. I keep telling myself that as I’m looking towards one of the most challenging experiences you can face in life. I know this birth is going to be life changing and completely profound in all its ways. I also know that it gets so mental and physically overwhelming at times and I’ll likely feel afraid too. I just keep reminding myself that this is NOT bigger or more powerful than me, because it IS me and my baby and all of the intensity I’ll be feeling is something you only get a handful of times in life (if you’re lucky) so I’m going to lean into the transformative, spiritual gift of this as much as I can when things feel really hard.