40 Weeks Pregnant What to Expect – Signs of Labor – No Contractions
You are among the minority if you reach this point of pregnancy. Most women will give birth between their 38th and 39th week of pregnancy. In some cases reaching the 40th weeks will be considered as having passed their due date. Anyhow, keep close to friends and family, this is not the time to travel as labor could happen at any point now. Put on speed dial all the phone numbers you feel you need to have as you will need them when the labor pains creep up on you. You still need to know the difference between true and false labor as this happens many times to many women who are past this point. You may be very anxious to evict the tenant from your womb that any movement you feel will be taken to mean that you are in labor.
For women who have always had back pain, any back pain may not mean labor when you are 40 weeks pregnant. For those who have never had back pain during their pregnancy, the feeling of pain in the lower part of the back could mean that the labor has started. It should take a few hours from the time of getting the first contraction to the time of giving birth but then again this is not absolute as some women will take less than an hour to give birth.
You will be anxious and depressed but you need to not let this get to you as you will have a lot of problems afterwards. All the mood swings and depression are caused by the imbalance of hormones but will be exacerbated by the anxiety to give birth and the fear of pain among other things. You need to sleep well and eat well. Be prepared as labor pains do not have any respect for time. They could start at any point and anywhere they feel like it.
Your baby is chubbier than last week and if he is going to stay any longer in your womb he will still deposit a lot
more fat under their skin. Babies who are born at this point will come out a little heavier. Women should be dedicated to their birth options. Caesarian sections will be necessary when the baby cannot come through the birth canal and when the pelvic bone is too small for the baby. The latter mostly happens in short women. Anyhow, keep abreast of any changes that will happen in your life and body as you will give birth at any moment. Get the advice of your doctor on the options of giving birth that you may have. Your baby’s genitals have already developed at this point and you will notice at birth that they will be a little larger than normal. This happens because your hormones may be passed to the baby right before birth and this could lead to the enlargement of their genitals. Your little one should be about 8 pounds in weight and about 20 inches from head to toe…just the size of a newborn.