If you are 41 weeks pregnant, it means that your due date has come and gone and baby hasn’t yet decided to make an appearance. Firstly remember that anything between 37 and 42 weeks pregnancy is known as full term. Each baby has a different pattern of development and every pregnancy can have its unpredictable aspects.
If you are past your due date and feeling anxious, you can take comfort from the fact that only about 2% babies actually arrive exactly on their estimated due date and that as many as half of all babies are a little late in arriving!
Changes in the baby
If baby is a little late in arriving it could be because his gestational age is actually less than estimated. Your last monthly period was used to calculate your due date because this is a fixed date. However the date that actual conception took place is far less easy to pinpoint. So this could be one reason why baby is not yet ready to emerge.
- Baby’s movements do typically slow down in the later part of the pregnancy because there is so little space to move about. However if you find that baby’s movements are less vigorous or less frequent than before, you should report this to your doctor at once.
- There are changes in the baby’s brain that trigger a series of chemical reactions that cause hormonal changes in you which in turn trigger the delivery process.
Changes in the mom to be
You are likely to be feeling impatient or even anxious about the baby’s arrival by now.
- Your labor contractions may actually start out feeling like you’re going to have a bowel movement or it may feel like menstrual cramps.
- Other indications that baby is on the way may include a blood show (red tinged mucus) or your water breaking.
- Some women experience diarrhea as labor approaches since the muscles in the pelvic region loosen in preparation of the birthing process.
Tips for the 41st week
You will of course have visited your doctor recently. If you haven’t already, you should do so now. Your doctor will gauge the situation and take a call on whether there is the need for inducing labor, or even conducting a cesarean section delivery.
- If your doctor says everything is fine and asks to wait and watch for a while longer, you should try and keep busy and keep your mind off your impending delivery.
- It could be that you’re experiencing a burst of energy right now. Utilize that to do stuff around the home but remember not to overdo it.