Your birth plan: what to decide and what to ask the maternity unit
A short birth plan helps you think about your birth partner, pain relief, time with your baby and feeding before contractions begin.
4 min read
Third trimester
Week 38 of pregnancy
Your baby is the size of a leek. The organs are ready for life outside the womb and the fine hair has almost all gone.
Your baby is the size of a leek
- Length, head to heel
- ≈ 49.8 cm
- Weight
- ≈ 3.1 kg
Your baby this week
- The organs are ready to work on their own after birth.
- Lanugo has almost all gone.
- Meconium has collected in the gut and will be the first poo.
Your body this week
- Swelling and pressure in your pelvis are common.
- Signs that labour is starting include regular contractions that get stronger, backache, the mucus plug coming away and your waters breaking.
- Many women feel impatient and tired in these days.
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Read more for this stage
Pain relief in labour: from breathing to an epidural
The ways to ease labour pain, what an epidural does and does not do, and the questions worth asking your maternity unit before the birth.
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The stages of labour: from the first contraction to the placenta
What happens at each stage of labour, how long it usually lasts, when to set off for the maternity unit and when to call straight away.
4 min read
General information written by the mam.al editors. Every pregnancy is different and sizes are averages; it does not replace advice from your doctor or midwife. Sources include the NHS week-by-week guide to pregnancy. NHS. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.