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 39 of pregnancy
Your baby is the size of a small watermelon. The skin is smoother and the brain keeps growing fast.
Your baby is the size of a small watermelon
- Length, head to heel
- ≈ 50.7 cm
- Weight
- ≈ 3.3 kg
Your baby this week
- A layer of fat keeps the baby warm and the skin becomes smoother.
- The brain keeps growing fast, even after birth.
- The baby has little room, but its movements should carry on as usual.
Your body this week
- You may have contractions that come and go without becoming regular; this is called false labour.
- Tiredness and waiting can be hard; rest helps.
- Your cervix starts to soften and thin, ready for the birth.
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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.
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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.