Pregnancy Facts - Week 39
What's happening in week 39 of pregnancy
This is it the home stretch. From this week on, your baby is considered full term regardless of the country of birth! High five!
Like a top tier member of a loyalty program, by making it to week 38, baby gets all the full term pregnancy perks like:
- Cool personalized hospital bracelet*
- Non-transferrable pass to skip the NICU
- Functioning lungs
- Immediate skin to skin time with parents
- Working liver
- 50% less chance of having to be delivered by C-section
- You also get a matching hospital bracelet, absolutely free!*
*Hospital deliveries only.
Speaking of C-sections, if you or your medical professional have decided to go with a C-section, it will most likely be no earlier than this week that it happens.
If mom hasn't experienced it already, cankles may be a new thing in her life (or maybe it's always been a thing — own it). In these last few weeks, her feet and ankles may swell up some due to fluids and more pressure put on the veins.
How big is your baby in week 39 of pregnancy
This week, your baby measures about 13.9 inches (35.2 centimeters) from crown to rump and weighs 7.2 pounds (3.3 kilograms).
Your baby's development in week 39 of pregnancy
Your baby's head now only makes up about a fourth of your baby. The circumference of the head is about the same as that of your baby's torso. That's convenient for vaginal births because if your baby's head can pass through the birth canal, so can the body.
One interesting thing about your baby's head is that because it's not fully fused, the head sometimes gets elongated and cone-like in the birth canal. Not to worry, the shape will fix itself over time. It may take longer if the birth is assisted with forceps or a vacuum.
The skin on your baby will be a little white-ish in color due to the layer of baby fat covering your baby. Over time after birth, skin pigmentation will kick in and darken your baby's skin to something more along the lines of mom and/or dad skin tones.
