Week 40: Meeting your baby

Your due date is here. Your baby is fully ready — lungs, brain and every organ mature, the soft fontanelles in place for a safe arrival, resting up for the big day. (Their eye colour at birth may still change over the coming months.) About the size of a pumpkin now.

Here’s the thing about due dates, though: only about 1 in 20 babies actually arrives on theirs. Yours is a guide, not a deadline, and going a little over is completely normal. Keep your weekly appointments, and if you reach 41 weeks your team will talk with you about gently encouraging labour along.

If you feel up to it, staying mobile and walking can help things along. And keep doing what you’ve done all pregnancy — tuning in to your baby’s movements, and calling your hospital immediately if they ever slow. Don’t wait on that one, even now.

If you go past your due date, your care team will keep a closer eye on you and your baby, usually with some extra checks, and will talk with you about your options if you reach around 41 weeks — typically a conversation about a membrane sweep or being offered an induction. None of this happens to you without a discussion; it’s your decision, made with their guidance, and they’ll explain the reasons and what each option involves.

In the meantime, the old favourites for encouraging things along — staying mobile, walking, keeping relaxed — won’t do any harm, even if the evidence is mixed. Above all, rest, eat well, and try to keep your nerves in check; a calm, well-rested you is the best preparation for whatever your labour looks like. And whatever shape the birth takes — a quick arrival, a long labour, or a caesarean — there’s no “right” way to meet your baby, and your team is there to keep you both safe through it.

If your team does talk about induction, it helps to understand it in broad strokes so it doesn’t feel like something happening to you: it’s a way of starting labour artificially, used when continuing the pregnancy carries more risk than helping things along — for example once you’re well past your due date. There are different methods, your team will explain why they’re recommending it and what to expect, and you can ask questions and take your time deciding. It’s a conversation, not an order.

In these last days, look after your head as much as your body. The “still pregnant?” messages and the endless waiting can fray anyone’s patience — mute notifications if you need to, lean on your support people, and fill the time with small, gentle things. And hold on to this: however long it takes, and whatever route your baby takes to arrive, it ends with you meeting them.

However and whenever it happens, you’re about to meet the little person you’ve grown over all these months. Trust your body, trust your care team — you’ve got this. (And for afterwards, Pregnancy, Birth and Baby on 1800 882 436 and PANDA on 1300 726 306 are there for the newborn days and your own wellbeing.)