Pregnancy Week 38

This week of pregnancy, your baby is about 21 inches in length and weighs around 7 pounds.

Your baby's intestines are accumulating considerable meconium, a dark-green mass of cells and waste product from the liver, pancreas, and gall bladder. The meconium in your baby's intestines will be eliminated shortly after birth, but it sometimes can be eliminated before, if the birth is delayed too long.

By this week, your baby's toenails have reached the end of the toes and after your baby is born, you may need to trim the fingernails and toenails.

Changes in You:

You may be feeling increasingly uncomfortable by this week and feel as if you are running out of space! Watch for signs of labor such as: Bloody show (loss of mucus plug), rupture of membranes (breaking of waters), digestive disturbances (many women experience diarrhea or nausea at the onset of labor), spurts of energy, and contractions.

During pregnancy, the cervical opening becomes blocked with a thick plug of mucus that prevents bacteria from entering the uterus. When the cervix begins to thin and relax, this plug is sometimes discharged- a sign that things could happen soon- although labor might still be up to a week away. This plug does not look like a cork, as some women might expect, but more like stringy mucus or thick discharge. It can be clear, pink or blood-tinged and can appear minutes, hours or even days before actual labor begins. Some women, however, don't notice it at all.