38 weeks of pregnancy: what happens to mother and baby. Discharge at 38 weeks of pregnancy. Training contractions or harbingers?

What's important at 38 weeks

The 38th week of pregnancy has arrived - an alarming waiting period for the expectant mother. At this stage, the pregnant woman should be prepared for the fact that she can be taken to the maternity hospital at any moment. If you have not yet packed your bag for the maternity hospital
, now is the time to take care of it.
Also collect all the necessary documents: you need to take your passport, medical insurance, exchange card and birth certificate to the maternity hospital. Place all your documents in one folder or file and carry them with you in your purse, especially when traveling.

Lifestyle

Now you need to collect all the necessary things for the maternity hospital. This:

documents (passport, health insurance policy, exchange card, birth contract if you are giving birth for a fee, ultrasound results); hygiene products (thick pads, toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo, soap, toilet paper, wet wipes, face and hand cream, washcloth, towel);
personal items (socks, robe, slippers, nursing bra, pack of disposable panties for the maternity hospital, comb);
as well as a cup, plate, fork, spoon and, just in case, paper and pen.

And don't forget your cell phone and charger!

Belly size at 38 weeks

The abdominal circumference at the 38th week of pregnancy is approximately 92-98 cm. The fundus of the uterus rises to the costal arches - this is the highest level of the fundus of the uterus.
The belly at 38 weeks of pregnancy can be truly huge: the baby has taken up all the available space and continues to gain weight. It is becoming increasingly difficult for him to move, since the uterus at 38 weeks of pregnancy is squeezing the body from all sides. At this stage, important improvements occur in the little person’s body, the fluff – lanugo and vernix lubrication covering the baby’s skin – partially or completely disappears, facial features become more and more refined

. At 38 weeks of pregnancy, the baby takes its place in the mother’s pelvis and is getting ready to be born.

Photo of a three-dimensional ultrasound at 38 weeks of pregnancy

Optimal time interval between births

According to WHO, the most suitable time interval for a woman’s body between births is approximately 2-2.5 years. During this time, the woman’s body just has time to recover and stock up on the necessary vitamins and microelements. And at the same time, the body still “remembers” the birth process and remains well prepared for it.

When the interval between births is less than two years, a woman does not have time to accumulate all the necessary substances in her body. This can provoke some fetal disorders, there is even a possibility of developing malnutrition. Also, in the event of such a break, the woman’s hemoglobin level is reduced. This is primarily due to severe blood loss.

A prolonged interval between births (a gap of 10 years or more is considered) can also negatively affect a second pregnancy. In this case, the problem lies in insufficient blood supply to the reproductive organ - the uterus. Possibly acquired pathologies of the reproductive system aggravate the problem. There are a number of disorders that do not belong to diseases of a sexual nature, but nevertheless have no less negative impact on the course of pregnancy. Among them:

diabetes;
obesity;
endocrine system disorders;
arterial hypertension and others.

With age, as a rule, the number of acquired diseases increases, and body functions become less active.

What worries a pregnant woman at 38 weeks

During this period, expectant mothers may feel signs of labor

: training contractions, pain in the hip area and sacrum, nagging pain in the lower abdomen, reminiscent of menstrual pain.
Mucous discharge from the vagina at 38 weeks of pregnancy
may also indicate impending labor.

Expectant mothers often worry: how to identify contractions and distinguish them from false ones

? Experts recommend staying calm, because you definitely won’t miss the birth. Real contractions are more noticeable and painful than training contractions; they are repeated periodically, increasing their frequency and intensity. To distinguish false contractions from real ones, change your position: stand up, walk around the room, lie down. If the contractions stop, don’t worry, they are most likely false.

Weight gain at 38 weeks of pregnancy ranges from 8.6 kg (with a BMI of more than 26) to 14.5 kg (with a BMI of less than 19.8). To calculate your individual weight gain at 38 weeks, use the pregnancy weight gain calculator.

Nutrition

Nutrition of a pregnant woman at 38 weeks
At the 38th week of pregnancy, many women note a sharp decrease in appetite and a change in food preferences. This is a normal condition, indicating a change in hormonal levels, preparing the body for childbirth. In order not to overload a woman’s body, to help it prepare well, it is advisable to follow some rules:

eat easily digestible, simple food;
reduce the amount of meat consumed to a minimum: 50-100 g per day;
increase the amount of vegetables and fruits;
eat more raw vegetables;
remove exotic fruits from the diet, especially intense orange and red colors;
follow the principle of fractional nutrition: eat 5-6 times a day in small portions;
avoid overeating. In some cases, when a woman’s stomach begins to sag, it is difficult to immediately assess how much volume will be sufficient to avoid overeating. To avoid undesirable consequences, you should try to maintain the same amount of food as in previous weeks;
drink at least 1 liter of fluid per day, unless otherwise prescribed by your doctor;
follow the rule “the less salt the better”
Do not drink strong tea, coffee, carbonated drinks.

Vitamins

In most cases, taking multivitamin complexes and dietary supplements at the 38th week has already been canceled. If the gynecologist did not do this during the appointment, you should definitely ask about the need to cancel additional vitamins.

The process of intrauterine development of the fetus is completed, the baby no longer needs a huge amount of nutrients, all unused nutrients are stored in his body in the form of additional mass. To avoid excessive weight gain in your baby, check with your doctor about taking dietary supplements.

What does a baby look like at 38 weeks?

At 38 weeks, the baby is about the size of a melon.
At 38 weeks, the Baby’s height is about 47 cm, and his weight is approaching 3 kg. Your Baby is actively preparing for childbirth, namely:

Baby's lungs are ready to work independently. Thanks to the formation of surfactant, the lungs acquire the ability to expand after birth, and the numerous alveoli - to breathe. Surfactant is also needed so that after the Baby’s first breath, his alveoli, having barely expanded, do not shrink;
The baby begins to move lower and lower into the pelvic area. The pelvic ring, thanks to relaxin, a special hormone in the mother’s body, has become much softer, and therefore, moving lower and lower, the Baby does not get stuck. This undeniably positive phenomenon also has a downside: When the mother lifts heavy objects or even stands for a long time in public transport, the baby can “ram” the pliable pelvic ring and be born earlier than expected;
With your help, your baby will also learn one more important skill that he will need during birth - relaxation. Your ability to consciously relax and achieve a state of peace in a short time, almost anywhere, will allow your Baby to learn to quickly calm down in order to rest and gain strength before the next move forward.

Useful advice for an expectant mother

Perhaps your attitude towards parenthood is still more emotional than conscious.
That is, you are happy that you will have a Baby, but you have little idea what trials you will have to face after he is born. Or: focused on your current situation, you don’t “think” about what will happen next. This condition is typical for many expectant mothers (and often fathers as well), although it does not in the least hinder the development of parental qualities. Parental qualities:

this is unconditional love for a child, that is, the ability to accept him as he is;
this is caring for his physical and mental well-being;
this is patience and the ability to notice new things in the child’s behavior and appearance;
this is the desire to understand the child and provide him with care;
the desire to care for and protect him;
the ability to rejoice in his small victories and support him in what is not yet going well.

Parenting qualities don't happen overnight. Perhaps you and your partner already have the qualities listed (and many others). But it may also be that it will take a lot of time for them to manifest themselves. If even before birth you begin to treat your Baby as a member of the family, then after birth you will be able to quickly understand his needs and respond in accordance with what the baby needs.

What is the normal human body temperature?

A normal temperature for a person is considered to be between 35.5 and 37.4 degrees inclusive, that is, 37 is not a fever, and 36 is not a loss of strength. This is natural: during sleep, metabolic processes slow down and body temperature decreases, and while awake, especially during physical and emotional stress, body temperature rises. Therefore, morning temperatures are usually lower than afternoon or evening temperatures. Also, body temperature depends on the method and place of its measurement, the gender of the person measuring it, his age and condition. And for women - depending on the phase of the cycle or pregnancy. A child’s body temperature is more labile and depends to a greater extent on the ambient temperature and the state of the body. In addition, each person has his own individual norms, such as, for example, there are adapted norms for heart rate and blood pressure.

All these features should be taken into account when drawing up a temperature curve - a graph with which you can determine whether a person really has a low-grade fever. It should also be remembered that different parts of the human body have different temperatures. And if the temperature in the armpit is 36.6 °C, then in the mouth it will be about 37 °C, and in the rectum even higher - 37.5 °C.

To correctly draw up a schedule, it is necessary to keep a diary for several days and measure the temperature at different points - under the arm, in the mouth, rectally, at the same time and under the same conditions (immediately after sleep, before meals, after meals , before and after taking a bath, etc.). Then, based on the diary, a graph is drawn up that clearly demonstrates at what time of day the temperature rises. We can talk about true low-grade fever when the temperature rises at all measurement points.

Diseases that can cause low-grade fever

Low-grade fever differs from infectious fever in that it lasts for a long time and is most often asymptomatic. In acute infectious diseases, the temperature rises sharply, is accompanied by symptoms of intoxication (bone aches, headache) and is accompanied by active complaints (catarrhal phenomena - runny nose, sore throat, cough, etc.) and decreases to normal after recovery. Low-grade fever is often impossible to bring down even with antipyretic drugs.

The so-called temperature center located in the hypothalamus, a region of the brain, is responsible for thermoregulation in the body. It receives information from receptors, and depending on it, either triggers cooling or warming mechanisms. Hormones also take part in these processes, the failure of which can also be the cause of low-grade fever. But it is important to understand that if body temperature rises, it means:

foreign proteins have appeared in the blood and the body reacts to their appearance (this is what happens with infections - bacterial and viral) and inflammation - this temperature is called fever;
some other malfunction occurred in the body that affected the functioning of the temperature center (for example, hormonal levels changed);
there was some direct impact on the temperature center (traumatic brain injury, brain tumor).

Acute viral infections cannot cause long-term low-grade fever, and the persistence of an elevated body temperature signals the addition of a secondary infection, often bacterial, i.e. about the complication. But sluggish inflammatory, bacterial or viral processes can increase body temperature to average values. Often, such “chronic” temperature can be caused by diseases of the urinary system (chronic pyelonephritis, indolent cystitis), diseases of the gastrointestinal tract (pancreatitis, cholecystitis, colitis), and inflammatory processes of the genitourinary system. Most likely, other unexpressed symptoms will be observed, depending on where the inflammation is localized - pain, weakness, loss of appetite, bowel dysfunction, nausea, cloudy urine, changes in stool, etc. However, this is often due to If the inflammation is sluggish, a person may not notice a deterioration in health for a long time or may not pay attention to it, and temperature in this case will be the only symptom.

In acute viral diseases (measles, rubella, chickenpox, influenza), the exception is the so-called “temperature tails” - conditions when a low temperature continues to persist for a long time after recovery. This temperature returns to normal within a few weeks (sometimes it lasts up to six months), but other possible post-infectious complications must be excluded.

Separately, it is necessary to say about viral diseases of herpetic origin, which cause long-term low-grade fever. First of all, these are the Epstein-Barr virus, which can cause “chronic fatigue syndrome,” cytomegalovirus, which causes infectious mononucleosis, herpes viruses types 1 and 2, and herpes virus type 6. All of them come to us “under the guise” of acute viral diseases, but they remain in the body for a long time, and it is not always easy to recognize them.

In addition, infectious diseases such as toxoplasmosis, tuberculosis, viral hepatitis, and HIV can cause prolonged low temperature. At the same time, the clinical symptoms of these dangerous diseases can be erased, that is, in addition to fever, weakness, loss of appetite, increased fatigue and sweating, the patient may no longer notice anything. Infection with helminthic infestations can also increase the temperature for a long time to subfebrile levels. And although this is not the most common cause of fever, it cannot be ruled out, especially if the patient experiences intestinal discomfort and loses weight.

With cancer, foreign proteins also appear in the human body, which he tries to get rid of. That is why prolonged low-grade fever can be a sign of cancer, sometimes the first and for a long time the only one.

Autoimmune disorders, as a result of which the body begins to perceive its own healthy cells as foreign proteins and destroy them, can also be accompanied by prolonged low-grade fever. The most common of them are rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, and Crohn's disease. Symptoms of autoimmune diseases can vary depending on which tissues are destroyed. With arthritis, the patient may experience pain in the joints, with Crohn's disease - abdominal pain, problems with stool, even the appearance of blood in the stool, with systemic lupus erythematosus - joint and muscle pain, in addition, this disease is characterized by the appearance of a specific rash.

Tests and studies during pregnancy

Visiting a doctor monitoring pregnancy: once a week.
Weighing, measuring blood pressure, measuring the height of the uterine fundus, listening to the fetal heartbeat. General urine test - before each visit to the doctor. Indicates the quality of kidney function.

Dopplerography (a study that allows you to evaluate blood flow in the vessels of the uterus, placenta and main vessels of the child) - 33-34 weeks after the first day of the last menstruation, according to indications . The study allows you to find out whether the child is getting enough oxygen and nutrients.

Cardiotocography (CTG, synchronous recording of fetal heartbeats and uterine contractions) - 33-34 weeks after the first day of the last menstruation, according to indications. The child’s condition is assessed and intrauterine hypoxia is excluded.

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All texts for pages about mother and baby were kindly provided by RAMA Publishing - these are chapters from the book by Svetlana Klaas “Your Favorite Little Man from Conception to Birth”, reviewer Irina Nikolaevna Kononova, Candidate of Medical Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the Ural State Medical Academy (Ekaterinburg).