Inside Your Body
Your baby continues to prepare for birth and is now about 3.4kg and still about 50cm in height. His/her muscles are getting stronger, and your baby continues to practise breathing. Finally your baby’s toe nails have reached the tip of his/her toes. By this week most of the hair (lanugo) your baby had for protection of his/her skin have disappeared and traces of these will be seen around his/her shoulders and back after birth. The amniotic fluid will change colour from clear to a milky colour as your baby shed the vernix.
Your Signs And Symptoms
As soon as most women cross the 28th week, they become anxious as it is becoming difficult to wait for the final day. Because of anxiety and of increasing frequency and strength of Braxton Hicks contractions, most women mistake it for labor pains and rushes to the doctor. Well, it is good to be cautious but these extra visits are unnecessary as most of the time your doctor will send you home.
For now, just keep yourself mobile and watch for the onset of actual labor pains.
How To Recognise Real Labor Pains
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True labor pains will start from your uterus and spread to your entire belly and back as opposed to false ones that are only restricted to certain segment of your uterus from where they started.
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True labor pains are painful and progressively become more painful and are associated with uterine contractions, which are regular and continuous.
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True labor pains are associated with cervical changes, leading to thinning, lengthening and opening of your cervix, whereas if your cervix remains thick and non-responsive, they will be false pains
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True labor, once started, does not stop, and would also involve the breaking of your water bags i.e. a sudden gush of clear and odourless fluid from your vagina. Nothing like that happens in false labor.
