Week 38 · Third trimester
38 weeks pregnant
Stargazer lily stem
49.2 cm (19.4 in)head to heel
At about 49.8 cm from head to heel, your baby is close in length to a Stargazer lily stem (~50 cm), shown in pink and warm tones from bloom to stem.
This week, inside
Most of the fine lanugo that covered the skin earlier in pregnancy has gone, though some babies are born with small patches. Meconium is collecting in the bowel and will usually become the first stool after birth.
What you might be noticing
- The waiting has texture. frustration or boredom can be part of this week.
- Practice tightenings. painless Braxton Hicks tightenings may continue.
- Sleep and digestion. sleep difficulties, heartburn, bloating, or constipation may still be present.
Small things that help
Choose one absorbing, low-stakes thing for the waiting: a familiar show, a puzzle, a drawer to sort. Let excitement, worry, numbness, or impatience arrive without grading any of them.
For the record
If this week had a color, sound, or weather, what would it be?
Zohra asks one of these every week, and keeps your answer. A year from now it is the part people say they are most glad they wrote down.
Where this came from
Not sure you are at week 38? Work out your due date — or see every week’s size on one chart, and the rest of the third trimester.
Keep this week
Zohra draws this same flower in the app, at this same size, and keeps what you write beside it — with your bump photos, the letters, and the sounds from your appointments.
Zohra arrives on the App Store for iPhone shortly. Everything on this site is free to read now, with no account and no sign-up.