Week 39 · Third trimester
39 weeks pregnant
Sunflower, cut stem
50.1 cm (19.7 in)head to heel
At about 50.7 cm from head to heel, your baby is close in length to a Sunflower, cut stem (~50 cm)—the bright icon saved for near the end.
This week, inside
A tougher outer layer of skin is developing to protect internal organs and support temperature control. Vernix may still coat the skin at birth, or it may be mostly gone.
What you might be noticing
- More practice tightenings. Braxton Hicks tightenings may be frequent while remaining painless.
- Sleep and back. sleep difficulties and backache may continue.
- Digestion. indigestion, bloating, constipation, or piles can remain part of the week.
Small things that help
Put the final practical details somewhere visible, then give yourself permission not to rehearse them. Save one photo of this ordinary, extraordinary in-between.
For the record
What is one thing about the waiting you did not expect?
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 39? 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.