Here is the thirty-sixth week of pregnancy: childbirth is just around the corner.

In this article, I will provide you with valuable information about what happens, to help you experience it at best.

Spoiler: in this thirty-sixth week of pregnancy, the size of your little one is similar to that of a chard.

For an even more complete and aware journey towards birth, I recommend you join the Academy to access all the best video courses to support your health during pregnancy (multidisciplinary prenatal course, pelvic floor, breastfeeding, nutrition, pilates, etc.) and the development of your baby (motor development, language, cognitive, baby-led weaning, pediatric choking prevention, etc.).

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The thirty-sixth week of pregnancy is part of the ninth month, between 35+1 and 40 weeks.

The thirty-sixth week of pregnancy is a perfect time to perfect the birth plan with your trusted midwife.

A good birth, as often reminded by Doctor Maria Chiara Alvisi, a freelance midwife, must indeed be prepared.

Thanks to the birth plan, it is possible to put in black and white how you intend to experience the moment of birth when opting for the hospital.

A tool that comes to us from the Anglo-Saxon tradition and should be prepared starting from the beginning of the second trimester - by the thirty-sixth week of pregnancy, you are obviously still in time to update it - it must contain everything considered important to best experience childbirth within hospital walls.

Since, during labor, the mother should turn off the cortical area of the brain, it is good that the birth plan contains as much information as possible.

Here are some of the most important:

• Clear requests regarding the presence of the partner throughout the labor.

• Desire to use free positions.

• Request to have the cardiotocographic trace attached intermittently if the pregnancy is physiological.

• Focus on preferences related to pain management.

During the thirty-sixth week of pregnancy, among the symptoms accompanying you, the back pain can be mentioned first.

The lumbar load is considerable. The action of estrogens and relaxin on muscles and ligaments, now ready for childbirth, is also strong.

How to fight it?

• Continue to visit your trusted osteopath periodically.

• Use, for sleeping, the specific pregnancy pillow (which no, is not the one you will use for breastfeeding).

• Take time to do back relief exercises. Those starting from the quadruped position are particularly useful as they prepare you to manage free labor positions.

During the thirty-sixth week of pregnancy, it is perfectly normal to repeat, even several times a day, the phrase “I feel pressure! ”.

With the progressive descent towards the birth canal, a situation known technically as “engagement of the presenting part” has occurred, that is, the head.

If you are expecting twins, labor is usually slightly anticipated and could even be scheduled for next week.

Returning to the focus on the engagement of the presenting part that characterizes the thirty-sixth week of pregnancy, remember that, besides the constant feeling of pressure, there is a continuous urge to urinate.

All this has a positive flip side. 

What is it about? Optimizing digestive and respiratory efficiency.

The heartburn that has been your companion in the previous weeks begins to subside during the thirty-sixth week of pregnancy, giving way to some relief.

Also noteworthy is the presence of Braxton-Hicks contractions.

Also known as false contractions, they are caused by oxytocin.

They have a very specific purpose, namely to strengthen the walls of the uterus.

To understand whether, now that you are at the thirty-sixth week of pregnancy, true labor contractions have arrived or not, you need to consider the following characteristics of Braxton-Hicks contractions:

• Presentation with an irregular character.

• Onset that does not cause pain, but at most discomfort.

• Average duration from 30 to 60 seconds.

• Onset coinciding with exertion or the baby's movements.

At the thirty-sixth week of pregnancy, the expectant mother has gained from 8 to 12-13 kg. 

In this thirty-sixth week of pregnancy your little one, on average, is 47 cm long and weighs 2.7 kg (these are, I repeat, general estimates).

All its organs function at a level that allows survival outside the uterus.

At the thirty-sixth week of pregnancy, the fetus may already have settled into the cephalic position.

If this change has not yet occurred, remember that there are various natural and respectful methods to help with turning, and in any case, you have time until the end of the pregnancy to intervene.

If you are experiencing a twin pregnancy, one of the two babies might already be in the cephalic position.

The second one will very soon be ready to settle next to the first.

Numbers show that around 45% of twin pregnancies are characterized by both fetuses in the cephalic position.

With the intestine gradually filling with meconium, the fetus at the thirty-sixth week of pregnancy is characterized by a particularly receding forehead, a feature resulting from the rapid growth of the brain.

During the thirty-sixth week of pregnancy, it moves, preparing for birth, towards the pelvic area.

Since there is little space left, its movements will be particularly pronounced.

Rather than talking about a fetus moving a lot at the thirty-sixth week of pregnancy, it is more about stronger kicks and punches.

During this period, it is normal to see little feet and hands pressing against the abdominal wall.

At the thirty-sixth week of pregnancy, delivery can occur and the newborn is clinically classified as a late preterm.

Although almost always stable from a cardiac and respiratory point of view, a newborn born at the thirty-sixth week of pregnancy still requires monitoring.

Among the most vulnerable aspects is the neurodevelopmental one.

At the thirty-sixth week of pregnancy, the development of the nervous system is not yet complete.

It can happen that in late preterm newborns early brain lesions appear, detectable through magnetic resonance imaging.

During the thirty-sixth week of pregnancy, it is possible to carry out various tests that allow you to understand if everything is going well:

• Blood pressure monitoring which, if too high, can be a symptom of gestosis or preeclampsia, one of the most serious complications in pregnancy.

• Urine test with urine culture.

• Vagino-rectal swab for the detection of group B beta-hemolytic streptococcus. In case of positivity, an antibiotic therapy is prescribed to be repeated on the day of delivery to prevent maternal-fetal transmission.

• Toxotest and detection of Cytomegalovirus (CMV) antibodies.

• PT, PTT, and fibrinogen, essential tests to monitor blood coagulation.

If you have chosen to give birth in a hospital, the thirty-sixth week of pregnancy is a good time to meet the facility's anesthetist and assess suitability for labor analgesia.

Continue to meet with your midwife.

During the thirty-sixth week of pregnancy, it can help you perfect your birth plan and focus on breathing and pelvic mobilization exercises. 

At the thirty-sixth week of pregnancy, you just have to continue following the model of the Mediterranean diet.

Bring seasonal fruits and vegetables to the table varying the colors, but also whole grains - here too variety is valuable - legumes, good fats.

Continue managing protein intake by doing 50:50 between animal sources and plant foods.

Don't focus only on red meat as sources of iron. Remember that legumes also help optimize intake.

Since they are a plant-based food, they contain non-heme iron, the least bioavailable form.

This small obstacle is easily overcome by taking it together with a source of vitamin C.

Regarding foods you must continue to avoid at the thirty-sixth week of pregnancy to protect yourself from foodborne infections, here is a brief recap:

• Raw fruits and vegetables not washed under running water by scrubbing vigorously to remove the eggs of Toxoplasma gondii.

• Raw and unpasteurized eggs.

• Raw or lightly cooked blue cheeses.

• Raw or undercooked meat and fish.

• Raw cold cuts.

• Short-aged cheeses and those made from raw milk.

Also ban pro-inflammatory foods such as refined flours, sweets, dairy products, processed meats, fried foods, sources of trans fats.

As can be read in this 2018 study, neonatal colic, which is anything but physiological, is associated with the presence of fecal calprotectin, a marker of intestinal inflammation, in the newborn's stool.

Since intestinal bacterial colonization already takes place during fetal life, you can do a lot to prevent it with your diet.

At the thirty-sixth week of pregnancy, the best for physical movement is always the focus on low-impact activities such as yoga and Pilates.

Regarding the first discipline, focus on asanas that, like the tree and butterfly poses, allow you to optimize pelvic opening.

Pilates, very useful for improving posture and combating back pain, includes diaphragmatic breathing among its preparatory exercises.

This breathing approach, which beyond pregnancy should be adopted as much as possible in daily life, involves the deep transverse muscle, which in turn is fundamental, as you can see from the video below, for training the pelvic floor.