THIRTY-FIRST WEEK OF PREGNANCY: A Midwife's Guide
Introduction
The big day of birth is getting closer and closer: you are thirty-first week pregnant.
In this guide, you will be able to discover all the information about this period.
I'll start by telling you that your little one is about the size of an eggplant.
For an even more complete and conscious journey towards birth, I recommend you join the Academy to access all the best video courses to support your health during pregnancy (multidisciplinary antenatal course, pelvic floor, breastfeeding, nutrition, pilates, etc.) and the development of your baby (motor development, language, cognitive, self-weaning, pediatric disobstruction, etc.).
Also, on my Instagram profile @drsilva.com_official and on my Youtube channel you will find lots of content designed for you and your little one.
How many months is 31 weeks of pregnancy?
The thirty-first week of pregnancy is part of the eighth month , which ranges from 30+5 to 35 complete weeks.
Symptoms of the thirty-first week of pregnancy
The symptoms that characterize the thirty-first week of pregnancy include first of all back pain .
The body's center of gravity has shifted radically compared to the beginning of pregnancy and the muscular-articular overload is now more than significant.
Remember that back pain during the thirty-first week of pregnancy is also caused by the action of estrogen and relaxin, which work together on the elasticity of ligaments and joints, all with the aim of preparing the body for childbirth.
Luckily, there are several ways you can alleviate your symptoms.
Here are the main ones:
Sleep with a specific pregnancy pillow , which helps to mitigate the load of the belly on your back and which must be different from the one you will use while breastfeeding.
Targeted osteopathy sessions.
Unloading exercises like the ones you can see in the video below, useful, now that you are in the thirty-first week of pregnancy, also to prepare for labor.
During the thirty-first week of pregnancy, fluid retention and clinical pictures characterized by the presence of small contractures can predispose the onset of annoying cramps in the legs and calves.
This unpleasant symptom of the thirty-first week of pregnancy - for the sake of accuracy I remind you that, in general, it is typical of the third trimester - can be managed thanks to osteopathy.
In the video below, you can see part of a treatment on a pregnant woman almost at full term.
How can I not mention heartburn ?
During the thirty-first week of pregnancy and throughout the third trimester, heartburn is caused by the pressure exerted on the stomach by the growing uterus.
Again, there are options to manage and mitigate the problem. Here are some:
Eat frugal and frequent meals.
Hydrate yourself constantly.
Prefer dry foods and reduce the intake of spicy and fatty foods.
Furthermore, it is advisable to avoid going to bed immediately after finishing eating.
When you are 31 weeks pregnant, you also experience another symptom, which is Braxton-Hicks contractions .
These are real preparatory contractions caused by the influence of the hormone oxytocin and having a very specific purpose: to strengthen the muscles of the uterus in preparation for that extraordinary work of the body that is labor .