Week 40: Due Date Week!
This is your due date week! Only about 5% of babies arrive on their exact due date, so don't worry if baby hasn't made their appearance yet.
Medically reviewed by Samantha L. Fox, RN, BSN, MSN
Nursing Informaticist · United States Navy Nurse Corps · Last reviewed
Your baby is the size of a...
🎃 Small Pumpkin!
👶 Baby Development
- ✓Baby is fully developed and ready to be born
- ✓Average weight: about 7.5 pounds (3.4 kg)
- ✓Average length: about 20 inches (51 cm)
- ✓Skull bones not yet fused — allows for birth canal passage
- ✓Baby's position may shift as labor approaches
- ✓Immune system ready for the outside world
💊 Common Symptoms
- •Strong, regular contractions (this might be it!)
- •Water breaking (clear, odorless fluid)
- •Back labor (intense lower back pain)
- •Pressure on cervix
- •Extreme restlessness or calm before the storm
- •Excitement, anxiety, or a mix of both
🩺Clinical Context — From a Nurse's View
Forty weeks is your due date — and only about 5% of babies actually arrive on it. Half of pregnancies deliver before 40w5d and half after. If you've made it to today without labor, you are extremely normal. Most providers will discuss induction sometime between 41 and 42 weeks because stillbirth risk, while still very low in absolute terms, begins to rise after 41 weeks (about 1 per 1000 at 41 weeks vs 2 per 1000 at 42 weeks). Membrane sweeps — your provider running a finger between the membranes and the cervix at an exam — can sometimes nudge labor to start within 24-48 hours. They're uncomfortable but not dangerous, and they're an option if you want to try something before formal induction. Stay hydrated, walking is fine, sex is fine (the prostaglandins in semen and the oxytocin from orgasm are mild labor-encouragers). What doesn't reliably work despite folklore: spicy food, castor oil (causes diarrhea more than it causes labor), evening primrose oil, and bumpy car rides.
Written by Samantha L. Fox, RN, BSN, MSN — Emergency Department nurse, US Navy Nurse Corps officer.
🚨 When to Call (or Go to the ER)
- !Water breaking — go in
- !Regular contractions, 5-1-1 — go in
- !Bleeding heavier than bloody show — call
- !Decreased fetal movement — call
- !Severe headache, vision changes, RUQ pain — call
✅ Normal — Even If It Feels Worrying
- ✓Going past your due date — half do
- ✓Strong Braxton Hicks
- ✓Insomnia and exhaustion
- ✓Emotional ups and downs
✅ To-Do This Week
- Stay calm — babies come when they're ready
- Keep timing contractions
- Call your doctor if water breaks or contractions follow the 5-1-1 pattern
- Try natural labor starters (walking, bouncing on ball) if approved by doctor
- Rest between contractions
- Pack last-minute items: phone charger, lip balm, comfort items
🩺 Questions for Your Doctor
- ?When would you recommend induction?
- ?What methods of induction do you use?
- ?Is the baby safe to stay past 40 weeks?
- ?How long past the due date will you wait?
- ?What monitoring will be done if I go overdue?
- ?Is everything looking healthy?
📚 References
- [1]ACOG Practice Bulletin No. 107: Induction of Labor. Obstet Gynecol. 2009;114(2 Pt 1):386-397.
- [2]ACOG Practice Bulletin No. 146: Management of Late-Term and Postterm Pregnancies. Obstet Gynecol. 2014;124(2 Pt 1):390-396.
Editorial review: Samantha L. Fox, RN, BSN, MSN. Last reviewed: see footer.
Your baby is the size of a...