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Day 208 of 280 · 29 weeks + 5 days

The route

Last reviewed · 2 min read · 5 sources · Plain-text version

Twenty-nine weeks and five days. Today you learn the way to the hospital, the entrance you'll use, and the numbers to keep handy, before anyone needs them.

Size this week
about the size of a butternut squash
Length this week
around 38.6 cm from head to heel
A man driving at dusk with a woman in a loose cardigan and a full bump in the passenger seat, pointing at a hospital entrance sign ahead, streetlights coming on.

Twenty-nine weeks and five days. When labour starts, nobody wants to be guessing which car park, which door, which floor. Today you find out once, calmly, while it's still a drive and not a dash.

Your baby

A single butternut squash on a plain pale wooden table, soft window light.

Around 38.6cm from head to heel, about the size of a butternut squash (NHS). From here the work is maturing organs and putting on fat (NHS).

Your body

Your balance may feel off as your centre of gravity shifts forward, and the NHS asks you to tell your midwife or doctor if you fall (NHS). Stairs, wet floors, and stepping out of a car are where a shifted centre shows itself. Slow down on them.

The AAP's checklist for the weeks before delivery is practical: write down the hospital's name, address and phone number; the name of your doctor or certified nurse midwife and their backup; the quickest route and the entrance to use; and keep an ambulance number handy (AAP). It sounds obvious until you're trying to remember it between contractions.

Try today

  1. The route rehearsal

    Time: 45 minutes, once in daylight and once after dark

    1. Drive or map the route to the hospital or birth centre from home, and from work if one of you works away from home.

    2. Ask which entrance to use at night, then find it. Note where to park or drop off.

    3. Write the address, phone number, your provider and their backup, and the ambulance number on one card (AAP).

    4. Keep one copy in the car, one on the fridge, and a photo of it on both phones.

    Make it work:

    No car? Plan the ride now: who you'd call, what a taxi costs, and what time of night that stops being easy.

Watch for

  • Normal

    feeling a little clumsy and off balance (NHS).

    Call your provider

    if you fall, even if you feel fine afterwards (NHS); severe belly pain that doesn't go away is an urgent warning sign (CDC).

  • Normal

    a moment of light-headedness when you stand up too fast.

    Call your provider today

    for dizziness or fainting, which the CDC lists as an urgent warning sign (CDC).

  • Normal

    more discharge than before.

    Call your provider

    as soon as you can for fluid leaking from the vagina (OWH); if your waters break, note the time and the color or smell of the fluid to tell them (OWH).

For you

The route is a small job with a big payoff: it's one less thing you'll have to think about on the day. Once it's written down, it's done. You don't have to carry it in your head.

If you're the partner: this one is yours. Do the drive, find the door, make the card, and put the ambulance number in your phone; the AAP's list says to keep it handy (AAP). On the day, she'll be busy. Knowing the way is your job.

Sources

This guide is general education that summarizes published research and guidance from groups like the American Academy of Pediatrics, the CDC, and the WHO. It isn’t medical advice, and every child develops on their own timeline. Your pediatrician knows your child; if something feels wrong, call them. In an emergency, call 911.

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