Chorevia

Day 269 of 280 · 38 weeks + 3 days

Bored, and allowed to be

Last reviewed · 3 min read · 6 sources · Plain-text version

Thirty-eight weeks and three days. Frustration and boredom are normal now. Today's plan is a walk, with your notes and phone in the bag.

Size this week
about the length of a stick of rhubarb
Length this week
around 49.8 cm from head to heel
A South Asian woman with a full bump in a long cardigan and trainers walking a leafy park path with a small cross-body bag, a friend beside her mid-laugh, cool autumn morning light.

Thirty-eight weeks and three days. The bag is packed, the list is on the fridge, and nothing is happening. If you're fed up, you're in good company, and today's note says so plainly.

Your baby

A single stick of pink rhubarb on a plain pale wooden table, soft window light.

Around now your baby is around 49.8cm long from head to heel, about the length of a stick of rhubarb (NHS). The meconium stored in your baby's bowel is usually passed after birth, but a bowel movement during labour can be a sign of distress, so the team will want to monitor your baby closely if it happens (NHS). It's one reason the OWH asks you to tell your doctor the colour of the fluid if your waters break (OWH).

Your body

The NHS names it directly: you may feel frustrated or bored at this stage (NHS). Its suggestion is simple: get some fresh air by going for walks, and bring your notes with you (NHS). MedlinePlus says the same for the whole third trimester: exercise or walk most days, and rest as needed (MedlinePlus). If your provider has told you to limit activity, follow that instead.

Braxton Hicks tightenings can keep you guessing this week (NHS). A walk is a decent test of them, too (see Watch for).

Try today

  1. The notes-in-the-bag walk

    Time: 20 to 30 minutes

    1. Pack a small bag: your pregnancy notes, as the NHS suggests (NHS), a charged phone, water, and the card with the hospital and provider numbers.

    2. Pick a route with benches and a toilet, close enough that a lift home is easy.

    3. Tell someone where you're going, or take them with you.

    4. Walk at a pace where you can still talk. If tightenings start, note the time of each one in your phone.

    Make it work:

    Make it the same walk every day this week. Boredom is easier to bear with a small routine in it.

Watch for

  • Normal

    tightenings that are irregular and tend to fade when you change what you're doing (OWH).

    Call your provider

    when contractions become stronger at regular and increasingly shorter intervals; true labour doesn't stop when you change activity (OWH).

  • Normal

    some itching; about 20 percent of pregnant women feel itchy (OWH).

    Call your provider

    right away for severe itching at night (NHS).

  • Normal

    eating little and often, which MedlinePlus suggests for the third trimester (MedlinePlus).

    Call your provider

    right away for severe nausea and vomiting: if you can't drink for more than 8 hours or eat for more than 24 hours (CDC).

For you

The messages start around now: "Any news?" Write one reply and send it to everyone who asks, something like "Not yet, we'll tell you when there's news." You don't owe anyone updates.

If the boredom tips into feeling anxious or low, that's a reason to talk to your doctor or midwife, the NHS says (NHS), not something to wait out.

If you're the partner: take the walk with her when you can, and be the one who answers the "any news?" messages.

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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