Parent guides · Weeks 40 to 42
Past your due date, day by day
Days 281 to 294: the two weeks after the due date, why most babies come when they come, monitoring, membrane sweeps and induction, kick counts, and the day your baby's first notes begin, with one thing to try every day.
Days count from the first day of your last period, the way your provider counts them, so conception is day 14 and your due date is day 280. Every note cites public health sources (the NHS, the CDC, the NIH, and the Office on Women’s Health), and a scan can move your dates: read each day as “around now”, and let your own provider’s read of your pregnancy beat any note.
← Your ninth month of pregnancy, day by day (days 252 to 280)
Week 40: the days after
Late term, the extra checks, induction as an option, and keeping busy.
Day 281Most babies don't come on the dayOne day past your due date. Most pregnancies last 37 to 42 weeks, and the date was always an estimate. Today, the three ways it can be off.Try: The past-due facts- Day 282Still countingTwo days past your due date. The one check you can do at home, every day until the birth: how your baby moves, and what to do if it changes.Try: The daily-kick ritual
- Day 283How they check on the babyThree days past your due date. What a nonstress test and a biophysical profile are, so the extra appointments this week aren't a surprise.Try: The monitoring explainer
- Day 284The methodsFour days past your due date. The ways labor can be induced, as MedlinePlus lists them, and one question to ask about each before you need to.Try: The induction methods read
- Day 285PMT-like, and low backFive days past your due date. Early labour can start quietly, with period-like feelings and a low backache. How to tell it from practice contractions.Try: The PMT-feeling note
- Day 286The fluid questionSix days past your due date. Why your provider watches the placenta and the fluid around your baby after the due date, and the question to ask about it.Try: The fluid question
Day 287Forty-one weeksA week past your due date: 41 weeks, which the NICHD calls late term. Your baby is ready, and this week's plan is worth hearing in your provider's words.Try: The forty-one-weeks conversation
Week 41: the last stretch
Post term at 42 weeks, what's monitored, induction, and the handover to your baby's first day.
- Day 288Peeling skinEight days past your due date. Overdue babies often arrive with red, dry, peeling skin. Why it happens, and why the NHS says to leave it alone.Try: The peeling-skin note
- Day 289The waiting kitNine days past your due date. More appointments mean more waiting rooms. Today you pack a small kit for them, and notice which early symptoms are back.Try: The waiting-room kit
- Day 290The family poolTen days past your due date. Turn the 'any news?' messages into a game: everyone guesses the day and the weight, and the waiting belongs to everyone.Try: The weight-and-date pool
- Day 291The honest line about waitingEleven days past your due date. Why the checks and the induction date matter now, said plainly once, and the three questions to take to this week's visit.Try: The forty-one-week visit card
- Day 292If induction doesn't workTwelve days past your due date. When a C-section comes into it after an induction, what the first weeks of recovery ask, and who does the lifting.Try: The if-induction-fails read
- Day 293Day one, previewedThirteen days past your due date. Tonight you read your baby's first day together, so the first minutes after the birth feel familiar.Try: The day-one preview
Day 294The handoverFourteen days past your due date: 42 weeks, and the last note of your pregnancy. What post term means, what to expect now, and where your baby's notes begin.Try: The handover