# Day 294: The handover > Fourteen 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. - Series: Past your due date, day by day (https://chorevia.com/learn/pregnancy-past-due), day 294, 14 days past your due date - Your baby this week: around 3 to 4 kg; around 3 to 4 kg - Canonical URL: https://chorevia.com/learn/pregnancy-past-due/day-294 - Last reviewed: 2026-10-22 - Publisher: Chorevia (https://chorevia.com) - Cite as: Chorevia. "Day 294: The handover." Last reviewed October 22, 2026. https://chorevia.com/learn/pregnancy-past-due/day-294 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. Fourteen days past your due date: 42 weeks. This is the last note of your pregnancy. There have been 281 of them since the day your baby was conceived, and from here the notes belong to your baby. ## Your baby At 42 weeks or later, a pregnancy is called "post term" ([NICHD](https://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/pregnancy/conditioninfo)). Most pregnancies last 37 to 42 weeks; yours has used every one of them ([MedlinePlus](https://medlineplus.gov/ency/patientinstructions/000515.htm)). Your baby is likely around the average of 3 to 4kg, and in the NHS's words, "chubby enough and mature enough to survive outside the uterus (womb) without any assistance" ([NHS](https://www.nhs.uk/best-start-in-life/pregnancy/week-by-week-guide-to-pregnancy/3rd-trimester/week-41/)). ## Your body Between 41 and 42 weeks, MedlinePlus says, your provider will likely want to induce labor, and a C-section is needed only if induction fails, there may be fetal distress, or labor stops progressing ([MedlinePlus](https://medlineplus.gov/ency/patientinstructions/000515.htm)). If you don't yet have a plan in hand for the next day or two, call your provider today and ask for one. The NHS's last to-do list is about after: look after your emotional wellbeing, think about contraception, and ask about the screening tests your newborn will be offered ([NHS](https://www.nhs.uk/best-start-in-life/pregnancy/week-by-week-guide-to-pregnancy/3rd-trimester/week-41/)). The CDC's warning signs don't stop at the birth either; they apply for the year after delivery too ([CDC](https://www.cdc.gov/hearher/maternal-warning-signs/index.html)). ## Try today ### The handover - **Time:** 5 minutes 1. Close this series. You don't need any more pregnancy notes; you've done the reading. 2. Open [your first month](https://chorevia.com/learn/first-month) and find day 1, your baby's first day. 3. Put it where you'll see it first when you pick up your phone after the birth. 4. Tell your partner where it is, so either of you can open it. **Make it work:** Keep the pages you wrote this month, the questions and the counts. They're a record of the waiting, and some families like to keep it. ## Watch for - **Normal:** a baby who moves in their usual pattern, even with no room left. **Call your provider** right away, day or night, if movement stops or slows ([CDC](https://www.cdc.gov/hearher/maternal-warning-signs/index.html)). - **Normal:** discharge that changes as labour gets close. **Call your provider** now for vaginal bleeding or fluid leaking ([CDC](https://www.cdc.gov/hearher/maternal-warning-signs/index.html)). - **Normal:** feeling ready for anything, or for nothing at all. **Call 911**, or call or text 988 or 1-833-TLC-MAMA, if you have thoughts about harming yourself or your baby ([CDC](https://www.cdc.gov/reproductive-health/depression/index.html)). - **Normal:** knowing your own body better than any page does. **Call your provider** if you feel like something just isn't right, even if it isn't on any list; the CDC says to tell them ([CDC](https://www.cdc.gov/hearher/maternal-warning-signs/index.html)). ## For you Forty-two weeks is a long time to carry anyone. Whatever the last fortnight has been, impatient, frightened, funny, flat, you got through it a day at a time, and that is exactly the skill the next month asks for. One thing to carry over: if sadness after the birth lasts more than two weeks, the Office on Women's Health says to see your doctor then, not wait for the postpartum visit ([OWH](https://womenshealth.gov/pregnancy/childbirth-and-beyond/recovering-birth)). If you're the partner, that's yours to notice too. From today, the notes are written to both of you about someone else. Read them together when you can. This is the last page of the pregnancy. Your baby's year starts at [your first month](https://chorevia.com/learn/first-month), with their first day. We'll see you there. ## Sources - National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. "About Pregnancy." National Institutes of Health. https://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/pregnancy/conditioninfo - MedlinePlus. "When you pass your due date." National Library of Medicine. https://medlineplus.gov/ency/patientinstructions/000515.htm - NHS. "Week 41." Week-by-week guide to pregnancy, Best Start in Life. https://www.nhs.uk/best-start-in-life/pregnancy/week-by-week-guide-to-pregnancy/3rd-trimester/week-41/ - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Urgent Maternal Warning Signs and Symptoms." HEAR HER campaign, 2024. https://www.cdc.gov/hearher/maternal-warning-signs/index.html - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Symptoms of Depression Among Women." Reproductive Health, 2024. https://www.cdc.gov/reproductive-health/depression/index.html - Office on Women's Health. "Recovering from birth." U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. https://womenshealth.gov/pregnancy/childbirth-and-beyond/recovering-birth