Definition
Congratulations, you will soon be a mother! When you look back, you can’t believe how everything went by so quickly. Paradoxically, when you look ahead, you have the impression that there is an eternity until the big day. And yet, this month will pass the fastest of all the others. Let’s Discuss 9th Month Pregnancy below.
Article content
1. Overview
2. Physical changes
3. Emotional changes
4. Fetal development
5. Visit to the doctor
6. Problems that may arise
Physical changes
Due to the fact that you have gained weight, you can have some of the most unpleasant or uncomfortable conditions: your abdominal muscles can hurt you because of the effort they are subjected to in order to support the load, and the back muscles are forced to support the trunk in a vertical position, which it changed not only the center of gravity but also the weight itself.
Knee and ankle joints can also show signs of pain when you get up from a chair or while walking. In the first part of this month, the belly will change its appearance, as the baby “descends” slightly towards the pelvis, so that the bottom of the uterus will also descend.
Marked fatigue – many women may feel exhausted. Not only because of the fatigue accumulated during the entire period of pregnancy or the increased weight but also because of mental exhaustion.
They may feel tired if they walk more, if they go up or down a few steps or if they try to get up from the armchair.
And more white nights – in addition to the reasons for insomnia that I already listed last month, this month the physiological change in the structure of your sleep will have a major weight: nature has changed your sleep, making it superficial, in order to you prepare to face the period when your baby will need to be breastfed, regardless of the time of day or night.
Good news: you are losing weight – although this month your baby may gain weight even over a kilogram, you will notice with satisfaction, I have no doubt about it, that your weight has either increased slightly, or that, surprisingly, the needle the scale stopped a few dashes early.
This weight loss may be due to the fact that the amniotic fluid decreases quantitatively due to changes in hormonal balances.
Difficulties in trying to feel comfortable – you can easily notice that you have already exhausted all the options you had to find a position as comfortable as possible, not only in bed, when you wanted to sleep, but also when sitting in armchair at home or in a chair at the office. You don’t feel comfortable sitting, but neither do you feel comfortable standing. Whatever you do, after a few minutes you feel the need to change your body position.
You feel pressure in your pelvis – this month your baby descends into your pelvis, so you may feel sharp pains at the base of your spine or near your pelvis.
Also, the physiological process of relaxing the joints between the bones that form the pelvis (a process necessary to provide some degree of mobility of these bones, in order to facilitate the passage of the child) and which concerns the joint between the two pubic bones, the sacroiliac joints and those between sacrum and coccyx, will be accompanied by pain as the joints relax and the bones somehow move from their place.
Also, the stretching of the ligaments at this level is accompanied by pelvic pain or discomfort. It is the most favorable time to continue your Kegel exercises, but also those of general maintenance, although at a very low degree of difficulty.
If the pain is severe, you can call on a masseur or physiotherapist specialized in pregnancy conditions. Also, the baby’s head presses even more on the structures inside the pelvis, so you can feel the need to urinate even more often, but you can also feel much more constipated.
The little one’s kicks are stronger – just like last month, your baby changes his way of “communication” with you, so that, although his kicks are much less frequent, they become much stronger, so that you often startle or you curl up in pain when you get kicked in the liver or ribs.
Emotional changes
To have an idea of the intensity of the emotional states you will have in the last month of pregnancy, let’s do a pure “arithmetic calculation”: add up all the emotions you had in the 8 months of pregnancy and then multiply them with ten and you will have the measure of the emotional storm that awaits you this month.
Extreme ambivalence – many women wish with all their heart that everything is ready but, paradoxically, at the same time they do not want the pregnancy to end.
In one moment you want everything to be over and you can see your baby, hold him in your arms and let him suck, and in another you may be afraid and you will want everything to be postponed at least several days.
This ambivalence can cause some anxiety during this period.
Increased sensitivity – this month you need to know, and especially to inform the people around you, that you will be very sensitive and very vulnerable emotionally.
Even an absolutely trivial remark or even a well-intentioned, but impersonal comment, lacking the trace of affection and compassion that you expect from your loved ones at any moment, can make you cry.
You can be very irritable in the relationship with your partner, very impatient in the relationship with your work or with your colleagues, depressed by the indifference of some relatives or intolerance in society.
You can be fed up to the neck with all the “benevolent” advice you hear at every step and you may sometimes want to be left alone. Ultimately, that’s what you should do, withdraw and stay away from everything that annoys or bores you. Conserve your nerves and energy for the moments that will come and when you will need them.
Increased worries – sometimes, you can wake up at night because you realize that you are not ready for what follows. You start again to make lists of the necessary things for the child and for his room, you check your luggage for the hospital one more time, you feel the need to call your doctor to make sure he comes or you start doing Kegel exercises because you have the impression that you did not work enough during the pregnancy on this problem and you will be caught unprepared in the big moment.
Anxiety – even if you have prepared exemplary for this big exam (excellent physical activity, up-to-date documentation, a doctor you trust a lot, breathing exercises, etc.), as the moment approaches, you feel like you’re running out of time every time all the energy and that a state of intense fear seizes you.
Don’t be afraid, it is human to be afraid of unknown things, of the anticipation of pain or because of worries that something could unfold not exactly as we would like. Let’s be serious, some of us are even afraid of an injection that we have to do. You can overcome fear through strength of character and through self-encouragement (self-suggestion) that everything will be fine.
“Nest” instinct – this month you will notice that, despite the permanent state of fatigue, when it comes to going shopping for the little one or when something needs to be done in his room, nature gives you energy and motivation that makes you to fly
This physical activity also gives you a feeling of well-being from an emotional point of view, banishes boredom and, above all, makes you forget about certain fears that are bothering you. However, don’t overdo it, you can leave the more difficult things to others or some of the less important ones even after the day when you return home with the little one.
Fetal development
In this last month, the fetus has only two major concerns: to gain weight and to mature its lungs. All his organs are fully formed and perfectly functional (with the exception of the lungs, which become able to support the life of the newborn without problems only from week 37).
Due to the fact that he has grown quite a lot, he hardly even bothers to move; therefore, don’t panic if you don’t feel as active as in the past months. Instead, his blows are more and more powerful.
Visit to the doctor
The meeting with your obstetrician this month can shine through the absence! He will most likely want to see you a few days before the probable date of birth, to make up his mind about the local situation, to make sure once again of the position of the fetus in the uterus, and to check that everything is fine with the fetus, listening to the BCFs, but also with you, checking your blood pressure and discussing any problems that have arisen since the last meeting.
It is essential to agree on how to contact you when labor starts or if problems arise.
Problems that may arise
The last month is poor in unpleasant events that require the doctor’s intervention. Unfortunately, the problems that can arise are of particular gravity:
Bleeding, especially with red blood, fresh, unaccompanied by pain, is a quite serious sign because it can betray a placental problem, the development of placenta previa or its detachment (premature placental detachment). Both situations represent major obstetric emergencies and it is necessary to contact the obstetrician immediately and go to the hospital as soon as possible.
Arterial hypertension, especially if the minimum value constantly exceeds 90 mm Hg, represents a potentially serious problem, because, untreated, it can lead to more serious manifestations, such as preeclampsia (arterial hypertension accompanied by edema, headache, visual disturbances, etc.) or even eclampsia (hypertension accompanied by convulsions), which can endanger the life of both the baby and the mother. Premature birth is also a possibility of manifesting the problem in the last month.
Fortunately, the baby is almost perfectly adapted to face life outside the womb, so the consequences of this premature birth are not very serious.
Premature rupture of the amniotic membranes is a rather rare event before 38–39 weeks. The major risk is the occurrence of an infection (chorioamniotitis) or the onset of premature birth.