Pregnancy Week 40

"Your baby is closing in on its due date. Remember, it's normal for first time mothers to have their babies a week or so after the 40 week mark. In fact, the average first time pregnancy lasts 8 days beyond the official due date!"

Your baby's hair and nails grow longer every day and may need to be clipped soon after birth.
During labor, your baby produces adrenaline, a special hormone to help handle the stress of labor. Adrenaline helps insure baby will be well-oxygenated during labor as well as ready to greet his or her parents with wide-open eyes.
The stresses of labor help prepare baby to breathe well after birth. While no one knows what labor is like for baby, physiologically, labor and birth is very healthy for babies. They receive the right hormones and bacteria from birth to prepare them for life outside the womb.
In the last days of pregnancy, your baby is turning his or her head in many directions, trying to find the perfect fit for labor. It may take many days of on-and-off contractions to help baby find his or her perfect position.
The perfect place for your baby at the moment of birth is on the mother's bare chest, which warms up in anticipation of baby's birth.
If the mother keeps her baby on her chest skin-to-skin for the first hour or two after birth, her baby may self-attach to her breast using a newborns' fine sense of smell, taste and reflexes for moving towards mother's nipple.