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Week 38. Pay attention to contractions

If your childbirth is not brought forward, this week the count down begins. It is impossible to predict when the baby will exactly be born. In fact, only 5% of babies are born in the anticipated date, the rest of babies do so sooner or later. You must be alert to the signals indicating the water break and you shall control contractions, which will have been numerous in the last weeks, although separated. Pay attention: if contractions are very intense and continued (more than 5 per hour) it would probably mean you are in labor.

Nobody knows what exactly triggers the childbirth. What we know for sure is that the baby’s lungs and your placenta are the key factors for the synchronization. When lungs are mature, they secrete a protein into the amniotic liquid that alters the production of hormones. This change causes the placenta to reduce the emission of the progesterone hormone and foments the production of the new hormone: the oxytocin. The oxytocin regulates the contractions of the uterus and indicates the child is going to be born. It also blocks your memories and helps you to forget the pain.

 

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