Week 40: Three, two, one... BLAST OFF?!

Fetal development in pregnancy week 40

We're going to cut to the chase and talk about your newborn this week, okay?

Even if your rocket-baby's not yet given you a clear-ready-to-launch signal, at this point, they're developmentally the same as any healthy newborn.

Infants & Language

Let's talk about talking: whether you're cooing Shakespeare or sweetly berating your boss while you breastfeed, your newborn infant has no idea what you're saying and won't for months to come.

What your infant does enjoy is the sound of your happy-sounding voice, the sight of your face, and the smell of your skin.

As part of our infant-survival plan, human infants prefer their mother's voice and face over any other voice or face.

If you've ever laughed at that mom talking to her infant in a weird soft high-pitched voice, you're going to be laughing at yourself really soon.

Interestingly, mothers across all cultures have been observed using this high-pitched voice with their infants. This funny behavior's actually got an official title: "motherese."

Using motherese is considered an instinctual mother-infant interaction. Perhaps because high voices usually come from smaller, safer females, whereas deep and loud voices tend to come from big, potentially dangerous, males.

That's right, go ahead and talk to your infant (in a happy soft voice) because they'll love it even though they won't have the faintest clue what you're saying - and won't begin truly understanding your words until some time between one and two years of age.

TALKING TO YOUR INFANT

Despite being literally clueless about the content of your words, your infant does understand some of the more obvious non-verbal aspects of your communication.

For an infant, the sheer fact that mommy is talking happily with them, makes them feel real and loved as well promoting their feelings of well-being and safety.

Talking with your infant- as if you want them to understand, in simple clear words - with repetition for memory's sake, primes their still-developing but already-buzzing language centers in their brain to listen, understand, and eventually speak in their upcoming toddler years.

Despite the fact your infant will give little visible feedback - especially in the beginning, that they're listening or understand you, positive genuine verbal interactions with your infant create similar positive emotions in them (as long as they're not too cranky/hungry/need a diaper change).

As a highly social species, language and communication matter so much to we humans' survival, newborns will instinctively mimic the faces of adults in their line of vision.

So don't get too excited when you think your newborn is smiling at you, they're just doing it reflexively (like that adorable finger-grabbing Ulnar grasp) and their mimicking behaviors will disappear by the end of their second week.

Talking or reading to your infant are excellent ways to bond and prime their brain for the task of learning language. These positive mother-directed one-way interactions with your infant will slowly evolve into delightful two-way interactions as they become increasingly social.

After six months the social and communication ball really starts rolling in terms of your infant's eye contact and active listening.

If you're attentive and stay tuned to your child's ever-adapting capacity to understand and speak, by the time your child hits their toddler years, you'll be living with one of the most genuine and hilarious little people you'll ever have the pleasure of knowing.

And how's mom doing?

It's that last leg of the race, the finish line is laughing at you (if you haven't yet delivered) and your patience is wearing thin, but if you're still not in labor - it's no surprise, and entirely normal to be pregnant for the next two weeks.If you haven't yet figured it out, you've signed up to be a mother and this means being healthy is no longer an option - it's a necessity.

If you want to get things moving labor-wise: get moving yourself!

Sure, you can hang out on the couch and take it easy, but your baby might just do the same.

Other fun ways to induce labor include sex and nipple stimulation - which could be considered foreplay to the sex, but really, it feels a bit medical since you're actually doing it to induce labor.

NIPPLE STIMULATION TO INDUCE LABOR

Stimulate one nipple at a time for five minutes every 15 minutes for an hour. Do not stimulate during a contraction. Cease nipple stimulation after Active Labor kicks in - for your own sake, as it increases contraction intensity.

Postpartum Issues

The time after birth is a shaky one even in the best of conditions as you've lost a lot of blood, lost a major hormone-producing organ (the placenta), lost your bodily autonomy to breastfeeding while gaining a sweet but sleep-ruining newborn who doesn't even say thank you.

Whether this is your first child or fourth, the more support and help you receive in the first three months after birth, the more rapidly you'll heal and the more capable you'll be of successfully navigating through Breastfeeding Bootcamp to become a Breastfeeding Pro.

SLEEPING

Sleep when your baby sleeps. Share newborn naps as you need them because the nights aren't going to be very kind to you.

If possible, try to have your partner or family watch your little one in the morning when baby's most alert and cheerful, to help you to catch up on the lost sleep.

Cultivate a sleepy environment at night with your baby: lights dim, TV off, whisper gently to them and have others speak quietly to promote their brain's acceptance of night = sleep and day = waking + napping.

Fortunately for you, your newborn does sleep a lot - up to 18 hours a day (or sometimes more), actually. So nap when they're napping as needed.

EATING

If you haven't yet figured it out, you've signed up to be a mother and this means being healthy is no longer an option - it's a necessity.

If you thought your pregnancy diet lasted nine months, you need to adjust your thought process, because you will be the sole source of nutrition for your child for the next six months.

This means you're going to need to keep your diet and body relatively pure for the sake of your dependent infant.

To promote postpartum healing, battle depression, guarantee your milk supply, and begin setting a good example for your child, you need to keep eating lots of fresh fruits, veggies, unprocessed meat and fish and other whole foods as desired.

If you can afford it, go organic - as organic foods are more vitamin-rich and nutrient-dense than non-organic, as well as containing immunity-boosting elements that non-organic foods lack.

Again, keep avoiding fast food, junk food, processed and preserved foods and any food that makes you fart! Nevermind the fact this is the crap that makes your thighs look like cottage cheese, so - yeah, giving them up forever is a good idea.

Start reading labels and avoid foods with ingredients that sound like they were made in science lab. Nitrates, canola oil, high fructose corn syrup and monosodium glutamate are all nasty-but-common ingredients that should be avoided for the damage they do to an adult body, much less an infant!

FOOD TIP #1: Avoid foods with more than ten ingredients, as the food you eat should be simple and pure, which will guarantee easy and painless digestion and nutrient absorption for your breastfeeding infant.

FOOD TIP #2: Stay out of the center of the grocery store where frozen and processed foods line the shelves. Instead stick to the refrigerated walls where the pure fresh and highly perishable food can be easily tossed into your cart.

GETTING BACK ON YOUR FEET

No matter how exhausted you're feeling, after your first few days of bed-rest interspersed with bathing, start getting some of that fresh air and taking small walks around the block just to get your heart pumping and your circulation working to promote healing.

As soon as you feel able, start picking up your activity levels, but if you're the sort to jump back in with both feet: don't overdo it.

Listen to your body - it's still weak and your joints will remain extra-flexible for the next three months, which makes you more prone to hip injuries.

Even if you were a couch potato before motherhood, there really is no better time to focus on becoming a healthy active mother.

Not only will you be setting a positive example for your children with a healthy active lifestye, but being able to chase your kid down as they're blithely toddling across the street is pretty much a necessary skill set for motherhood.

RELATIONSHIPS

Having a child is a powerful test to a relationship, and indeed, many marriages end in divorce within the first two years after a child is born.

If you're with your partner, it's time for both of you to focus on protecting and supporting the unit of mother and baby, because that's what nature has designed in those first fragile months.

Your partner is your support as you are your newborn's support.

Lest you think we're saying you should act like a baby and whine when they don't make you that cup of tea NOW, we're not, but nice try!

All we're saying is that as much as you're focused on anticipating the needs of your infant, so too should your partner be focused on anticipating your needs... at least for the first two weeks while you heal.

Also, when it comes to postpartum sexual intercourse, just wait the standard six weeks to lower your risk of infection and - of course, stop if it ever hurts.

If your libido is kicking in before the six weeks - which would be amazing, considering how sleep-deprived and infant-oriented you're going to be, you can risk it if you're willing, but good luck with it not hurting!

Whether or not you're a single mom, the more your family helps out during the postpartum phase, the better.

If your mother or father, or auntie can be there for both of you in this fragile postpartum period, the sharing of responsibilities will lighten the load and allow all of you to revel in your newest family member rather than stressing out because the baby is crying and there are no extra diapers to be found.

This is definitely not the time for family drama or fighting between the parents or other family members. Your infant (and your milk-supply) need you to be happy and relatively stress-free.

The ongoing support and love of your partner is critical to your postpartum healing, as they can watch baby while you catch some much-needed sleep, help stay on top of the diapers, meals and groceries, be there for you emotionally, and hopefully, give you as much love as you're giving your new offspring.

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