At pregnancy week 39, you’re very close to your delivery date. Last week (pregnancy week 38), we mentioned a few recovery milestones you can look forward to after delivering your baby.

Post-delivery check up for you

Six weeks after your delivery, you will have a post-delivery check-up. Although you will have your hands full then caring for a new baby, the following is likely to take place during the check-up: 

1. Your doctor will touch on topics like contraception, family planning and resuming sexual relations, although you may not be thinking about it.
   
2. Your doctor will also be checking your wounds and running some simple blood tests to monitor the blood sugar levels of those with gestational diabetes, blood pressure to make sure that those levels have also returned to baseline. 
   
3. You may find yourself getting a pap smear at this point.
   
4. Finally, do let your doctor know how you are coping with your moods, breastfeeding and general health. 
   

It is wonderful having a newborn in the family, but it can be tiring too. So hang in there!

Check-ups for your baby

Immediately after birth, babies receive their vitamin K and hepatitis B preventive injections. From now on, it would be your responsibility to ensure that your baby’s vaccinations are up to date and your child is protected from certain life-threatening diseases.

The idea behind vaccinations is to provide children with the immunity against a certain disease before it has a chance to make your baby sick. Your baby will be due for its next jab in about 4 weeks’ time, so chart that on your calendar.

Ref: L20

Click the link for the complete listing of articles for Pregnancy Week 1 - Week 40.