36 Weeks Pregnant: The Week the Countdown Begins

Last week, your baby was filling out into a soft little newborn. This week, things shift from growing to getting ready. Your baby starts moving into position, and the countdown to meeting them truly begins.

Welcome to week thirty-six. Your baby is settling into the starting blocks for birth, quietly preparing a rather surprising first gift for you, and putting the finishing touches to ten tiny toes. Let me show you.

Your baby is getting into the starting blocks

This week, things start to feel real. Your baby begins getting into position for the big day.

Most babies are settled head-down by now, and many begin to drop lower, sinking deeper into your pelvis as they get ready for the journey out. Midwives often call this engaging, or lightening, and you may well feel it happen. As your baby moves down and off your lungs, you might suddenly find it easier to breathe. In exchange, you will likely feel more pressure low down, a new heaviness in your pelvis, and possibly even more trips to the loo.

If your baby has not dropped yet, please do not read anything into it. Many babies, especially for mothers who have given birth before, do not engage until labour is well underway. But for plenty of you, this week is your baby quietly moving into the starting blocks. The countdown has begun.

A secret they have been saving

Here is something wonderfully strange that has been quietly happening for months, and comes to a head about now.

All those weeks your baby has spent swallowing, the amniotic fluid, the fine lanugo hairs shed from their skin, old cells, and traces of vernix, have been gathering in their intestines. Slowly, it has built up into a dark, sticky, greenish-black substance called meconium.

This is your baby's very first poop, saved up and waiting. And in the first day or two after birth, they will pass it, that strange, tar-like first nappy that takes so many new parents by surprise. So consider this your heads-up. Your baby has been preparing their first little gift for you for months. It is just not quite the gift you might be expecting.

Toenails to the very tips

And one more tiny finishing touch this week. Just like their fingernails a few weeks ago, your baby's toenails have now grown all the way to the very tips of their toes.

Ten more perfect, miniature details. Your baby really is, right down to their littlest toenail, very nearly finished.

How big is my baby at 36 weeks?

Around forty-seven to forty-eight centimetres now, head to heel, and getting close to three kilograms. Your baby is plump, smooth, and snug, with rounded cheeks and barely any room left to move, though you should still feel them wriggling and pressing every day.

Just about fully cooked, and getting ready to meet you.

What is happening in my body?

From around now, you will likely start seeing your midwife more often, perhaps every week or two, as they keep a closer eye on you and your baby through this final stretch.

You may be feeling heavy, tired, and more than ready, especially if your baby has dropped and is pressing low in your pelvis. Braxton Hicks practice contractions may be coming more often too. Rest is your best friend right now, so take it whenever you can. And make sure you know the signs your midwife wants you to watch for, when to call, and when to come in, so that when things do start to happen, you feel calm and prepared rather than caught off guard.

From Courtney. There is a particular feeling that settles in around now, and I remember it with every one of mine. That quiet, electric sense of any day now. Your baby has dropped lower, you are packing a bag, and suddenly it is real, this person is actually coming. I want to gently remind you of something in the middle of all that anticipation. You do not have to be perfectly ready, because no one ever is, and your baby does not need perfect. They need you. The bag and the checklists matter, yes, but far less than the simple, astonishing fact that you have grown this whole human being and are about to meet them. So breathe, mama. You have done the hard part. The best part is almost here.

The one thing to do this week

This week, if you have not already, it is a lovely time to pack your hospital bag. From thirty-seven weeks your baby is considered early term and could decide to make an appearance, so having your bag ready brings real peace of mind, and saves a frantic scramble later.

And here is the part hardly anyone tells you about. It is not just baby's things you need to pack. You will want your own bits for afterwards too, the comfortable, practical, looking-after-yourself things that make those first sore, tender days so much easier. I have pulled all of it together, the hospital bag, the baby essentials, and the after-birth bag for you, into simple checklists inside the Prep for Baby course in the Mama Years app, so you never have to wonder whether you have forgotten something.

Tick it off, then let yourself relax. Bag by the door, feet on the sofa. You are ready.

Coming up in week thirty-seven

Next week brings a milestone worth celebrating. At thirty-seven weeks, your baby is considered early term, meaning that should they decide to arrive, they are very likely ready for the world. And your body reaches a milestone of its own, perfecting the very first food your baby will ever taste, the remarkable golden liquid that is colostrum.

Week thirty-seven is where your baby becomes ready, and your liquid gold comes in. I will see you there.

Written by Courtney Garland, NICU nurse, lactation consultant and mother of four, and founder of The Mama Years. This is here to inform and reassure you. It is not a substitute for medical advice, so always follow the guidance of your own doctor or midwife.

The Mama Years. 2026.

References

American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. (n.d.). How your fetus grows during pregnancy. https://www.acog.org/womens-health/faqs/how-your-fetus-grows-during-pregnancy

Cleveland Clinic. (2023). Fetal development: Stages of growth. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/7247-fetal-development-stages-of-growth

Mayo Clinic. (2025). Fetal development: The third trimester. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/pregnancy-week-by-week/in-depth/fetal-development/art-20045997

Merck Manual. (2024). Stages of fetal development (Consumer Version). https://www.merckmanuals.com/home/women-s-health-issues/normal-pregnancy/stages-of-fetal-development

The Mama Years is written by Courtney Garland, a NICU registered nurse and IBCLC lactation consultant, against the research. When the science is genuinely unsettled, she says so instead of guessing. Nothing here replaces the advice of the clinician looking after you.