“Due” is a continuum that is just beginning. While baby’s lungs are now mature enough to breathe air and all the organs have been in place for a while now, baby is still gaining advantages for life in your healthy womb! 37 weeks is on the early side of the range considered safe for a homebirth. Any earlier and a hospital birth is recommended.

Wherever you plan to birth, you’re in the final weeks of pregnancy. You may feel emotional, very ready, or not ready at all. This is all normal. Trust that your baby knows when to come. Take these next few weeks to truly take care of yourself. Take in beauty, pick or buy yourself flowers, spend time with those you love most, write a letter to baby, dance, nap, eat well, swim, and walk, walk, walk. Nourish yourself in mind, body, and spirit.

The “due date” given to you of 40 weeks gestation is just three weeks away, but remember to hold this date very loosely. Calendar time means nothing to your baby. Trust that your baby knows when to come and that even if others eventually refer to a post-40-week baby as “late,” your baby will be exactly on time.