Mom
You may feel very heavy around this period. If your baby is positioned high, it is hard to breathe deeply, as the baby is pressings its backside against your diaphragm and rib cage. This will decrease a little when your baby’s head descends, which can now happen at any time. After this, the back of the head is resting against your bladder and you will have to pee more often.
When lying on your back, you may feel nauseous and dizzy because the heavy uterus is pressing on a large blood vessel and the flow of blood to your heart is decreasing. This isn’t bad or dangerous for you or the baby. If you’re suffering from this, it is best to lie on your side or support yourself properly with pillows.
Sleeping becomes more difficult, so take an occasional afternoon nap, because this will relax you and relieve your ligaments and back. Even if you’re not really sleeping, you are still getting rest. The most comfortable position is on your side with a pillow supporting your knee. You may also still occasionally suffer from Braxton Hicks contractions.
Baby
Your baby is now getting more fat on the arms and legs and folds are starting to form. The baby is now 45 centimeters long and weighs 2900 grams, the size of a papaya.
Your baby will now take a position that feels most comfortable to him or her. Most babies position themselves in the ideal head-first presentation. After 36 weeks of pregnancy, there is a small chance that your baby can still turn independently. If you baby is in a breech presentation (with its buttocks downwards), your obstetrician will refer you to the hospital where they will see whether they can turn the child from the outside.
Your baby can already start to descend after 30 weeks, but this is also possible just before the delivery. Around week 36 there is a major chance that your baby has descended or will descend. This means that your baby drops deep into your pelvis. In general, the head fits nicely between the pelvic bones. This is also the reason why most babies automatically lie with their head down.