Still at this period of pregnancyalso your baby is busy in putting on weight. Now you must know this that after the birth of your baby, your physician and his team will do your baby’s Apgar test. There is nothing to worry about this, Apgar score is nothing but a way of evaluation of the total condition of your newly born baby, and it is done in just a few minutes after birth. The evaluation done with an Apgar test in pregnancy week 38 is given just one minute after the delivery and is repeated again after five minutes of the baby’s birth. The note will be made of the things such as the color of your baby after the birth that means whether it is bluish or is pink, the respiration rate and heart rate is checked of your baby, muscle tone and the reflexes of your baby is also noted.
The Apgar score done in one minute shows about your baby’s birthing process.Higher score usually indicates that the infant will do perform great in the postpartum phrase. A lower score may indicate that the infant needs observation or further evaluation to make sure that everything is fine and well. The second test is performed to measure how capable the infant is tackling its new environment outside the uterus.
The infant is given a score based on the below mentioned parameters:
- Skin Color - 2 points for pinkish body, 1 point for the color closer to pink with blue extremities, 0 for bluish or pale colors all over the body.
- Respiratory - 2 points for a solid cry, 1 point for a slower or weaker cry, 0 points for no crying.
- Heart Beats - 2 points for heart rate that is more than 100 per minute, 1 point for a heartbeat below 100 a minute, 0 points for no heart beat.
- Muscle Tone-- 2 points for energetic movement, 1 point for little flexing of the extremities and 0 points if the infant is motionless.
- Reflex - 2 points if the infant cries during the test, 1 if the intent makes a little fuss, 0 if the infant doesn't make any sound during this exam.
Usually the high score, or a score falls from 8 and 10 reflects that the infant is in very good health. A lower score may necessitate some further evaluation, as described before.
The mother’s belly size remains pretty constant from pregnancy week 38 and beyond, though the mother might notice her belly appears lower as compared to before, especially if the infant has dropped a bit further into the pelvis. At this point of pregnancy the mother might start worrying about the delivery and labor process. If the mother has not already, she must visit the birthing facility she plans to deliver the infant at so she has time to find out where all the things are!
It is important for the expecting mother to pack the hospital bag by pregnancy week 38 and if she has not, it is better sit down and to do it right now! One can go into spontaneous delivery at any given time as she continues her pregnancy week by week.
