42 weeks pregnant: what is happening this week

This page has no size, no weight and no development notes, and the reason is worth stating outright: the NHS week-by-week guide ends at week 41. Rather than borrow a figure from somewhere else and present it as though it belonged to the same series, this page carries only what can be sourced - the dating arithmetic, and the fact that 42 weeks is where the term window closes on both ACOG's and the NHS's definition. Very few pregnancies reach this point. Induction will already have been offered and discussed, monitoring is usually more frequent, and the care plan is by now an individual one worked out with a named team rather than anything a schedule can describe. If you have arrived here, the useful reading is not another week page. It is the notes from the last appointment and the phone number of the maternity unit. What can honestly be said in general terms is this: 280 days was always an estimate built on an assumed cycle and an assumed ovulation date, ACOG says so in as many words, and being at the far end of a distribution is a property of distributions rather than a sign that something has gone wrong.