38 weeks pregnant.

Evidence is modest for all of them: walking, birth ball sitting, and nipple stimulation have some physiological logic, dates and raspberry leaf have weak evidence, and sex is fine if your waters have not broken. None reliably start labour before the body is ready, and some popular methods — castor oil in particular — are not recommended. Run anything beyond walking and patience past your midwife first, especially if your pregnancy has any complications.

Not really — you can be two centimetres dilated for weeks or completely closed the day before labour begins. Dilation at a single check is a poor predictor of timing, which is why routine late-pregnancy examinations are optional in many care systems. If you are offered a check or a membrane sweep, ask what the finding would change; declining or accepting are both reasonable choices.

Yes — in early labour at home, light carbohydrate-rich snacks and regular fluids help maintain the energy labour demands, so eat when you feel like it. Once in established labour many people naturally stop wanting food, and some units limit intake if certain interventions become likely, which staff will explain at the time. Isotonic drinks and honey sticks in the hospital bag cover the middle ground well.

38 weeks is usually counted as the ninth month of pregnancy and trimester 3. Months do not divide evenly into weeks, so clinicians date pregnancy in weeks and days; the weeks-to-months converter shows the full table.