34 Weeks Pregnant? Here’s What No One Tells You (But You Need to Know!)

EP 109:

Sis… you’ve officially hit week 34, and things are getting real. But what if I told you there’s a lot happening right now that your OB isn’t talking about?

In today’s episode, we’re diving into what’s going on in your body behind the scenes—like how your brain is being rewired to bond with baby, how your breast tissue is prepping for breastfeeding, and even how your gut health is impacting your baby’s future immune system. Yep… it’s that deep.

🎧 Listen in to learn:

• What your hormones are secretly doing to prep for labor
• The surprising science behind third trimester brain fog (and why it’s actually brilliant)
• How your baby’s lungs trigger your milk supply
• Why 34 weeks is the perfect time to mentally prepare for labor
• One trap most pregnant moms fall into—and how to avoid it

👉 Ready to prepare for birth and breastfeeding before baby comes?
Grab my Bump to Bundle Blueprint Course
and feel confident, calm, and actually ready.

🔗 Resources & Links:

• ✨ Grab the Bump to Bundle Blueprint here:
• 💛 Watch this episode on YouTube 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• Birth hormones (oxytocin, relaxin, prostaglandins)
• Synaptic pruning in pregnancy
• Gut flora and baby’s microbiome
• Surfactant production and milk signaling
• Birth visualizations and neuroplastic prep

Let’s prep your mind and your body—because you deserve to go into birth fully informed and fully supported. 💛

Transcript

0:05

Hi, I'm Stephanie Poole, founder and CEO of Birth Prep Academy. I'm on a mission to help pregnant moms prepare for their first hospital birth. I'm sharing revealing conversations about what it really takes to successfully transition into motherhood. So join me. Here to discover things like what to expect in childbirth, how to prepare for your birth. We'll also talk about breastfeeding and so much more. I'm so grateful to share it all with you right here on Oh Baby, the podcast created for pregnant moms preparing for their first hospital birth. Let's get started. So you're 34 weeks pregnant and feeling like a walking watermelon, except instead of rolling downhill, you are somehow supposed to just glide into motherhood like a glowing goddess. Yeah, not so much. Let's talk about what's actually happening right now that no one really explains. Like the sneaky signs that your hormones are prepping for labor behind the scenes, how your breast tissue is remodeling already to support your milk flow why your brain is doing something called pruning. And a wild but important connection between your gut bacteria and your baby's future immune system. It's weird but crucial, and we're gonna talk about it in just a moment. Trust me, by the end of this video, you're gonna feel way more ready for birth than you did just 10 minutes ago. Now with that being said, let's hop in. Now let's start with your hormones. Estrogen and relaxin are now surging, but not just to make you flexible or in some cases clumsy. In fact, new studies show that around 34 weeks relaxing softens not just your joints, but also influences your cervical remodeling and pelvic nerve sensitivity. Okay, so translation. That just means that the weird pelvic heaviness or pressure that you're feeling is not just the baby. It's literally your body loosening and prepping the birth canal. Now, here's something extra to blow your mind, prostaglandin. Right, which is the same hormone that's used in medical inductions. Well, they are now naturally being produced by your body to help thin and ripen your cervix. So yes, your body already started the process without you even realizing it. Now here's a tip. A 2020 study showed that walking 30 minutes a day at this stage can really help improve fetal position and enhance natural prostaglandin release, not power walking, just intentional upright movement. So definitely be sure to aim for 30 minutes a day to really get that benefit Now. If you feel forgetful, overwhelmed, or just not like yourself, I've got some good news for you. You're not broken, baby. You are just being rewired. Neuroscientists have discovered something pretty wild. They've discovered that during late pregnancy, your brain literally undergoes a process called synaptic pruning. Remember I talked about pruning in the intro, right? Well. Okay, here's what it means. It just simply means that it's trimming away mental clutter so that you can focus better on emotional connection, facial recognition, and infant cues in the postpartum. Your brain isn't getting worse. It's getting smarter in a mom way. It's prioritizing your bonding over remembering where you put the keys. Okay. Here's something that nobody really talks about at your OB visit, but it's key to your baby's health. At 34 weeks, your body's microbiome, especially in your gut and vagina, is actively preparing to seed your baby's immune system during birth. Emerging research shows that the bacteria that the baby is exposed to during vaginal delivery and breastfeeding really helps to shape their immune system for years to come. One study even found that babies born to moms with diverse, balanced gut flora had lower risk of eczema, asthma, and even allergies. So here's a tip. Talk to your provider about safe probiotics. Things that occur naturally in fermented foods and iron levels. Even right now, your gut health in the next four to six weeks is. Looking to be very foundational to baby's long-term immune health, so it's worth having a conversation about. Alright, now this is where science meets miracles. Right around 34 weeks, your baby's lungs produce a protein called surfactant. Now this helps them to breathe after birth, but get this when this protein hits a certain level. It actually sends a chemical signal to your placenta that says, Hey, hey, we're ready. That signal actually kicks off a hormone cascade that also tells your breasts start ramping up. We're gonna need milk soon. That's why some moms suddenly feel fuller, heavier, or even notice tingling in their breasts around this week. Colostrum production can actually increase and your body begins preparing for the letdown reflex, even if you're not consciously doing anything. So here's a tip for that. Gentle massages, not pumping of the breast, right? Just gentle breast massages can actually help to increase oxytocin, which supports this natural process, especially if you're feeling disconnected to your body. Now again, I just wanna add to be extra careful not to overstimulate. If you're high risk, you definitely wanna talk to your doctor or provider before doing this, but generally speaking, a light hand massage, again, not pumping. Pumping is too aggressive and we don't wanna kick you into labor, right? We don't wanna do that. We want baby to cook as long as possible, so just a gentle massage is all you need to help increase that oxytocin. Okay, now I'm all about giving you real strategies, not just fluffy affirmations, but here's a big truth. Studies show that pregnant women who spend even just five minutes daily visualizing a positive birth labor experience are more likely to feel in control during birth. They're more likely to avoid unnecessary interventions and to recover faster in postpartum. It's called the Neuroplastic Prep. You're literally training your brain to interpret labor as powerful instead of terrifying. So here's something I want you to try today. Close your eyes and picture your body opening. Picture your baby working with you. And use mantras like my body knows what to do or say something like, each wave brings my baby closer. And yes, I do walk you through guided visualizations and affirmations that you can use to really optimize that neuroplastic prep inside of my bump to bundle blueprint so that you can see yourself being the powerful mama that you already are in your labor and birth story. all right, mama. This is the part that gets real. The biggest mistake that I see pregnant moms making is when they think, well, I'll just figure out birth and breastfeeding once I'm closer to my due date. Uhuh Nosis. At 34 weeks, you've got the perfect window to lock in your birth preferences. Learn how to protect your milk supply in the hospital and prep your mind and body before the chaos hits because once baby is here, you'll be too tired to learn. And you'll be in survival mode by then. That's why I built the Bump To bundle blueprint to kind of give you everything you need now before overwhelm kicks in. So if you're 34 weeks pregnant and tired of piecing together tiktoks and Google rabbit holes. Come learn the real stuff with me inside of Bump Tob bundle blueprint. It walks you through birth, breastfeeding and postpartum step by step in a judgment free way and in a way that's actually doable. Plus there's some juicy bonuses included as well. All right. The link is in the description, so grab your spot today and drop a comment telling me what's the weirdest part of 34 weeks for you. I wanna hear all of it. Let's prep together. I'll see you in the next episode.