When should I listen to Week 40?

This practice is designed for on or near the due date, though you can return any time during pregnancy.

Is this meditation safe during pregnancy?

Yes. This is gentle guided practice with no breath-holding or physical exertion. Listen in any comfortable position. If a practice increases distress rather than easing it, stop and speak with your midwife, GP, or a mental health professional.

Do I need the app to listen?

No. Press play on this page for the full guided audio and transcript. The My Maternal Mind app adds offline caching, ambient sound mixing, and a daily meditation written for your current week.

The Due Date

Week 40

0:00−6:09

Background sound

Duration:: 6 min
Stage:: Pregnancy · Week 40
Best for:: On or near the due date

How to practise

In the third trimester, meeting the due date however it lands; deflating its symbolic weight can show up quietly or all at once. This guided meditation makes room for the feeling without turning it into a lesson you are meant to pass.

So much hope and pressure gets attached to a single circled date, and then it often passes with nothing at all. This practice gently deflates the due date's symbolic power: it was always an estimate, not a deadline, and the day arriving or passing says nothing about you. However this date lands, you are okay.

Find a position that supports you (seated or lying down). Press play and let the guidance move at its own pace. There is no correct way to feel, and nothing to visualize on demand.

This episode is written for week 40. It fits best on or near the due date, though you can return whenever the week feels heavy or unfamiliar.

Each week in the series stands alone. Listeners often join at their current week and circle back later; the arc rewards continuity, but nothing here assumes you have been listening since week one.

Full transcript

Welcome to Week Forty.

There is a date you have probably had in mind for a long time now. The due date. It can carry an enormous amount of weight, as if it were a deadline, or a finish line, or a verdict.

But it was only ever an estimate. A best guess at a single day, in a process that does not run on a calendar. So today we gently take some of the weight off that date, however it happens to land for you. Let's begin.

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Let's begin by letting your body settle.

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Find a position that supports you. Let the surface beneath you take your weight.

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Let your eyes close, or rest them softly open.

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Take one slow breath in.

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And let it go.

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Let's steady the breath together. In… one… … two… … three… … four…

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And out, longer. Out… one… … two… … three… … four… … five… … six…

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Again, in your own time.

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Let the counting go.

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Picture the due date as a single day, marked on a long calendar. For months it has loomed there, large and important. But step back, and see it for what it actually is: one estimated day, surrounded by many other perfectly normal days on either side. Very few babies arrive exactly on it.

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If the date has passed, or is about to, with no sign of anything, that is not a failure. Not yours, not your baby's. The estimate was always just an estimate. Nothing has gone wrong simply because a calculated day came and went.

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So let's loosen the grip this date has had on you. It is not a deadline you have missed. It is not a test you have failed. It is one marker on a journey that unfolds in its own time, and you are exactly where you are, which is exactly where you are meant to be.

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However this day lands, with labour or with nothing, with excitement or with deflation, you are okay. The date does not get to decide how this goes. It never did.

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Now, three quiet truths. Let each one land in the body.

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The first. The date is an estimate, not a deadline.

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Notice where you feel that, if anywhere.

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The second. However this day lands, I am okay.

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Let it settle.

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And the last. I have not done anything wrong.

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You do not have to be certain. Just let these be true.

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Stay a little longer, breathing, with the date back down to its proper size.

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And when you are ready, begin to come back. Feel your weight. Feel your hands.

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Let your breath rejoin your day.

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Open your eyes slowly, if they were closed.

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And carry this ease gently with you.

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That is the end of this week's practice.

If your due date comes and goes, your care does not stop, it continues, and your midwife will talk you through what happens from here. There is nothing to figure out alone. You are being looked after, whatever the date does.

We will meet again next week.

FAQ

When should I listen to Week 40?: This practice is designed for on or near the due date, though you can return any time during pregnancy.
Is this meditation safe during pregnancy?: Yes. This is gentle guided practice with no breath-holding or physical exertion. Listen in any comfortable position. If a practice increases distress rather than easing it, stop and speak with your midwife, GP, or a mental health professional.
Do I need the app to listen?: No. Press play on this page for the full guided audio and transcript. The My Maternal Mind app adds offline caching, ambient sound mixing, and a daily meditation written for your current week.

Related practice

Practise with the full toolkit in the app

This episode is one of fifty-one in the Pregnancy Weeks series, with ambient sound mixing, streak tracking, and a daily meditation written for your current week.

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My Maternal Mind supports your wellbeing during pregnancy and birth preparation. It does not replace medical advice, midwifery care, or mental health treatment. Discuss your birth plan and any concerns with your care team.

Last reviewed: 2026-06-30