YOUR BABY:
Your baby's skin is changing from transparent to opaque. Bones are becoming harder. It's hearing is fully developed. The lungs are still growing but not yet mature. The baby can now cry. By the end of the month, eyelashes are developing. If you are carrying a boy, his testes will probably begin descending. Brain waves show rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, which means your baby is dreaming, and it has patterns of waking and sleeping. Babies born at the 28th week have a good chance for survival. The baby is now about 15 inches long and weighs about 3 pounds.
You are now putting on weight at the rate of about 1 pound a week. Fetal movements will be stronger and more frequent. Pressure on your rib cage can cause pain, as well as heartburn and indigestion. Backache, leg cramps, swelling of the ankles and feet, lower abdominal achiness, hemorrhoids, varicose veins and constipation continue. You may also feel Braxton Hicks contractions in preparation for delivery. You may experience shortness of breath, as the baby grows upward. By the end of the month, your uterus will extend well above your navel. As the uterus expands, you may see stretch marks. It's getting more difficult to sleep. By the 27th week, you're in the home stretch. It's the third trimester!
Your weight and blood pressure will be recorded. Urine testing is also performed to check for the presence of sugar and protein. The height of the uterus and fetal growth will be measured to evaluate the overall growth of the baby. You can discuss any symptoms or discomforts you may be experiencing. Fetal heart monitoring is performed. A hemoglobin screening, to check of evidence of anemia in the mother, is performed somewhere around the 26th to the 28th week of pregnancy.
If you are planning a homebirth, you should be gathering your supplies for the birth. Your midwife, if she hasn't already visited you at your home, may want to schedule a home visit with you to check out your home layout and discuss any labor and birth options and ideas with you. You should have a birth plan ready to give to your midwife or health care provider and discuss your labor plans with them. If you are planning a water birth, you may want to make sure you have a Waterbirth tub reserved for you as you near your due date.
Fix the baby's room or decide where the baby will sleep. Many parents spend the first few months with the baby in a cradle or bassinet next to their bed. This makes parents feel more secure and allows easy access for night feedings and changings. Others have a nursery and use a monitor to allow the baby to wake them up for nighttime feedings. The choice is yours, and neither is wrong. It is time to start the childbirth classes.
MoonDragon's Pregnancy Information: Baby Name Tips
Continue to supplement your diet with the B-vitamin folic acid (it's found in most multivitamins) to reduce the risk of birth defects of the brain and spine. You may be having your prenatal visits with your midwife or health care provider every two weeks instead of monthly, depending on your midwife's practice preferences. Often a prenatal vitamin supplement may be recommended in addition to a good prenatal nutritional program with adequate protein, vitamins, minerals (including sodium) and calories. Nutrition is important to help your baby put on the weight it needs for survival outside the uterus. As the uterus grows, it may be more difficult to eat a full meal because of the upward pressure of the uterus against the stomach and intestines. Break your meals up into 6 to 8 smaller meals throughout the day instead of 3 larger ones. Not only will this help with your digestion issues, but it will help keep your blood sugar on a more even level to help fatigue.
Continue to get daily moderate exercise, such as walking, which is good for the muscles you will be using during labor, and swimming. As your uterus grows, your center of balance shifts, You may want to avoid high heeled shoes and instead wear shoes with small wider heels to help with balance and to prevent falls. Be careful how you move since your ligaments are being stretched in your abdomen. A wrong move can prove to be very painful if you pull your ligaments while trying to move or stretch. If you must bend or lift something, do it with your legs and not your back. Consider learning prenatal yoga to help you with stretching and moving your body and breathing control as well as meditation and relaxation.
Ask your midwife or health care provider before taking any prescription drugs or over-the-counter products. You should not be smoking and drinking alcohol or using street drugs.
Maintain and positive lifestyle and outlook. Keep stress down since it has a negative effect on your baby. Practice your relaxation and breathing techniques that you are learning or have learned in a childbirth class.
MoonDragon's Pregnancy Information: Pregnancy Calendar Index
Photos obtained from A Child Is Born by Lennart Nilsson
and Pregnancy - in anatomical illustrations by the Carnation Company
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