It'south the official start of the third trimester — congratulations!

Y'all may not ever feel like celebrating if yous're dealing with common week 28 symptoms like back pain and sciatica. Hopefully, though, yous're notwithstanding fairly comfy now that you're in month 7 of pregnancy.

Baby is getting more skilled by the day and tin now blink and even dream. And that's merely the get-go ...

Your Infant at Week 28

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It's week 28 and from hither on out there will start to exist small differences in the rate of growth depending on your whether your babe-to-be is a boy or daughter — a bouncing blue bruiser is likely to grow bigger and heavier than a princess playing on team pink. Genetics and other factors also weigh on how fast a baby grows and how big she will ultimately be on arrival.

So while on average, a 28-weeker is around 2 and a half pounds and about 16 inches tall, your fiddling i may currently be longer, shorter, heavier, or less tubby. Equally long she continues to become good reports at those prenatal checkups, you can residue bodacious your infant's on the right track and in the right range for growth.

Your minute phenomenon has added another fox to her repertoire…hiccupping. If you haven't yet, y'all'll not but exist able to feel hiccups on the within, as trivial rhythmic twitches — you'll be seeing them on the outside, too, making your abdomen shake like a bowl of jelly. These tiny spasms are thought to be caused by the sudden, irregular contraction of the immature diaphragm, which is still trying to gear up for life outside the womb by practicing the ins and outs of animate.

Some babies hiccup several times a mean solar day every day, others not and so much — only yous're bound to feel those adorable twitches every and then often — and an ultrasound might selection that trivial chest heaving from the hiccups, as well. Entertaining for yous, and happily, non uncomfortable for infant.

Some other activeness that can be picked upwardly: REM or rapid eye move. Those tiny flutters of babe'due south eyes suggests that she's is dreaming abroad, since REM is considered the "dream" phase of sleep — but there's no style of knowing what'due south on your little i's listen — or what, if anything, she might exist dreaming of. What we do know is that sleep cycles are coming at more regular times… significant that your sweet sleepyhead is developing a more regular design of sleeping and wakefulness.

Problem is, your on-the-become movements lull her to sleep during the mean solar day, keeping her awake and raring to go merely when you're settling downwardly for the nighttime. Still, there'due south nothing more satisfying than feeling your amazing phenomenon summersault and stretch inside of y'all. Plus, as they say, baby's keeping you up with those antics now is good grooming for after she's built-in…and when every nighttime'south a night to howl.

Want more satisfaction? Though the bun in your oven is far from being fully broiled, her chances of survival outside the womb are at least xc percentage at this indicate.

At a Glance

Your little dreamer

Your baby begins to feel REM (rapid eye motion) slumber, which means it's very likely your little one is dreaming!

Baby can blink

So far, your infant's eyes have been shut tight. At present, your little sweetie tin open and close those beautiful eyes, consummate with make new fluttering eyelashes.

Making faces

Fetuses often stick out their tongues at this age. No one is certain exactly why, but it's possible that your baby is tasting your amniotic fluid.

28 weeks significant is how many months?

If you lot're 28 weeks pregnant, y'all're in calendar month vii of your pregnancy. Only 2 months left to go! All the same take questions? Here's some more information on how weeks, months and trimesters are broken down in pregnancy.

How big is my baby at 28 weeks?

Your little piece of work-in-progress now weighs about 2¼ pounds and is most 15 inches long when measured caput to toe.

Babe'southward getting into position

Your babe is settling into the proper position for birth, which will exist caput-down toward your body's nearest exit!

Baby is busy these days blinking — outside in the real world, blinking is necessary to help go on foreign objects out of the eyes. That skill is just one of an already impressive repertoire of tricks she's working on, like coughing, more intense sucking, hiccupping and, perhaps most important, better breathing.

Baby might be dreaming

Dreaming about your infant at 28 weeks pregnant? Your baby may be dreaming virtually you too. Brain wave activity measured in a developing fetus shows different sleep cycles, including the rapid eye move phase — the phase when dreaming occurs.

Your Body at Calendar week 28

baby size at 28 weeks pregnant

Sciatica (tingling leg hurting)

This is information technology — at 28 weeks pregnant, you're 2-thirds of the manner to the finish line every bit you enter the third trimester. And what a divergence a trimester makes!

Gone, most probable, are the days when you could phone call pregnancy "comfy" — that is, if yous ever did. At present, your baby's kick (or lack of) is keeping you upward at nighttime and worried during the solar day, your anxiety may be swollen, you lot're getting tired all over again and your backache is a hurting that but won't quit.

And even though she hasn't started crying yet, it may seem like your babe's getting on your nerves already — literally. Every bit she gets settled into position for birth, your picayune one's head and your growing uterus may rest on the sciatic nerve in the lower role of your spine.

If that happens, you lot may feel sharp, shooting pain, tingling or numbness that starts in your buttocks and radiates downwards the back of your legs — otherwise known as sciatica. The hurting of sciatica can be quite intense at times, and though it may pass if your baby shifts positions, it can besides linger until you've delivered.

A heating pad, a warm tub, stretches or just some cocky-imposed bed balance can help with the discomfort. So can some complementary and culling therapies.

Feeling sensitive (pare)?

Sensitive peel can surface during pregnancy — fifty-fifty in someone who's never had sensitive skin earlier. Some parts of the body may react considering they're dry and flaky, others because of heat rash or an external irritant, similar the balm you've been using for the past 10 years, which is suddenly driving y'all crazy.

Typically the virtually sensitive spot is the abdomen, as it stretches. Other potential trouble spots include your hips and thighs.

Your raging hormones make y'all more sensitive to contact with substances that might not commonly impact yous, such every bit sunlight, heat, detergents, chlorine and fifty-fifty certain foods. And if you've got eczema, you tin can expect some major flare-ups — or if y'all're very lucky, a ix-month respite.

For itchy spots, a dab of calamine balm should do the trick. If any rash or irritation lasts longer than a couple of days, inquire your practitioner virtually adjacent steps. Avoid products that are laden with tons of additives, dyes or fragrance, whatever of which tin exacerbate the trouble.

Pregnancy Symptoms Week 28

Bloating and gas

Your growing uterus may be putting extra force per unit area on your rectum, causing you to lose some control over the muscles in your rear. Add together your sluggish digestive system to the equation — cheers to pregnancy hormones that relax intestinal muscles — and you may discover that you're specially gassy. Endeavour to consume six small meals a day instead of iii large ones so you lot don't overtax your digestive system. Read More

Faintness or dizziness

If you thought your days of feeling light-headed were over afterward your first trimester, retrieve again. For some women, that bulging belly puts pressure on blood vessels, which reduces blood flow to the brain and causes dizziness. Continue blood circulating and pumping to your brain by drinking plenty of water each 24-hour interval. Read More

Symphysis pubis dysfunction (SPD)

This weird pregnancy symptom develops when the hormone relaxin makes the ligaments in your pelvic articulation likewise relaxed and stretchy, causing the pelvic joint to become unstable. If this is causing you pain, ask your practitioner about wearing a pelvic back up belt, available online, which stabilizes the ligaments and helps keep the pelvic articulation in place. Read More

Stuffy olfactory organ

High levels of estrogen and progesterone increase claret menstruation to the mucous membranes in your olfactory organ, causing them to great. If your stuffy nose is making it difficult for you to exhale at nighttime — or making you snore — try wearing a nasal strip at bedtime to open your nostrils. Read More

Bleeding gums

Inflamed and irritated gums are quite common during pregnancy since ramped-up hormones may crusade gums to swell and leave your rima oris more vulnerable to bacteria and plaque. When you brush your teeth, remember to brush your natural language also as to minimize the amount of bacteria in your mouth. Read More than

Mask of pregnancy (melasma)

Pregnancy hormones can crusade hyperpigmentation of the skin — particularly if yous have a darker complexion to begin with. This tin can result in pronounced freckles or moles, a dark line downward the middle of your tummy (linea nigra) or night or brown patches on your face called melasma. Don't worry — most discolorations fade a few months later giving birth. Since sunlight can intensify hyperpigmentation, try to stay in the shade and put on sunscreen with an SPF of thirty or more. Read More than

Tips for You This Week

Accept the circumcision talk

Before yous got pregnant, yous may non have thought too much about whether or not to circumcise a babe male child if yous had ane. But if you lot've got a son on the way, it's a conclusion y'all'll have to make — and it may be a catchy ane if you don't take religious or cultural traditions guiding yous.

If you're having a male child, you may want to think nearly this now. Get your pediatrician'southward POV besides!

Detect out your Rh condition

Exercise you know if you're Rh positive or Rh negative? If not, it'southward important to find out.

The Rh cistron is a poly peptide plant in most people's red blood cells. If you have information technology, you lot're Rh positive; if y'all don't have it, you're Rh negative.

Unless you're pregnant, your status usually doesn't matter much, merely problems can occur if, for example, you're Rh negative and your babe is Rh positive.

In the case of Rh incompatibility, your immune system may view your babe'south blood cells as "strange" substances and mobilize an army of antibodies to attack them.

If you are Rh negative and your baby is Rh positive, you'll demand a vaccine-like injection of Rh-immune globulin, known equally RhoGAM, this week to forestall the evolution of antibodies.

Inquire virtually breast changes

Though finding a chest lump during pregnancy can exist scary, rest assured it's more than likely nothing to worry about. Having chest cancer during pregnancy is very rare, especially if you're under 35, according to the American Cancer Society (ACS) — plus the many changes that are happening to your breasts while you're expecting can cause them to feel much more lumpy, heavy and firm than you're used to.

Tender lumps are mutual during the third trimester, but still, they shouldn't exist ignored. Ask your provider for a breast examination at your next checkup.

Up your iron

Babies blot the bulk of their iron stores during the third trimester, and then nosh on iron-rich foods like chicken, beans, spinach, tofu, beef and enriched cereals.

Apart from Popeye, vitamin C is iron's best bud since it can meliorate iron absorption. So accept a glass of OJ with that iron supplement during pregnancy, a side of red pepper with those shrimp or some fresh strawberries in your oat bran cereal.

Skip fish-oil supplements

Heard that fish oil supplements are the easiest way to popular your DHA — especially if you're not a fatty-fish fan? While they may be a cinch to swallow, when yous're pregnant, they're not ever easy to keep downwardly.

If you don't want to exist burping up fish oil all day — because let's confront it, y'all're burping enough as it is — stick to a prenatal vitamin that already has DHA in it, or if that has the same effect, yous may want to try a vegetarian DHA flaxseed supplement, which commonly is easier on the aftertaste. Ask your doctor starting time before adding any supplement to your daily regimen.

Choosing a childbirth class

Now is a good time to research childbirth classes. You can choose a grade at the hospital or with a local instructor, only sign up early so y'all can cease several weeks before your due date. Ask whether your course includes lessons on babe care, CPR and breastfeeding (it should).

Accept special requirements? At that place are classes for 2d-timers who need to brush upward on their techniques, classes for moms who are attempting a vaginal nascence after cesarean (VBAC) and classes designed for those expecting multiples. Many places also at present offer virtual classes.

Whichever form you choose, make sure your instructor is certified by a national childbirth education organisation. And here's a bonus: Your insurance company may cover your tuition, and so be sure to submit your bill.

Schedule a hospital tour

The start of the third trimester (month 7) is a good time to schedule a tour of the infirmary or birthing center where y'all'll exist having your infant. If you've signed up for childbirth classes and they're at the aforementioned place where you'll welcome your new inflow, check whether a bout will be included (it usually is).

You can also enquire your practitioner about how and when to set one up. Information technology's a proficient fashion to get the lay of the land, and it helps to visualize where the magic will happen!

From the What to Await editorial squad and Heidi Murkoff, author ofWhat to Expect When You're Expecting. What to Expect follows strict reporting guidelines and uses merely credible sources, such as peer-reviewed studies, bookish research institutions and highly respected health organizations. Learn how we keep our content accurate and up-to-engagement by reading our medical review and editorial policy.

  • What to Expect When You're Expecting, fifth edition, Heidi Murkoff.
  • WhatToExpect.com, Finding a Breast Lump During Pregnancy, February 2021.
  • WhatToExpect.com, How to Relieve Breast Pain and Tenderness During Pregnancy, Apr 2021.
  • WhatToExpect.com, Rh Factor Testing and Pregnancy, March 2021.
  • WhatToExpect.com, RhoGAM Shot for Rh Negative Moms During Pregnancy, March 2021.
  • WhatToExpect.com, How Much Iron Do You Demand During Pregnancy?, May 2020.
  • WhatToExpect.com, Why Are Prenatal Vitamins And then Important?, April 2020.
  • WhatToExpect.com, Your Guide to Birthing Classes, June 2021.
  • WhatToExpect.com, Taking a Hospital (or Birthing Heart) Tour During Pregnancy, March 2021.
  • American University of Dermatology, Melasma: Overview, 2021.
  • American Academy of Pediatrics, Where We Stand: Circumcision, July 2014.
  • American Cancer Society, Finding Chest Cancer During Pregnancy, October 2019.
  • American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, How Your Fetus Grows in Pregnancy, August 2020.
  • American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, The Rh Factor, June 2020.
  • American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Vaginal Birth After Cesarean Delivery, April 2019.
  • National Institutes of Health, National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, Omega-3 Supplements: In Depth, May 2018.
  • National Institutes of Health, National Library of Medicine, PLOS 1, Eye Movement Activity in Normal Human Fetuses Between 24 and 39 Weeks of Gestation, July 2017.
  • National Institutes of Health, National Library of Medicine, Rh Incompatibility, June 2021.
  • National Institutes of Health, National Library of Medicine, Sciatica, April 2021.
  • National Institutes of Wellness, National Library of Medicine, Your Babe in the Nascency Canal, June 2021.
  • U.Due south. Department of Health and Homo Services, Function on Women'south Health, Stages of Pregnancy, April 2019.
  • U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office on Women's Health, Birthing, Breastfeeding, and Parenting Classes, January 2019.

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