31 Weeks Pregnant

Your baby weighs about 1.5kg and looks more than ever like a newborn. He measures about 41cm from crown to toe. His arms, legs and body continue to fill out – and they are finally proportional in size to his head.

You may notice your baby isn't moving around as much. That's because he's just running out of space in your uterus (womb). As long as you can feel him squirming and kicking, you'll know he's just fine. Believe it or not, he still has plenty of growing to do. You can expect him to gain at least 900g before birth.

Your baby's organs are continuing to mature and he is passing water from his bladder, which is good practice for the weeing he'll do after he's born. Also, the marrow in his bones has taken over from his liver the job of producing red blood cells.

- BabyCentre.co.uk

As far as growth goes, your baby's still on a roll, measuring an impressive 18 inches and weighing in at more than three pounds. At 31 weeks pregnant, you can still expect your baby to gain at least three to five pounds, possibly more, before you two meet.
 
Your baby's brain is working overtime these days, developing faster than ever. Connections between individual nerve cells are growing at a frenetic clip, and your baby can now perceive information from all five senses. Sure, your baby can't smell anything right now, but that's only because he or she is still submerged in amniotic fluid and needs to be breathing air to get a whiff of anything. Lucky for you — and your baby — yours will be one of the very first scents your baby breathes in, a scent that will quickly become his or her very favorite.
So what's your little dove doing all day while you're busy feathering your nest for his or her arrival? Making faces, hiccupping, swallowing, breathing, pedaling with little hands and feet along your uterine wall, and even sucking his or her thumb. In fact, some babies suck their thumbs so vigorously while in the womb that they're born with a callus on their thumb (what a little sucker!).

- WhatToExpect.com

Your baby is putting down more fat stores underneath his skin and gains as much as 17 ounces per week. The hair that covers your baby’s skin, called lanugo is shedding slowly this week and will probably be gone by the time your baby is born. Some premature babies are still covered in hair, but this will soon shed. You probably won’t feel your baby moving quite so much now because it is getting more and more cramped inside your uterus. This is one of the reasons why twins usually come early.

Your baby may turn into a headown position soon in preparation for the birth. Most babies turn at around 28 to 32 weeks but some don't turn until the day they are born! It is much harder for breech babies (head up) to be born vaginally or without medical intervention which is why it is better for your baby to be facing head down. See our article and video about how to encourage your baby into a good position for birth. Your baby measures about 18 inches this week and probably weighs somewhere near 3.5 pounds. Having said that all babies are different sizes so it is very hard to predict what size your baby will be. If you measure small for dates, you will have got used (and annoyed) to people mentioning how small you seem and vice versa for women with large bumps. The best remedy is to ignore everybody! What matters is that you and your baby are healthy and that you will meet each other very soon.

 - Gurgle.com

30 Weeks Pregnant

Your baby now measures a little more than 39cm from crown to toe. Her growth in terms of her length will soon slow down but she will continue to gain weight until she's born. She probably weighs about 1.3kg at this stage.

Your baby's lungs and digestive tract are almost fully developed. She continues to open and shut her eyes. She can probably see what's going on inside your uterus (womb), tell light from dark and even track a light source. If you shine a light on your stomach, your baby may move her head to follow the light or even reach out to touch the moving glow.

Some researchers think baring your stomach to light stimulates visual development. But your baby won't be able to see much when she's born. Newborns can see a distance of only between 20cm and 30cm. Children with normal vision don't reach 20/20 vision (the same as an adult) until the age of about eight. To complete the picture, your baby now has eyebrows and can bat her eyelashes!

About a litre of amniotic fluid now surrounds your baby, but that volume decreases as she gets bigger and has less room in your uterus. As you and your baby continue to grow, don't be alarmed if you feel breathless, as if you can't get enough air. It's just your uterus pressing against your diaphragm.

- BabyCentre.co.uk

 

Your baby's height and weight haven't changed much in the past week, but the big news is your baby's brain gain. Until now, the surface of your baby's brain was smooth. Now, your fetus's brain is taking on those characteristic grooves and indentations. The reason for this change in appearance? Those wrinkles allow for an increased amount of brain tissue  — a necessary change as your developing baby prepares for life outside your womb, and the street smarts he or she will need.
 
Another big change at 30 weeks pregnant: Your baby's bone marrow has taken over production of red blood cells (before, tissue groups and then the spleen took care of producing the blood cells). This is an important step for your baby, because it means he or she is better able to thrive on his or her own once born (with a little TLC from you, of course).
So it's in with the new (brain cells, red blood cells) and out with the old (lanugo). Much of the lanugo — the soft, downy hair covering your baby's body — is beginning to disappear now because both fat and the brain are regulating your baby's body temperature (so no need for that furry coat anymore).  But you may see a few leftover strands of fur on your newborn's back and shoulders.  

- WhatToExpect.com

29 Weeks Pregnant

Your baby now weighs a little over 1kg and measures about 39cm from head to toe. On his head, hair is growing well. If you're having a boy, his testicles will have descended from near the kidneys through the groin en route to the scrotum. If your baby is a girl, her clitoris is prominent, because it's not yet covered by the still-small labia. These will grow to cover it in the last few weeks before birth.

Your baby's head is getting bigger to make room for his developing brain. Nearly all babies react to sound and light by the end of this week.

Your baby's nutritional needs reach their peak during the third trimester. You'll need plenty of protein, vitamin C, folic acid, iron, and calcium (about 200mg is deposited in your baby's skeleton every day), so eat foods rich in these nutrients. His skeleton hardens even more and his brain, muscles, and lungs are maturing all the time.

 

- BabyCentre.co.uk

 

At 29 weeks pregnant, your baby is almost 17 inches tall now (nearly as tall as he or she will be at birth), and close to three pounds (a weight that will likely more than double — and may even come close to tripling —  by delivery time). His or her wrinkled skin is smoothing out as more fat is deposited under the skin surface. This fat, called white fat, is different from the earlier brown fat that your developing fetus accumulated. Brown fat is necessary for body temperature regulation while white fat (the fat you have, Mom) actually serves as an energy source.
 
Which explains why your energizer baby feels so…well…energized!  Space in your baby's living quarters is now at a premium, so you'll be feeling jabs and pokes from elbows and knees mostly. But those kicks will be more vigorous than before (and also less erratic) because your baby is stronger and excitedly responding to all sorts of stimuli — movement, sounds, light, and that candy bar you ate half an hour ago.

 
Luckily, your baby doesn't have teeth yet that would need a brushing after that sugary treat, but it won't be long before you'll need to buy that first baby toothbrush! You'll recall that your baby's baby-teeth buds formed weeks ago, but now the buds for permanent teeth are forming in his or her gums as well.
 
And back to those kicks, who's counting?  Actually, you should be.  Now's a good time to start doing a kick count twice a day to make sure baby's doing just fine (plus, it's a good excuse for a rest). Lie down (preferably after a snack) and keep track of your baby's movements. You're looking for at least ten movements in an hour's time (don't forget to count movements of any kind — kicks, flutters, swishes, rolls, and so on). 

- WhatToExpect.com

It's a GIRL!

We found out on Friday that we are expecting a little girl! I hadn't originally wanted to find out if the baby was a boy or girl, but I cracked and didn't wan't her to spend 3 months in head to toe white! I also didn't want the sonographer to know when I didn't! I'm glad we found out - it's a lot nicer to say "she" than "it". It's made her seem more like a real little person to me. I'm still not 100% convinced but taking it as a probably girl! I wanted a boy and Neil wanted a girl so we are good either way. :) As soon as they said it was a girl I went all melty and was like, "Awww, ok - she can be a girl!"

We had the 3D scan done in Ipswich. It was amazing - you could see her opening and closing her mouth (maybe she's going to be chatty!), yawning and smiling! It certainly made it all seem a lot more real. She looked so much like a finished baby - complete with chubby cheeks - that I felt like I wanted to go pick her up right now! It was incredible that you could already see how she looks like me and Neil - she has my face shape and his cheeky smile!

27 Weeks Pregnant

Fetal development - 27 weeks pregnant
 

Your baby now weighs nearly 875g and will probably measures more than 36cm from head to toe. His eyes open and close, he sleeps and wakes at regular intervals and he may suck a finger or thumb.

Sweet dreams, little baby! Some experts believe that babies begin to dream by week 27. What do they dream about? No one knows for sure but your baby's brain is certainly active now. The characteristic grooves on his brain's surface is starting to appear and more brain tissue is developing.

You may be detecting rhythmic movements, which is simply your baby having an attack of the hiccups. They are common this week and throughout your pregnancy. A spell of hiccups usually passes in moments. The sensation for you may be strange, but rather comforting.

- BabyCentre.co.uk

Week 27
You developing baby
Congratulations, you have made it to the third trimester! From now on your baby will continue to put fat on and grow and your tummy will reach magnificent proportions! From now until 30 weeks your baby goes through a very active phase, somersaulting and kicking in his cramped environment. As he grows there is less room to move, but when he does you’ll feel it. Adding to this is a decrease in the amount of amniotic fluid surrounding him, and that helps you to feel every blow he aims at your bladder! Don't worry if you can't feel your baby all the time as baby's sleep in sleep cycles in the womb just as they will once they are born. Unfortunately this means your baby may sleep a lot during the day and be active at night.

- Gurgle.com

Week 27 of Pregnancy: Baby's Sense of Taste and Sound

Beginning at this stage of fetal development, your baby's length will be measured from top of head to toe — which makes your baby nearly a full 15 inches now. And at just over two pounds, he or she has doubled in weight from four weeks ago.

Most babies this age, yours included, still like to snuggle in a slightly curled position inside the uterus (thus the term "fetal position"). Even so, beginning at this stage, your baby's length will be measured from top of head to toe — which makes your baby nearly a full 15 inches now. And at just over two pounds, he or she has doubled in weight from four weeks ago.
 
Your baby's auditory development (hearing) is progressing as the network of nerves to the ears matures. And even though the sounds your baby hears are muffled (thanks to the creamy coating of vernix covering those ears), he or she may recognize both yours and your partner's voices.  So this might be a good time to read and even sing to your baby (or rather, your belly) — and a good chance to start boning up on those nursery rhymes and lullabies you'll need to be repeating (and repeating) pretty soon. And while you're at it, here's another way to have some family fun at 27 weeks pregnant: If your partner presses his ear to your belly, he might be able to hear the baby's heartbeat.

 
Your baby's taste buds are very developed now too (with more taste buds than he or she will ever have outside the womb, actually). Need a taste test? If you eat some spicy food (you hot mama, you), your baby will be able to taste the difference in the amniotic fluid (but keep in mind that you'll have different mealtimes, with your baby's coming about two hours after yours). Some babies will even respond to that spicy kick by hiccupping. And although hiccups (which feel like belly spasms to you) may seem like they're disturbing to your baby, he or she isn't stressed at all. It's just one more sensation that babies need to get used to. 

- WhatToExpect.com