Can’t wait to meet you!
Here’s what happens during your third trimester of pregnancy.
You’re on the home stretch! It’s your third trimester, the final stage of your pregnancy, marked from week 29 to 40 (or even week 42 or 43, if you go over!)
Anything uncomfortable that started getting niggly in the second trimester will continue, and probably get worse. You can expect a bunch of others to join the party, too! The good news is that it’s now possible for your baby to survive outside of the womb with some medical help, and every day that passes it’s getting stronger – something you’ll sure feel as it begins walloping you.
This growing little person is now taking up more space, which pushes your internal organs up into your ribs, presses on your bladder and makes digestion difficult. You may get breathless and need to pee a whole lot more often. This is totally normal and will go away almost the second the baby is born. As your due date approaches, your body also begins getting ready for birth. The baby will start sitting lower in your belly, and your cervix will begin to thin and soften, which can feel like period cramps. You may also begin to feel Braxton Hicks, which are like tiny contractions and make your whole belly go rock hard.
What happens to your body?
This is the month of big physical changes on the outside for you-you'll look really, obviously pregnant, and begin to feel heavy and slow. Sleeping may also get harder – the weight of your belly means sleeping on your back is uncomfortable (and even dangerous), while side sleeping may feel more comfortable with a pillow between your knees and another under your belly.
Here are some other things you may experience
• Swollen feet, ankles, face or fingers. If you puff up suddenly or gain weight quickly, call your doctor – it could be a sign of pre-eclampsia, which is serious.
• Constipation
• Hemorrhoids
• Tender breasts, which may begin making colostrum (pre-milk)
• A popped-out belly button
• Shortness of breath
• Heartburn
• Difficulty sleeping
What’s going on in there?
At 29 weeks, your baby is pretty much fully formed but is still busy getting everything into working order. Weighing in at about 1kg, and 38.5cm long, your baby’s soft bones are getting harder, with more calcium deposits. The brain is also fired up with neurons, gaining folds as it gets more complex.
At 33 weeks, and kicking up a storm, your baby is 1.5kg and is losing living space by the day. Your baby is gaining about 200g a week, filling in that wrinkled skin
The eyes can now open and close, but the lungs are still not quite ready yet. Even so, your baby has begun practicing breathing, by inhaling amniotic fluid.
The fine covering of hair is now beginning to fall off, but many babies are born with much of it – and it falls off completely after birth.
Your 36-week baby is counting the days until you finally get to meet. In the meantime, it’s in there packing on the pounds. The vernix, that waxy coating, is thickening and your active wee one is almost certainly pummeling you from within – you may even be able to tell whether that bump in your belly is a foot or a hand.
At 40 weeks, your baby has organs that all work on their own and is technically ready to come out – although many babies stick around for two or three weeks longer. As your due date approaches, your baby will (hopefully) move its head down, facing backward. This is the ideal (but not the only) birth position.
While you’re pregnant it can feel like a never-ending journey, and then suddenly you meet that little person you’ve been carrying for close to ten months. The range of emotions you might feel at this point is enormous – the first days with your new baby can be exhilarating, exhausting, heartbreaking and utterly wonderful all at the same time. You might suddenly see your pregnancy as a strange dream that happened to someone else!
Getting ready for a baby? Click here to view our newborn essentials checklist.
