Week 30 of Pregnancy

By 30 weeks your baby has the ability to produce tears. Your baby can also recognise your voice. Research has shown that the baby's heart rate slows down when the mother speaks, suggesting that your baby not only hears and recognises your voice, but is also calmed by your voice.

Your baby

Your baby weighs approximately 3 pounds and measures around 17 inches from head to toe. The growth rate in length will slow down but he/she will continue to gain weight.

Your baby can probably see what's going on in utero as he continues to open and shut his eyes. He can, distinguish light from dark and even track a light source.

You now have about a litre of amniotic fluid surrounding your baby but that volume decreases as he/she gets bigger and has less room in your uterus.

As the baby continues to grow, you may fee breathless, this is just your uterus pressing against the diaphragm. At about 34 weeks (or just before birth) your baby's head will move down into your pelvis as the baby gets into the right position for birth. That will make breathing and eating a lot easier.

Your baby's bone marrow takes over production of red blood cells meaning she'll be better able to cope on her own when she's born.
Your baby can also recognise your voice. Research has shown that the baby's heart rate slows down when the mother speaks, suggesting that your baby not only hears and recognises your voice, but is also calmed by your voice.


Mother

You have probably gained quite a bit on the scales this month usually about 1.4-1.8 kg (3-4 lb). To gain about 450g (1 pound) a week is quite normal during the last three months of pregnancy.

Getting a good night's sleep can become more difficult again in the third trimester. As you grow in size, getting and staying comfortable is harder and you may find pressure on your bladder causing you to make several trips to the loo in the night. Vivid dreams can also affect the quality of your sleep leaving you feeling disturbed or inspired. These are quite normal in the last trimester of pregnancy.

Health

Varicose veins can develop or are aggravated during pregnancy. This is due to the growing uterus putting pressure on the pelvic veins and on the inferior vena cava (a large vein on the right side of the body). This increases blood pressure in the leg veins, and causes the development of varicose veins. As the baby grows and the uterus enlarges, the veins become even more prominent. During pregnancy you are more prone to varicose veins in your legs. Please read our article on varicose veins for more information.

My Experience at 30 weeks

At around 30 weeks with my first pregnancy I had terrible indigestion / heartburn and there never seemed to be a relief. The midwife referred me to the hospital to see the specialist at the antenatal clinic. I was sent for a scan to check my gall bladder. The scan showed up no abnormalities and the specialist could only put the pains down to the fact that I was small and the baby was pushing against my ribs. I was also then monitored as a precaution for pre-eclampsia as this was also a symptom but thankfully I was fine.

31 Weeks
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