Week 29 of Pregnancy

You are now fully into the third trimester. It is important that you are paying attention to your baby's movements each and every day from pregnancy week 29. In general you will notice patterns of rest and wakefulness in your baby.

Your baby

Your baby weighs approximately 2.5 pounds and measures around 16 inches from head to toe. Your baby is gaining around 25g in weight every day.

Your baby is increasingly sensitive to changes in light, sound, taste and smell. He/She may indicate preferences for particular tastes or odours. Whatever you are eating will flavour your amniotic fluid and it can smell strongly of curry, garlic, onion etc. Researchers have found your baby will drink it faster the sweeter it tastes.

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 . The baby's intake of calcium from you into it's skeleton is approximately 200 milligrams every day. The skeleton hardens even more and the brain, muscles, and lungs continue to mature.


Mother

Your breasts may increase by up to a third of their usual size over the next few weeks. You may be getting cramp in your calves at night . This is due to the extra weight that you are carrying about. If you do get cramp try to force your heel right down to stretch the muscle.

From week 29 until the end of pregnancy you will experience among other things rapid weight gain.
You are probably constantly enduring heartburn, as your tummy grows more and more each day.

It is important that you are paying attention to your baby's movements each and every day from pregnancy week 29. In general you will notice patterns of rest and wakefulness in your baby. If you notice any abnormal movement patterns or a substantial reduction in movement be sure to contact your doctor or midwife immediately.


Health

It may be a good idea to start doing some form of light activities to help your body to stretch and open up ready for the birth. You could try to find a pregnancy yoga class. This will help you to learn to breathe deeply and the instructor will show you stretches which may help you get into and maintain comfortable positions in labour.


My Experience at 29 weeks

At around 29 weeks with my first pregnancy I noticed my baby moving a lot. She was extremely active and we would lie in bed at night and watch my bump.
I am naturally slim so I did not gain much excess weight during my pregnancy so it was interesting to watch my baby move about as we could distinguish at times a hand or a foot prodding my side.
We would have great fun sitting at night watching her wriggle about.

With my second pregnancy my little boy was extremely quiet and did not move about a lot. I never saw his little hand or foot as he was not as active as our little girl.

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