28 Weeks Pregnant

Fetal Development This Week

Fetal Brain Activity

Are you dreaming about your baby? At 28 weeks pregnant, your baby may be dreaming about you, too. Brain wave activity measured in a developing fetus shows different sleep cycles, including the rapid eye movement phase, the stage when dreaming occurs.

By now, your baby, who weighs in at about two and a half pounds and stands — or rather lies — at almost 16 inches (measured head to toe) has added blinking to his or her growing bag of tricks. (Outside in the real world, blinking is necessary to help keep foreign objects out of the eyes.) Other impressive new talents being added to your baby's roster in the womb include coughing, more intense sucking, and, perhaps most important, better breathing.

The good news is that babies born this week, though premature, have an excellent prognosis because their lungs have reached the point (for the most part) of maturity  — so you too can breathe a little easier now. Of course, it's still best if a baby doesn't check out of that uterine hotel just yet — there's still a lot of growing and maturing to do over the next 12 weeks.

LOL, terrible but true!

What is happening now?

You are now 28 weeks pregnant, which is the beginning of week 29.

Your baby's bones are now mature enough to start producing their own blood supply from their bone marrow, taking over this task from their liver and spleen. Their liver starts to store iron supplied from your body. This is Nature's way of meeting a newborns iron requirements for the first 6 months after birth, until they start eating solids.

This week marks the beginning of the 3rd trimester (the final 12 weeks of pregnancy). Your baby is regarded as being born on time if they arrive between 37 and 42 weeks - only about 5% of babies are born on their actual due date! During these final weeks your baby's main task is to mature their body systems, grow stronger and put on weight. Premature babies born at this stage of pregnancy have a good chance of survival. However, the closer they are born to 37 weeks, the more likely they will be well and healthy and not require advanced medical treatments.

Physical changes

During the last few months, many women start feeling heavy and tired, as their baby increasingly takes up more space in their belly. This contributes to many physical signs of late pregnancy, such as heartburn, varicose veins, fluid retention and backache. By the time your baby is due, you may be feeling fed up with being pregnant and just want your baby to arrive!

I'm definitely feeling a lot more heavy and tired, especially since it's now harder to get around!