Pregnancy Week 27: Beginning Of Third Trimester

During this week, you will enter into the third trimester of your pregnancy. This is the time to plan for the labor and birth.

From this week onwards, changes will be radical. There are various changes that take place in you and your developing unborn baby.

What physical changes occur in your body during week 27?

During this week, your levels of fatigue will increase to a great extent. There are several factors that lead to this condition such as increased weight gain, shortness of breath and also sleep deprivation.

From this week onwards, you will experience frequent urination because of the compression of your bladder size with the increased size of your baby.

Urinate for every 10 minutes and don’t try to stop it. Stress incontinence is also very common during this period.

You will observe leakage of urine when you laugh, cough, exercise, change position, move to pick anything or chase after your children.

You will experience breast tenderness at this time because the production of milk is kicking in.

You will also experience more swelling during this period and may feel like you are living in a sweat factory because of increased basal body temperature.

With the increased size of your baby, you will encounter shortness of breath. This is because your increased uterus size presses on the diaphragm and it will be difficult to fill the lungs fully.

When you enter into the third trimester, you will experience mood swings, sudden food cravings and quasi labor pains.

Your circulatory system works more efficiently because of increased levels of pregnancy hormones.

Care you need to take during week 27:

• Sleep well, try to be active and eat well.
• Practice kegel exercises that help to strengthen your pelvic floor muscles and support the bladder in reducing urinary incontinence. Identify the muscle engaged and treat that muscle to stop a frequent urine stream.
• Improve your sleep posture to help you breathe better.
• Try to manage mood swings and food cravings by changing the environment in which you live. Take frequent walks, call your friends and chat with them or engage yourself in any other interesting activity that makes you feel better.

What changes occur in the fetus during week 27?

• By this week, your baby will be about 15 inches long and weighs more than two pounds.
• At the beginning of the third trimester, your little baby’s lungs are capable of breathing the air. Your baby’s pulmonary vascular system provides sufficient gas exchange and the regulation of rhythmic breathing by the central nervous system and also the basal body temperature make breathing easier.
• Your baby will begin to have regular and predictable patterns of movement and sleep.
• Your baby is able to open his/her eyes. The baby will see the light through your abdomen and retinas will begin to form.
• The lungs, immune system and liver still need to develop.
• Your baby will be sensitive to touch from the outside world.

Fact for pregnancy week 27:

Every pregnant woman should be routinely screened for group B streptococcus. This is the most common cause of meningitis and blood infection in a newborn baby. 10-35% of women can carry this bacterium within their vagina or in the lower intestine.

During labor and delivery, the chances of your baby being exposed to these bacteria are greater. To check for life-threatening infections in the blood or infections of the fluid and the lining surrounding the brain, it is very essential to go for routine screening.

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