28 Weeks Pregnant

28 weeks pregnant is how many months? Is the 7th month of pregnancy or the 3rd trimester

What to Expect at 28 Weeks Pregnant

On the 28th week of pregnancy the eyes of the baby finally open up. They are blue. However, the colour of the pupils doesn’t always stay blue. Before the labor, they may change their colour to green, brown or any other colour. Besides, on this stage of pregnancy, the hair on the head and eyelashes start growing faster. They baby also trues changing his position. This may cause some discomfort for the mother. The weight of the baby increases because fat is accumulating. Despite this fact, the baby gains weight slower than before. On this stage, the weight of the baby is approximately 1 kg 100 g.

Even though a woman doesn’t feel any big changes happening in her body, it is still necessary to visit a doctor and undergo an examination. This is better to be done not less than 1 time per 10 days. This is the period when a future mother needs to make a lot of tests. Apart from the regularly tests she has been making since the very first days of pregnancy, the organism and blood should be tested for the presence of antibodies, the amount of iron in the blood and the susceptibility to glucose. It is necessary to gradually make the bone tissue of the baby stronger.

In order to do it a woman should start taking vitamins or pills that include calcium or any other kinds of such like “drugs”. It’d also be useful to consult a doctor and ask about anesthetic that will suit you and that can be used during the process of labor. There were cases, when certain anesthetics didn’t make the pain go away. As a result, the doctors had to take extreme measures.

What’s Going On With the Baby

If the course of pregnancy goes smoothly, the baby will continue growing, fetal developing and becoming better on the 7th month. The weight of the baby is somewhere between 900 g. to 1.1 kg.

As far as the height of the baby goes, it is somewhere between 38-39 cm. The bone tissue rapidly becomes stronger. Even through the brain has already been developing for a long time, this is the period when crinkles and furrows of the brain become more shaped. Thanks to the fact that there are bronchic cells developed in the lungs, the baby is now able to breathe on himself/herself.

The fetus also continues to gradually gain weight. Since there is a cellular tissue developing under the skin, the skin gradually becomes smoothed out. As the fetus grows bigger and bigger there’s less and less space left for it to move. Gradually, it fills up the whole space of the uterus. Even though there’s little space left, the fetus continues to move actively. As the time goes, the fetus gets used to a certain regime according to which it sleeps and wakes up. This regime is like the regime of an ordinary human that has already been born and now lives his life. Almost every pregnant woman is able to say when her baby is up and when he or she sleeps. This fact is very evident and it can be felt.

Diarrhea at 28 Weeks Pregnant

If diarrhea worries a woman at 28 weeks of pregnancy, and she had no serious grounds to call an ambulance, or you do not have access to a doctor, she should comply with certain rules by which you can save the pregnancy and not harm her health condition.

• Be sure to drink plenty of fluids containing sugar and salt. The best drinks in this period are still mineral water, "sports drinks" or chicken broth. In order to determine whether there are enough fluids for the body, you should monitor the color of urine. A light yellow color and transparent texture is a norm.
• Also you need to stick to a diet, which involves eating small portions. You can have noodles, rice, crackers and bananas. Salty foods in this case are a good supplement to the diet. Spicy or fatty foods, dried fruits and milk should not be consumed in any case. But the starch food, baked or boiled carrots, lean meat and yogurt are recommended.
• You must take medicine that has no contraindications in pregnancy and which addresses the causes of illness. You should not self-medicate especially at elevated temperature or presence of bleeding.

Diarrhea in pregnancy happens to almost everyone, but despite this, most expectant mothers do not know what to do in this situation. The main thing is not to panic, but calmly investigate the causes of the disease, and if there is no fever, vomiting and nausea, the treatment can be at home. But to visit the obstetrician-gynecologist, who takes care of pregnancy, is recommended.

The Size of the Belly

On this stage, the body of a woman looks even more round. This happens due to the fact that the belly on the 7th month becomes even bigger than it was before. As the belly becomes bigger, the skin goes on stretching. This process is usually accompanied by itching. As a result, red strips and later on stretches will appear on the skin. These stretches will stay with you for the rest of your life.

In order to reduce and avoid long stretches a woman needs to regularly use special means for these things. Today there are lots of various things that help preventing stretches. These can be different creams, ointments and gels or natural oils.

You may use any oil you find. This may either be an easy to buy olive oil or an almond oil that’s much more expensive and not so easy to get. You need to regularly rub all these means in the skin on legs, belly and hips. They will nurture your skin. As a result, it won’t dry and be more elastic when stretching.

28 Weeks Pregnant Belly Pictures

Images: big bellies at 28 weeks 5 days pregnant.

The 28th Weeks of Pregnancy in Months

Obstetricians count 28 day for 1 month. If we “decode” 28 weeks in accordance with this rule, it will be equal to the 7th month of pregnancy. The belly has become so big that it’s getting harder to identify the stage of the pregnancy. It is already the 3rd trimester of pregnancy. This means that you’ll soon meet your baby. The baby is getting ready for being born and his or her mother will soon see him or her.

Baby Breech Position at 28 Weeks Pregnant

Breech position is the position of the child in the womb with the buttocks or feet down. It is considered to be a specific deviation from the normal course of pregnancy and childbirth.

Most often it can be attributed to the following causes:

• Repeated childbirth;
• Hydramnios;
• Abnormalities of the uterus;
• Malformations of the fetus;
• Low position of the placenta.

Breech position, identifiable up to 28 weeks of pregnancy, should not cause concern, it is enough to follow. With 28 weeks the tactics is aimed at correcting breech presentation to the head. There are conservative methods. To this end, the corrective gymnastics is assigned, which is 75-85 % effective.

However, it must not be practiced with fetal anomalies, threat of termination of pregnancy, the rumen on the uterus, infertility and miscarriage, gestosis, placenta previa, olygo-or polyhydramnios, uterine development anomalies, narrow pelvis, severe extragenital diseases. Apart from gymnastics unconventional methods are also used: acupuncture/acupressure, aromatherapy, homeopathy, as well as the power of suggestion, light and sound effects on the fetus from the outside, swimming.

If the breech position persists, at 35-37 weeks you can run an external preventive rotation of the fetus head, whose effectiveness varies from 35 up to 87 %. The external routine rotation must perform a qualified doctor in a hospital, where in case of need a c-section could be performed and the necessary assistance to the neonate be given. After the rotation, you must consolidate the achieved result. For this purpose a bandage and a certain exercise is used that promotes the child's head fixation in the desired position. However, if a baby, despite all the efforts made has not rolled over, do not despair: even in this case there is the possibility of spontaneous delivery.

Ultrasonic Investigation

During the whole course of pregnancy there are only 3 compulsory ultrasonic investigations carried out. In some cases, an exception can be made. These are the cases when such like investigations are carried out more often because of certain situations and a doctor’s recommendations. On the 28th week of pregnancy, 2 investigations have already been carried out and there’s one more ahead. As a rule, the third investigation is carried out on the 32nd week of pregnancy or on the stage of the 8th month.

Still, if you think that it’s necessary to have a look at your baby one more time, see how he or she is doing, where he or she is located, are there any pathologies present, you may undergo ultrasonic investigation any time you wish. However, not all women are able to understand the visual information on the monitor. Here, a doctor can help you. The doctor that is carrying out an investigation will tell you everything he sees on the monitor. He or she may also speak to you and answer all your questions.

28 Weeks Ultrasound Pictures

28 Weeks Pregnant Ultrasound Gender

28 Weeks Ultrasound Boy:

28 Weeks Ultrasound Girl:

28 Weeks Ultrasound Twins

Necessary Tests

On this stage, apart from the basic tests you have been making from the very beginning of the pregnancy, you need to make additional tests. These are, for example, tests to detect antibodies in blood and get information about the level of sugar in blood. These tests are preventive measures. There were cases, when in the blood of a mother that hasn’t yet given birth to her baby a negative rhesus factor was determined.

This test will give the doctors an opportunity to learn about the rhesus conflict that, in the end, may make not only the course of pregnancy, but also the process of labor more complicated. If the case of rhesus conflict is confirmed, a special drug is injected in the organism of the woman. This drug will prevent the possible occurrence of all negative consequences.

On the 28th week of pregnancy, is necessary to control the level of iron, the so-called hemoglobin, and sugar in the organism of a future mother. This will prevent the development of anemia and diabetes caused by the state of pregnancy. In order to do it you need to take samples of your blood and urine with you when you go to visit your gynecologist. Also, a pregnant woman will have to visit her gynecologist more often than she did it before. Previously a pregnant woman visited her gynecologist once a month. Now she needs to visit her gynecologist two times more often – twice a month.

The Uterus at 28 Weeks

It’s not only the belly that becomes bigger on the 28th week of pregnancy. The size of a pregnant woman’s uterus becomes bigger as well. The uterus is no longer located at the place where it was in the beginning of the pregnancy. It is now located 8 cm higher than the navel and 28 cm higher than the pubic symphysis. However, this is not the final size of the uterus. It will be getting bigger till the end of the pregnancy. As the fetus grows, the uterus will go as well. This will continue right up to the very moment the process of labor starts.

If a woman on the 7th month of pregnancy starts feeling her uterus contracting, she shouldn’t be worried. These are training contractions. In other words, these are periodic uterus contractions. This is the uterus getting ready for the labor and learning to contract. Such like contractions, as a rule, don’t last long and are painless. However, if such like contractions last for a very long time and are accompanied by discharges, it’s necessary to urgently call an ambulance and get help in order to avoid any possible complications.

Premature Birth

On this stage of pregnancy, such cases when a baby decides to come into the world earlier than he or she should occur. This is not dangerous since on this stage the baby is developed enough to survive and continue living outside the body of the mother. In cases of premature birth on this stage, the cases of death are rare. Most premature birth cases go smoothly and the baby has a high chance of surviving.

Thanks to the modern technologies, babies that are born prematurely have a chance to survive because their vital functioning can be supported with the help of certain devices for the necessary period.

Even though premature birth can go smoothly and it will not harm the baby, it is much more harmful for the mother. Such like cases are called term labor. Since the organism of the mother is not yet fully ready for the labor, there is a possibility of complications. The list of complications includes cervical ruptures of different sizes, premature rupture of membrane, maternal passages being not ready. Also, there are bleeding that may occur not only during the labor, but also after the process as well.

In case when premature birth starts on this stage goes for a very long time, obstetricians can stop the process. The obstetricians can stop the process irrespective of the fact whether the woman gives a birth to a baby for the first, the second or the third time.

The Sensations Experienced by a Future Mother

On this stage, a mother of the baby can keep his or her condition under control by herself. As the baby grows, the movements occur more often and they are more perceptible. This occurs especially during the time when the baby is up. A future mother can feel the presence of a new life inside her better.

Many doctors recommend keeping the time when the baby is up under control and even write the time and the number of these periods down in a notebook. The baby makes movements approximately each 6 minutes. As a rule, a baby inside the mother’s uterus starts moving in the evenings, when the body of the mother is more relaxed. The main reason for that is the fact that during the day a future mother goes somewhere, does something.

Her movements calm down the baby and he or she falls asleep. Besides, a baby reacts actively when the level of glucose in the organism of the mother goes up. The increase of the glucose level is caused by mother that is eating at this time. When a woman is aroused or experiences stress, the baby also starts to move more actively. The reason for this is an increased level of adrenaline in blood.

The frequency of a baby’s movements depends on his or her temperament that is already developed. As it is said in lots of publications on medicine, if your child moves not so often, you should pay attention to the way you and your husband are. Maybe, your baby is just like you.

Pains Cramping and Cramps at 28 Weeks Pregnancy

This stage of pregnancy is accompanied by more painful sensations than the previous ones. As we have already said, this is the period when not only your baby, but also your uterus becomes significantly bigger. You start feeling pains in the area of back and the small of the back. This happens because supporting joint and bunches become softer and your center of gravity is now shifted because of a bigger belly.

Such like pains occur as a result of the uterus that presses on the sciatic nerve. This may, consequently, result not only in the pains in the back, but also pains in knees and huckle-bones. As a rule, these nagging and spontaneous pains are not strong or sharp. They are like the pain you get if you have radiculitis. If such like pains do not get weaker with time and are very much like strong contractions, you need to necessarily call your doctor. This may be the case of premature birth.

Also, it is necessary to pay attention to the pains in the lower area of the belly. Especially, if they are accompanied by vomiting, nausea or epigastric burn. These symptoms usually occur after you’ve eaten something. In this case, it is necessary to go to the doctor.

The problem that future mothers face most frequently is swelling. Some women don’t pay much attention to it, others do pay attention. They always pay attention to the way they look in the mirror and notice that they can’t get their feet in one more pair of shoes. There is nothing to be afraid of if the swelling is not that severe. This is a usual way of things.

However, if the swelling is very severe, you need to consult your doctor and cut down on the amount of water you drink per day so that there are no negative consequences. Also, there will be a need to keep your weight under a constant control.

It is advisable to give up eating products that cause thirst. For example, salt, fried or smoked foods. A control of urination frequency is also quite necessary. There should be more water getting out of your system than you drink.

28 Weeks Pregnant: Watch Your Baby's Movement at 28 Weeks Pregnancy

How Much Should a Pregnant Woman Weight?

On the 7th month of pregnancy the speed of gaining weight increases sharply. In this period a woman should gain up to 50 g per day or up to 300 g per week. During the course of pregnancy it is necessary to strictly control what a woman eats since now she feeds not only herself, but her baby as well. There is a need to control weight. You need to regularly weigh yourself. During the course of pregnancy a woman should gain from 8 to 10,5 kg.

Nutrition a Future Mother’s

During the course of pregnancy a woman shouldn’t forget that she feeds not only herself, but also the baby that is growing inside her. Doctors often recommend sticking to a special diet. In this diet all the needs of a mother and her baby are taken into account. Every element of such like a diet is thoroughly thought out and one of its aims is to make the pregnancy and the process of labor easier.

According to this diet, it is necessary to graze on foods. You may eat 5-6 times per day. Overall, per day, a pregnant woman should consume food that has no more than 3000 calories. A priority should be given to the foods that will provide the organism with useful vitamins and microelements.

The major part of these calories should get into the organism of a pregnant woman during the first half of the day. It is recommended to not eat after 7 o’clock. An exception can be made if you’re having a light snack. For example, fruits – apples, nectarine or a light vegetable salad dressed with a vegetable oil. Alternatively, a woman may drink a glass of kefir.

You shouldn’t forget that there’s a need to cut down on the amount of salt you eat. Salt prevents water from getting out of your system and, consequently, there’s swelling.

Besides, there’s a need to cut down on foods that contain simple carbohydrates. They contribute to gaining weight and produce glucose in the organism of a woman. High production of glucose may lead to diabetes. All this, in the end, may make the pregnancy and the process of labor more complicated. Such like carbohydrates are contained in chocolate, potato, starchy foods and pastry.

You need to switch over to complex carbohydrates. For example, porridges, black bread, corn. There is a necessity to start eating more fruits and vegetables. They make the process of digestion go faster, help you saturate faster and contain cellular tissue and many other vitamins that are useful for a mother and her fetus.

Discharges

The discharges on the 7th month are the same you had during the whole course of pregnancy. They are homogeneous, have a light-milky colour and a sour smell. If the discharges start changing, for example, becoming greenish or greyish, if there are cheesy like things and you start feeling an unpleasant itching, this means that you have an infection. You need to urgently go to the doctor in order to find out the cause of the infection and get to treating it.

If you have discharges that look like blood, you need to urgently call an ambulance. Such like discharges may be of a different colour, from bright red to deep wine-like colour. They also may have different consistency. In the majority of cases, such like discharges are also accompanied by pains in the lower area of the belly. These discharges may speak about the premature birth.

If you have too watery and either too abundant or not so discharges, this is a very bad symptom. Here, you also urgently need a professional help. Such like discharges may turn out to be labor waters. The fact that they are getting out of your system means that the integrity of the bag of waters is broken.

Sex at 28 Weeks Pregnancy

Many doctors mention that having sex on the 28th week of pregnancy is quite welcome. They say that this is exactly the time for having sex. There is no way you can harm the baby. For a mother it will be a source of additional positive emotions. The main thing here is not to press on the belly.

Is it Safe to Fly at 28 Weeks Pregnant?

The most favorable time to fly is the second trimester, from 14 to 28 week of pregnancy. In the first trimester there is a risk of miscarriage, the major organs of the baby are not yet formed, and the passenger is likely to be tormented by the unpleasant symptoms of toxicosis. In the third trimester there is a high risk of premature birth, moreover, due to the size of the belly the pregnant may just be uncomfortable in the narrow seat of the aircraft.

But the main direction to decide about an airline flight should still be the opinion of your gynecologist, because he knows about all the complications of your pregnancy and is aware of possible problems. During a visit to your doctor you should take a certificate, specifying the duration of pregnancy, approximate date of delivery, as well as concise message "such and such has no contraindication to fly". Before this the gynecologist may ask to undergo an additional analysis or go for an ultrasound to finally dispel all the anxieties.

Traumas

• traumas may occur because a woman is now a bit clumsy and coordination of movements is not the same. The reason for that is excessive water in the organism and weight;
• due to a lack of iron in the organism there’s a possibility of anemia;
• the swelling of legs and feet’s reminds of itself here again.

Recommendations for Women

1. On the 28th week of pregnancy it’s necessary to count the movements of a baby. A baby should move approximately 10 times within an hour. You need to go to a doctor if the number is much lower.
2. If your relatives and friends notice that you are too pale or you feel weakness and you constantly feel dizzy, make a blood test so that to find out the level of iron in blood.
3. Eat more dried fruits, nuts, honey, cranberry or any other products that contain iron.
4. Visit course for future mothers. There you’ll get ready both physically and morally to the process of labor. Then, in case the process begins, you won’t panic.

Video Guide: 28 weeks pregnancy

Multiple Pregnancy at 28 Weeks

When the 28th week comes, a woman may start calming down and not worry about premature birth. Even if this happens, there’s no big danger for the babies. On this stage they are already quite able to survive and the weight of each baby is approximately 1 kg. The only thing is that you won’t be able to take them home the next day after they are born.

This is the time when a woman should have more rest. It’d be good to take a maternity leave. In case of multiple, pregnancy you can take it 84 days before the day of labor. After the labor, you can take a leave for 110 days. You’d better count a total number of days by summarizing these ones. In case you give birth to your babies earlier than you’re expected to, the extra days can be added to the leave you have after the babies are born.

On the 28th week, a woman starts thinking about the process of labor more often. The fact that you’ll give birth to 2 babies makes this process even more scary. In case of multiple pregnancy a woman is very often suggested a procedure of cesarean section. Anyway, you should be in a good mood because the success of the labor process depends on your mood.