We are 28 weeks this week and are officially entering our third trimester, which means we are 2/3 of the way through our pregnancy and litterally entering into the final stretch! Exciting! The baby has its own regular cycle of quiet and active sleep, and may open and close its eyes as well as sucks its thumb. It now measures around 34 cm (15 inches?) and weighs about 2.6 pounds on average. Its body is thin and its skin is covered with fine hairlike lanugo as well as a protective layer of the creamy, waxy substance known as vernix caseosa. The placental blood flow is increasing dramatically to accommodate maximal fetal growth over the next eight weeks. This usually tapers off toward the end of the pregnancy.
Our baby is now the size of a football,... or a chinese cabbage shown above.
Some good things about the third trimester? If the baby were to be delivered now it is more likely to survive than not, although there is still a chance of a disability because of the degree of prematuriy. This is largely due to breathing disabilities, so once you hit 32 weeks the chance of survival is even better, and gets better and better with each coming week of development. The placenta is now almost fully developed, and we are about to embark on the maximum fetal growth phases where the baby not only lengthens but also fills out significantly by developing subcutaneous fat.
It's an exciting time! We will be getting the routine blood tests done next week for the short glucose screening test to screen for gestational diabetes (which develops at this time in the pregnancy if you have it). Then we'll most likely have another ultrasound perhaps in May to make certain that the placenta is continuing to move upwards and not down again. Other than that, we're just hoping to continue to stay healthy and have a happy rest of the pregnancy.
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