How your baby's growing:
By this
week, your baby weighs 2 1/4 pounds (about the size
of a large eggplant) and measures 14.8 inches from the top of her
head to her heels.
She can
blink her eyes, which now sport lashes. With her eyesight developing, she may
be able to see the light that filters in through your womb. She's also
developing billions of neurons in her brain and adding more body fat in
preparation for life in the outside world.
See what your baby
looks like this week. (Or see what fraternal
twins look like in the womb this week.)
Note:
Every baby develops a little differently — even in the womb. Our information is
designed to give you a
How your life's changing:
You're in
the home stretch! The third and final trimester starts this week. If you're
like most women, you'll gain about a pound per week this trimester.
At this
point, you'll likely visit your
doctor or midwife every two weeks. Then, at 36 weeks, you'll
switch to weekly visits.
Depending
on your risk factors, your practitioner may recommend repeating blood tests for
HIV and syphilis now, as well as doing cultures for chlamydia and gonorrhea, to
be certain of your status before delivery. Also, if your glucose
screening test result was high and you haven't yet had
follow-up testing, you'll soon be given the 3-hour glucose tolerance test.
And if the
blood work done at your first prenatal visit showed that you're Rh
negative, you'll get an injection of Rh immunoglobulin to prevent
your body from developing antibodies that could attack your baby's blood. (If
your baby is Rh positive, you'll receive another shot of Rh immunoglobulin
after you give birth.)
Around
this time, some women feel an unpleasant "creepy-crawly" sensation in
their lower legs and an irresistible urge to move them while trying to relax or
sleep. If this sensation is at least temporarily relieved when you move, you
may have what's known as restless
legs syndrome (RLS).

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