Week by week: pregnancy symptoms (week-29)

You may feel a little bored and back-achey at this stage of pregnancy, but there are plenty of positive ways to take your mind off things. For example, you could start to make enquiries about breast-feeding classes, plan your maternity leave, and draw up lists of baby essentials, such as diapers, a changing mat, onesies, bibs, and baby wipes, and perhaps buy a couple of items each week. This is a great time to start the nesting process, and ready your home for your baby. 

Symptoms and Body Changes at 29 Weeks

As your hormones continue to fluctuate, you will experience skin rashes, dryness, and intense itching. Try to refrain from scratching your skin, and keep it moisturized. Severe skin rashes may indicate a medical problem, and should be evaluated by your physician. You may experience mood swings, and you may feel fatigued due to the amount of weight you are gaining. This is normal, as you have likely gained close to 24 pounds by this point. As you learn new ways to walk, sit, stand, and sleep, try taking warm baths to relax your muscles and help you get through some of the aches and pains. Varicose veins may begin to form on your legs, and this too is normal. Use compression stockings and elevate your feet to minimize this. You’re probably still feeling all the pregnancy symptoms you felt last week. Hang in there, Mom; only a couple of months to go!

Your Body

The top of your uterus is four inches above your belly button, crowding your ribs and diaphragm and leaving you breathless. It's also pressing against your bladder, which is why you're making so many trips to the bathroom once again. The placenta, which is flat and round like a cake and delivers oxygen and nutrients to the baby, is also getting bigger; next week, it will weigh 15 ounces. Your baby may be in a head-down position already, prepared for birth. Even if he's in a bottom-down position (called breech), there's still time for him to turn. When he does, he'll drop lower in your abdomen, his head engaging within the pelvic bones at the birth canal.

Your Baby

Every day, your little one is looking more like a full-grown baby than a fetus. By the end of this week, he'll weigh about 2 3/4 pounds. For the rest of the trimester, he'll be bulking up and gaining approximately half a pound a week; between now and his birthday, he'll double or even triple in weight. His kicks and jabs are more vigorous now, and you feel like he's moving all the time.

Baby’s Development

During the twenty-ninth week, your baby’s kicks and punches may be so hard that they take your breath away, and they may cause severe pain. The movements and kicks are happening frequently at this point, which are goods signs that the baby is doing well.  Sometimes these kicks and movements can cause rib pain, pelvic pain, and unintentional loss of urine. This high activity does not usually last throughout the pregnancy and will become less frequent as the baby grows and has more limited space to move around.

Your baby is continuing to grow, weighing close to three pounds and stretching to over a foot long. You may notice that this growth is causing increased hunger, as your baby uses most of the nutrients you consume to grow more. You may feel like you need to eat again after a meal, but fight this temptation and trust that your baby is receiving all the nutrients it needs. Rapid brain development began last week and continues this week. The muscles and lungs continue to mature, and hearing has improved greatly.

Do's and Don'ts

Do feast on fatty foods, just not the ice-cream-and-greasy-bacon type. A "good" type of fat, called docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), helps brain and nerve cells develop. DHA can be found in canola, flaxseed, and walnut oils--and in fatty fish like salmon. Try using walnut oil in your salad dressing.

Health

Although you're months away from giving birth, read as much as you can about labor and delivery. Studies show that if you understand how labor works, you may feel you have more control over the process. In turn, you'll be less fearful and may not feel the pain as strongly as you would if you were feeling vulnerable and uninformed. Knowledge truly is power. So get the Real Poop on Labor. Sorry, Mama. Someone has to tell you the truth about childbirth. (Hint: it's messy.)

Shopping

Your growing breasts need support, especially when you're working out, so be sure to pick a good sports bra to wear for the rest of your pregnancy. Try on a few before making a final purchase to guarantee you get the best fit and in a fabric that doesn't chafe.

Exercise

Ask your doctor how to check your rectus abdominus, the central muscle that runs down the front of the abdomen and supports the back. During pregnancy it may separate by more than the width of two finger lengths, but don't worry--the gap usually disappears after birth. Note that you should not be doing exercises that work the abdomen at this stage.

Relationships

As you attend childbirth classes, let your partner know which strategies sound appealing to you and which ones put you off. Practice what you learn at home and give him plenty of feedback so he'll have a hefty bag of tricks once you're in labor and need his support.

Siblings

Ask your child for help as you check off tasks on your to-do list. Put her to work folding baby clothes or coming up with ways to arrange the nursery.

Twins

Now that you're in the third trimester, check with your midwife or doctor to make sure it's still safe to have sex. Moms carrying twins should be more careful than usual since their pregnancies are considered high risk.