Week 27
Your baby is about 35.6 cm (14 in) from crown to heel and weighs about 760 g (1 lb 11 oz), about the size of a head of cauliflower. Every baby grows at their own pace, so these are averages. This week many babies open their eyes for the first time, and you may feel the rhythmic little jumps of fetal hiccups.
This is the last week of the second trimester. Your appointments are about to become more frequent, and some routine care is timed for around 28 weeks, including anti-D for people with an Rh-negative blood type. It is also a good week to start thinking about how you would like to feed your baby, and to get used to falling asleep on your side.
Day 183 · 26 weeks 0 days
Your baby's eyes are opening
For months your baby's eyelids have been fused shut while the eyes formed underneath. Around now, the lids separate, and your baby can open and close their eyes. Over the coming weeks your baby will start to blink, too.
There isn't much to see in the uterus. It is dark in there, but not completely. Bright light shining on your belly filters through as a dim, warm glow, and studies with ultrasound show that babies in late pregnancy can turn their heads toward light. The parts of the brain that handle vision are making connections at a fast pace.
Eye colour is not settled yet. Many babies with lighter-skinned parents are born with blue or grey eyes that darken over the first year, while babies with darker-skinned parents are usually born with brown eyes. Your baby's final eye colour may not be clear until well after the first birthday. Eyelashes and eyebrows are growing now as well. They are fine and pale, and your baby will be born with them.
Try this: Next time you are in a sunny spot, notice whether your baby seems to stir or change position in the warmth and light.
Day 184 · 26 weeks 1 day
You can start thinking about how you'll feed your baby
How to feed your baby is a personal decision, and it helps to think about it before the birth rather than in the tired first hours. The main options are breastfeeding or chestfeeding, feeding with formula, or a combination of the two. Some people also feed expressed milk from a bottle.
Major health bodies recommend breast milk as the ideal food for babies, with exclusive breastfeeding for about six months if possible. Breast milk changes to meet your baby's needs and carries antibodies that help protect against infections. Breastfeeding is also linked with lower rates of some cancers for the parent who nurses.
Formula is a safe, nourishing alternative, and many families use it for all sorts of reasons: medical conditions, certain medicines, past surgery, returning to work, mental health, or simply what works for the family. Combination feeding is common too.
What you decide now isn't a contract. Plans change once you meet your baby. What helps most is having good information and knowing where to find support. You will read about getting ready for feeding, whichever way you choose, in week 29.
Try this: Write down what you already know or feel about feeding, and one question you'd like answered.
Day 185 · 26 weeks 2 days
If your blood type is Rh negative, anti-D protects future
pregnancies
At your first prenatal visit, your blood type was checked, including whether you are Rh positive or Rh negative. Most people are Rh positive. If you are Rh negative and your baby is Rh positive, your body could start making antibodies against your baby's red blood cells if some of the baby's blood mixes with yours. This rarely harms the first pregnancy, but it can cause serious anemia in a baby in a later one.
A medicine called anti-D immunoglobulin prevents this from happening. It is usually offered as an injection at around 28 weeks, and again after birth if the baby turns out to be Rh positive. Some places check the baby's Rh type early from a blood test of your own blood, and only offer anti-D if it's needed.
You will also need anti-D after any event that could mix blood, such as vaginal bleeding, a fall or blow to your belly, or certain procedures. If you are Rh negative, keep this in mind for the rest of the pregnancy. Call your care provider if you are Rh negative and have any bleeding or a hit to your belly, ideally within 72 hours, so you can be assessed for an extra dose.
Try this: Check your records or ask your clinic which blood type you are, and write it somewhere easy to find.
Day 186 · 26 weeks 3 days
Your appointments are about to get closer together
Until now, many people have had a prenatal check every four weeks or so. From around 28 weeks, visits usually become more frequent, often every two weeks, and then weekly from about 36 weeks. The exact schedule depends on where you live, your type of care provider and your health. These visits are often short, but they matter. At most of them your blood pressure is taken and your urine may be tested for protein. These are two of the ways pre-eclampsia is picked up early. Your care provider will measure your fundal height, which you read about in week 20. They will listen to your baby's heartbeat and ask about movements.
Around this time some people also have a repeat blood count to check for anemia, an antibody screen if they are Rh negative, and the glucose test if it hasn't been done yet.
These visits are also your chance to ask questions. Nothing is too small to mention, from heartburn to a worry that keeps you up at night. Try this: Put your next few appointment dates in your calendar now, and plan work or child care around them.
Day 187 · 26 weeks 4 days
Going to sleep on your side is a simple, protective habit
From around 28 weeks, care providers advise going to sleep on your side rather than on your back, for naps as well as at night. When you lie flat on your back late in pregnancy, the weight of your uterus can press on the large blood vessels that run along your spine. That can reduce blood flow to your baby. Research has linked going to sleep on your back in the third trimester with a higher risk of stillbirth, and side sleeping lowers that risk. Either side is fine. The left side is often suggested, but the most important thing is not to settle on your back. Many people wake up on their back in the night. That is normal, and there is no need to worry about it. Just roll onto your side again and go back to sleep.
Pillows make side sleeping easier. Try one between your knees, one under your bump, and one behind your back so you don't roll over. A long body pillow does all three. If lying flat on your back makes you feel dizzy or sick during the day, roll onto your side.
Try this: Set up your pillows tonight so that falling asleep on your side feels comfortable and automatic.
Day 188 · 26 weeks 5 days
Those rhythmic little jumps are probably hiccups
You may have noticed a new kind of movement: small, regular jerks or taps, like a slow heartbeat or a clock ticking, all in one spot. These are very likely fetal hiccups. They can last a few minutes, sometimes longer, and some babies hiccup several times a day.
Hiccups happen when the diaphragm, the muscle under the lungs, contracts suddenly. Your baby's breathing movements make this common in the uterus. It doesn't hurt your baby, and it isn't a sign of distress. Many experts think hiccups may even help the breathing muscles mature and train the brain to control them. Some babies hiccup a lot and some hardly at all, and both are normal.
Hiccups count as feeling your baby, but they are not the same as your baby's usual kicks, rolls and stretches. When you are paying attention to your baby's movement pattern, look at those active movements too. You can't stop fetal hiccups, and you don't need to. Many parents find them oddly comforting, a sign of a busy little body getting ready for life outside. Try this: Next time you feel rhythmic tapping, place your partner's or support person's hand on the spot, and count a few together.
Day 189 · 26 weeks 6 days
The second trimester ends today
Today is the last day of the second trimester. Tomorrow, at 27 weeks, the third and final trimester begins. For many people, the middle months were the most comfortable stretch of pregnancy, with more energy, less nausea and the first strong kicks. It is worth pausing to notice how much has happened.
Since week 14, your baby has grown from about the size of a lemon into a baby you can feel turning and stretching. Their hearing, eyes, lungs and brain have all moved forward. You may have had the anatomy scan, the glucose test, the first movements, and perhaps some sleepless nights. The coming three months are about growth for your baby and preparation for you. Your body will work harder, and you'll likely feel heavier and more tired again by the end. Practical plans will take more space: a birth plan, choosing your baby's doctor, getting ready for feeding, and, later, packing a bag.
You don't have to do it all at once. Taking it one week at a time, the way this book is laid out, is plenty.
For your partner: Mark the end of the second trimester together in a small way, such as a walk, a favourite meal, or a photo of the bump to look back on.