The Third Trimester

What You Need to Know

  • As you lot begin the third trimester, your wellness care provider or midwife may alter the schedule of your prenatal visits from monthly to every 2 weeks.
  • It's a good thought to start taking childbirth classes in training for your baby's birth, especially if this is your first pregnancy.
  • By the end of the tertiary trimester, the fetus is nigh 19 to 21 inches long and weighs, on average, half dozen to 9 pounds.

Prenatal Visits During the Third Trimester

During your second and third trimester prenatal visits, your wellness care provider or midwife may bank check the following, depending on your electric current medical condition and the health of your fetus:

  • Any electric current symptoms or discomforts

  • Your weight

  • Your claret force per unit area

  • Urine test. This is to find albumin, a protein that may indicate pre-eclampsia or toxemia, and glucose, which may signal hyperglycemia.

  • Position, growth and development of your fetus

  • Height of the fundus (top of the uterus)

  • Fetal heartbeat

Equally you brainstorm the third trimester, your wellness care provider or midwife will modify the schedule of your prenatal visits from monthly to every two weeks. Your prenatal visits may be scheduled once every week in the final calendar month. This schedule will depend on your medical condition, the growth and development of the fetus, and your wellness intendance provider or midwife's preference.

Toward the later weeks of the pregnancy (starting at approximately the 38th week), a pelvic exam may exist done to determine the dilation and effacement of the cervix. Your health care provider or midwife will also inquire well-nigh any contractions and hash out labor and delivery procedures.

The 3rd Trimester: What to Expect

The 3rd trimester marks the home stretch, as y'all set up for the delivery of your baby. The fetus is continuing to grow in weight and size, and the body systems finish maturing. You may feel more uncomfortable at present as you continue to gain weight and brainstorm to accept fake labor contractions (called Braxton-Hicks contractions).

During the tertiary trimester, it is a skilful thought to starting time taking childbirth classes in preparation for the big day. This is particularly truthful in the example of first pregnancies.

Johns Hopkins Hospital Designated as Babe-Friendly

The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative, a global program launched by the Earth Health Organization and the United nations Children'south Fund, has designated The Johns Hopkins Hospital every bit Babe-Friendly. This designation is given to hospitals and birthing centers that offer an optimal level of intendance for infant feeding and mother-babe bonding.

The Third Trimester: Changes to Your Body

In the third trimester, some women become increasingly uncomfortable as their due date nears. As the fetus grows in size and crowds the abdominal cavity, some mothers-to-be have difficulty taking deep breaths or getting comfortable at dark for sleep, while others are gratis from any discomfort as they anxiously look the arrival of their new son or daughter.

Variations in how a baby is carried during pregnancy.

The following is a list of changes and symptoms that you lot may experience during the third trimester:

  • Your fetus radiates body estrus, causing y'all to feel hot from increased skin temperature.

  • The increased urinary frequency returns due to increased pressure existence placed on the bladder.

  • Blood force per unit area may subtract as the fetus presses on the master vein that returns claret to the heart.

  • Swelling of the ankles, easily and confront may happen (called edema), as yous continue to retain fluids.

  • Pilus may begin to grow on your arms, legs and face due to increased hormone stimulation of hair follicles. Hair may also feel coarser.

  • Leg cramps may happen more oftentimes.

  • Braxton-Hicks contractions (false labor) may begin to happen at irregular intervals in preparation for childbirth.

  • Stretch marks may announced on the stomach, breast, thighs and buttocks.

  • Colostrum (a fluid in the breasts that nourishes the baby until the breast milk becomes available) may brainstorm to leak from your nipples.

  • Dry, itchy peel may persist, specially on the stomach, equally the peel continues to grow and stretch.

  • Your libido (sexual drive) may decrease.

  • Skin pigmentation may become more than apparent, especially nighttime patches of skin on the face.

  • Constipation, heartburn and indigestion may go along.

  • You will have increased white-colored vaginal discharge (leukorrhea), which may contain more mucus.

  • Backaches may persist and increase in intensity.

  • Hemorrhoids may persist and increase in severity.

  • Varicose veins in the legs may persist and increase in severity.

The Third Trimester: Fetal Development

During the third trimester, your fetus continues to grow in size and weight. The lungs are nonetheless maturing, and the fetus begins to position itself head down. By the terminate of the third trimester, the fetus is about 19 to 21 inches long and weighs, on boilerplate, 6 to 9 pounds. Fetal development during the third trimester includes:

  • The fetus tin can see and hear.

  • The encephalon continues to develop.

  • The kidneys and lungs go along to mature.

  • By the 36th calendar week, the head may "engage" (driblet into the pelvic area), a process called lightening.

  • The bones of the skull remain soft to make it easier to pass through the birth canal.

  • For many babies, the irises of the eyes are slate blue. The permanent heart colour will not appear until several days or weeks afterward nascency.

  • The fetus can suck its pollex and has the ability to weep.

  • By 38 to 40 weeks, the fetus' lanugo (fine, soft hair on the trunk and limbs) has disappeared nearly completely.

  • By 38 to 40 weeks, the lungs have matured completely.

  • The baby is covered in vernix caseosa (or simply called vernix), a creamy, protective blanket on the skin.

  • The head will normally plow downwards during the concluding couple of weeks of pregnancy.

An illustration showing fetal growth from 8 to 40 weeks.