Twenty Seventh Week of Pregnancy: What to Expect

How are you doing in the 27th week of pregnancy?

In most cases, your belly is already clearly visible and slowly but surely water retention is becoming noticeable. These occur in quite a few pregnant women – especially in those who stand or sit a lot. That’s why you should take regular breaks at work and walk a few steps. Don’t worry, the water retention will disappear after birth.

Support stockings are a good way to control water in the legs. Please do not buy pantyhose. You should never wear them during pregnancy because they can cause infections. You should still elevate your legs in the evening and in between and massage them a little. For example, use bus rides for small exercises. Turn your feet to the side and stretch them upwards. This is similar to sitting on an airplane and protecting your legs from thrombosis.

In the 27th week, your baby can not only distinguish between light and dark with its eyes. It can also open and close them with the eyelid by closing the eyelid. Your baby will train to open and close its eyes in the coming period.

Through the formation of taste buds in its tongue, your baby is now also able to taste aromas from the amniotic fluid it drinks. What those flavors are depends largely on your diet. This is because some of the flavors you ingest pass into the amniotic fluid and give it flavor.

The development of sight and taste is closely related to the development of the brain. If its surface was smooth before, the first typical furrows are formed in the 27th week of gestation, which makes the thinking function and sensory perceptions possible.

The proportions of the little person continue to develop into the shape that the baby will have at birth. While the head has been growing steadily over the past few weeks, this growth is now slowing down to match that of the body. At this stage, the baby does not have any subcutaneous fatty tissue. Therefore, the skin on his entire body is still wrinkly.

As fat cells form, this will also subside, so that a newborn baby will look only slightly wrinkly at birth. Your baby will gain weight from now until delivery. In addition, your baby will go through a tremendous growth spurt in the next few weeks. This can be clearly seen on the baby weight chart in your maternity record.

Your baby has already internalized the rhythm between resting and waking well. However, the baby’s rhythm has nothing in common with the mother’s sleep rhythm.

This is because your baby is often active when you want to lie down and sleep. There is a simple reason for this: the body is already training for the birth of the child. The hormones that play an important role in childbirth are active in a weakened form precisely during the mother’s rest periods. The baby reacts to this influence. It is kept awake and stimulated to physical activity because this is just as important for its birth as the birth work of the maternal body. Your baby’s lungs have matured to such an extent that its chances of survival in the event of premature birth can be considered very good. As a premature baby, your baby would still have to be ventilated in the 27th week of gestation, but there are no major life-threatening impairments to be feared.

This is how the expectant mom feels in the 27th week of pregnancy

The baby bump is growing, and you feel good in the 27th week of pregnancy. The baby is already keeping you on your toes. Just when you want to rest or sleep, the baby starts to move violently.

Slowly, your baby is running out of space in the uterus, which you will notice when your baby kicks against the abdominal wall. This is because it gets really tight in the belly when babies are exercising. If you are expecting twins, this experience intensifies. The kicks can also be painful at times.

The constant growth of the uterus and the movements of the baby put a lot of strain on the so-called maternal ligaments. You perceive this as pulling in the lower abdomen and pain in the lower back. These are the main complaints that become noticeable in the 27th week of pregnancy. Nausea due to the pregnancy hormones should now no longer be an issue because your organism has adapted perfectly to the pregnancy situation.

27th week: your common signs and symptoms

The appetite grows

Big appetites and hunger pangs are now the order of the day. The body and the baby need extra calories and nutrients. When shopping, you should look for foods that are suitable as a small snack. Healthy snacks contain no empty calories and little sugar: ideal is e.g. nuts, fruit, sometimes yogurt or smoothie. Watch your weight gain – but also indulge cravings sometimes.

Exercise contractions make themselves felt

Breaks in rest continue, however. Your abdomen is training for birth and keeps hardening for about half a minute. These so-called exercise contractions occur primarily when you want to rest. This is good practice for you for the time after your delivery, because even then your sleep will be regularly disturbed by the baby and its needs. Unlike real contractions, which induce labor and open the cervix, exercise contractions are not painful. Mothers who already have experience with labor pains are less aware of the exercise contractions than first-time mothers.

Relate: Third Trimester of Pregnancy: What to Expect

Back training

To minimize back problems caused by the increasing weight of your baby and the uterus, it is important that you train your back early on and strengthen the ligaments and muscles.

Your midwife can certainly help you with exercises, or maybe you are even in a sports course for pregnant women, in which suitable exercises are already integrated. A physiotherapist can offer you special help and, in addition to exercises to strengthen your back, show you methods to make your everyday life easier on your back.

 

27th week: this is important now

You can also take advantage of the fact that your baby is already aware of a lot during the 27th week of gestation: For example, you and your partner should talk to the baby a lot. The baby remembers your voices – and will recognize them even after the birth. Stroking the abdominal wall and soft music (especially classical music) are also good for the baby and calm it down.

Turn around more often when lying down. In this way, the baby has to move along with you and refines its sense of balance. However, you should not overdo it with the so-called prenatal support, neither in the 27th week of pregnancy nor later.

And don’t be too hard on yourself: Of course, your child will be happy if you are happy and in a good mood. But if you have a bad day, that’s no reason to feel guilty.