Pregnancy Trimester 3

Month 7
Your baby is about 13 inches long and weighs around 1.75 pounds. baby's nostrils are starting to open up, which gives him the chance to practice breathing using his muscles and lungs. This is a vital stage in your baby's lung development. Blood vessels are forming throughout both lungs. The bronchial tubes are also maturing, dividing into smaller and smaller branches. The baby is now also exercising some of his feeding muscles with the lips and mouth. The sucking reflex is so strong that if baby often sucks on the thumbs or fingers. After being fused shut for months, baby's eyelids can open again. The little one can see to a limited extent. The baby can't make out objects yet, but can see light and shadows. The baby's sight isn't the only sense that's working. Baby is now responding to sounds in the environment.

This month marks an important milestone in baby's brain development: The brain has matured to the point where it can help regulate body temperature. Baby also continues to develop nerve cells in her brain, hundreds of billions of them, and once born, won't produce any more.

Baby is plumping up but is still pretty thin-only about 2 to 3 percent of her 2.7 pounds is made up of fat.

Month 8
As the baby's brain continues to develop, it takes on a wrinkled appearance. These wrinkles are called convolutions, and they allow the brain to hold more brain cells.

Eating well is tremendously important in the third trimester because baby is taking nutrients directly from you to build up internal stores and to gain weight. The calcium from the milk you drink goes directly to building bones, and the iron in your prenatal vitamins and iron-rich foods boosts baby's iron supply. Baby's protein and fat requirements are at their greatest over the next few weeks, so be sure to continue to eat balanced meals.

Many health care providers recommend that their patients monitor their baby's movements once they're well into the third trimester. If your baby seems less active as the weeks progress it is because there's not as much room in your uterus as there was just a few weeks ago. Many baby's will be in the head-down, or vertex, position by this time. Ideally, he'll stay put until you give birth.

Your baby now weighs about 3-3.5 pounds and has a total length, including his legs, of about 17 inches.

Month 9
The baby is moving around less frequently, mostly because of the cramped quarters. But now that baby is so big, you can feel even the slightest movement. Despite the tight quarters, the baby may turn several more times before birth. If your stomach seems to be lower, this dropping, called lightening or engagement, can occur a few weeks before your baby is born.

It's very important to eat lots of iron-rich food in the third trimester. Your baby absorbs this crucial mineral from your body to build up iron stores, mostly in the form of red blood cells. Most of the absorption takes place in the final months before delivery. The last few weeks are important because baby is still gaining half an ounce of fat per day. The baby will reach the final birth weight and length in the last weeks of pregnancy, with 15 percent of the body weight from fat. Baby stores starch in his liver to be made into glucose after birth, and he has extra fluid on board as well. Like a camel, baby is equipped to get through birth and the day after while your breast milk comes in. The rest of the organs and body systems are ready for life outside the womb too.

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