25 Weeks Pregnant
What’s happening this week? How is my baby developing?
At 25 weeks pregnant, your baby is working hard on putting on weight, which will also smooth his skin. This week, 33 vertebrae, 150 joints, and over 1000 ligaments are developing in your baby’s backbone.
This is essential to support body weight. Also, millions of tiny capillaries form, to carry blood from the heart to every tissue in the body. Air sacs and blood vessels develop in the lungs, to get your baby closer to his first breath.
Interestingly, the nostrils, which have been closed so far, begin to open. At 25 weeks pregnant, your baby weighs approximately 750 grams and measures around 32 cm.
From now until birth, measurements vary from baby to baby. Some babies are born with less than 3 kg while others can reach 5 kg.
How is my body changing?
You’re 25 weeks pregnant and your uterus is about the size of a volleyball. Your center of gravity is shifting upwards, which may make lose balance easily.
Also, your growing uterus starts placing pressure along your back and pelvis, possibly causing shortness of breath, sharp pain down the lower back and legs or even sciatica.
Hot or cold packs or chiropractic massage may alleviate the symptoms, but try not to worry too much as it’ll disappear after birth. Another worrying symptom includes tingling and numbness in your hands, which are signs of carpal tunnel syndrome, but this will disappear as well.
Your weight gain so far is roughly 16-17 pounds, and from now on you will gain about one pound per week. If you work, you need to start considering what you’re going to do after the baby is born.
You may still have a few weeks, but you shouldn’t leave that to the last minute. Every company offers different benefits, so you need to contact HR to find out what you’re entitled to.
Gestational diabetes
At some point during weeks 24 to 28, you’ll have a glucose screening test, to check for gestational diabetes. You need to drink a drink sweetened 50g glucose and then a blood sample an hour later to determine how the body metabolized the glucose.
If your results came back higher than 130 mg/dL, you need further tests to determine if you have gestational diabetes.
This time you need to consume 100g glucose and your blood is checked four times within 3 hours. If two tests come out high, you have gestational diabetes.
This can cause preeclampsia, stillbirths, and respiratory distress syndrome, and it may put your baby at a higher risk of obesity and diabetes.
Women with a family history of diabetes, older than 25, with polycystic ovary syndrome and hypertension are more at risk of developing this condition. However, with proper care, you can deliver a healthy baby, and gestational diabetes goes away after birth.