PREGNANCY WEEK 24
Your baby continues to put on weight, now about 90-100 grams per week. This weight gain is made up of his muscles, bones and body fat, which will help keep him warm and give him energy once he’s born.
His lungs continue to mature and begin to produce a substance called surfactant, this acts to keep the tiny air sacs in the lungs, called alveoli, open; to expand them on his first breath and then prevent them from collapsing, thus helping him breathe.
In the past few weeks, the top of your uterus has risen above your belly button and is now about the size of a soccer ball. Most women have a glucose screening test (also called a glucose challenge test or GCT) between now and 28 weeks. This test checks for gestational diabetes, a pregnancy-related high-blood-sugar condition.
Untreated diabetes increases your risk of having a difficult vaginal delivery or needing a cesarean section because it causes your baby to grow too large, especially in his upper body. It also raises your baby's odds for other complications like low blood sugar right after birth. A positive result on your GCT doesn't mean you have gestational diabetes, but it does mean that you'll need to take the glucose tolerance test (GTT) to find out for sure.
As your bump increases in size you will have more weight than usual in the front middle section of your body. The extra weight changes your centre of gravity. In order to sop this, women walk and stand with their legs further apart. Women also notice that they lean back, arching their lower back to compensate for the weight of their bump.
You prevent back pain by making some adjustments to your postures, your shoes and how you move may prevent some back pain or at least stop any discomfort from getting worse.
