Pregnancy Week 27

PREGNANCY WEEK 27

 

Your baby irises will have started to develop their pigment. If his eyes were open you would be able to see what colour they are, though the colour may change after birth. He can open and close his eyes and responds to light and dark, he still can’t see very well though, as he has a short focal length, which means he is short sighted. He will still be short sighted when he is born but will be able to see the distance between your breast and your face so you can look at each other while you are breastfeeding, perfect for bonding.

His lung continues to develop, his brain is still growing, and his immune system begins to develop, helped by your antibodies that can cross the placenta.

The second trimester is drawing to a close, but as your body gears up for the final lap, you may start noticing some new symptoms. Along with an aching back, for example, you may find that your leg muscles cramp up now and then. They're carrying extra weight, after all, and your expanding uterus is putting pressure on the veins that return blood from your legs to your heart as well as on the nerves leading from your trunk to your legs.

Unfortunately, the cramps may get worse as your pregnancy progresses. Leg cramps are more common at night but can also happen during the day. When a cramp strikes, stretching the calf muscle should give you some relief.

Straighten your leg and then gently flex your toes back toward your shin. Walking for a few minutes or massaging your calf sometimes helps, too.

As the second trimester ends you may notice that you feel breathless or that you become short of breath much more easily than normal. This because your expanding womb is pushing up against your diaphragm, the large muscle at the base of your lungs: The diaphragm cannot fully flatten during an inhalation, so you can’t take as big a breath as previously.

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