Third trimester (weeks 25 to birth)

• Select a pediatrician or family doctor for your baby by viewing the profiles at kp.org/doctorsandlocations.
• Schedule a visit to meet your baby’s future doctor.
• Tour and pre-register with your delivery hospital (Northside or Emory Decatur Hospital).
• Finish your nursery and purchase baby essentials.
• Install your car seat.
• Pick up your breast pump at your 36- to 38-week visit (if eligible).
• Make a note in your calendar to add your newborn to your Kaiser Permanente health plan within 31 days of birth.
• Pack your hospital bag.

Around your 32-week visit, your practitioner will talk with you about the results of your tests for anemia, diabetes, and Rh blood factor (if you have an Rh-negative blood type). He or she will also check your baby’s growth, review the early warning signs of labor, and talk to you about choosing a doctor for your baby.

Kaiser Permanente offers many breastfeeding resources, such as our one-on-one breastfeeding classes and the Lactation support line. Learn more about the resources available to you here.

Don’t wait until your first labor pains to get ready to go to the hospital. Pack your bag at least 3 weeks before your due date with these items.

• Your blood pressure may increase slightly, returning to its normal pre–pregnancy state.
• Sometimes your baby settles into a position that is uncomfortable for you. Kicks and twists can be strong, very noticeable, and sometimes painful.
• You may feel pelvic pressure or pain if your baby’s head is low in the pelvis. Lying on your side may help relieve this discomfort.
• Your feet, ankles, hands, and fingers may become swollen, particularly at the end of the day. It’s normal to have extra fluid in your tissues during pregnancy, but much of the swelling should disappear after a good night’s sleep.
• As your growing uterus puts pressure on your bladder, you might notice that you leak urine when you laugh or cough. This is common and is called urinary incontinence. If you notice any consistent leaking, whether it is a large or small amount, call your doctor’s office to make sure that your water hasn’t broken.
• Your growing uterus is also crowding other surrounding organs, leading to many common discomforts and annoyances, including heartburn, constipation, and hemorrhoids.
• You’re likely making frequent trips to the bathroom.
• Leg cramps, breathlessness, contractions, the frequent need to urinate, and an active baby may all interfere with your sleep.
• Feel aching or numbness in your fingers, wrists, or hands? You may have carpal tunnel syndrome.
• You’ve probably noticed how easy it is to get off balance and feel clumsy as your pregnancy has progressed. This is partly due to your center of gravity moving forward as your baby grows. You also release a pregnancy hormone called relaxin that softens the cartilage in your joints and pelvis. The pubic bone opens up to make more room for the baby, causing the “pregnancy waddle” that many women have when they walk.

Your baby’s eyes are able to open and close, skin is becoming smooth, and hair is getting longer. The lanugo, a soft, fine downy hair that once covered your baby, is beginning to disappear. The vernix caseosa, a white creamy substance that protects the skin from long exposure to amniotic fluid, still covers your baby’s body. The lungs are maturing, and your baby is starting to practice breathing. In your seventh month, your baby continues to put on a lot of weight. By the end of week 28, your baby weighs about 2 to 2.5 pounds and measures about 11 to 14 inches long.

Your baby’s brain and vision are developing very quickly now. The bones are fully developed, but still soft and flexible for delivery. Your baby’s fingernails and toenails are growing, lungs are maturing, and the nervous system is almost complete. Your baby is also starting to develop taste buds and can taste sweet and sour. By week 32, your baby is probably in the head–down position and is taking up more and more space in your uterus. Your baby weighs about 3 to 5 pounds and measures about 16 to 18 inches long.

Your baby is busy preparing for life outside the womb by storing iron in his or her liver. Things have become crowded inside your uterus, and there’s not as much room for your baby to move around. Your baby’s skin is now pink and smooth, and the arms and legs look chubby. Bones in his or her head are firm but flexible enough to pass through the birth canal without damage. The vernix caseosa is disappearing. The lanugo is almost completely gone except for some soft, fine hairs on your baby’s back and shoulders. During this final month, your baby’s lungs are almost fully developed. By week 36, your baby weighs about 5 to 7 pounds and measures around 18 to 20 inches from head to heels.

Your baby’s basic physical development is now complete. He or she will start to move down into the pelvic cavity around week 38 (a process called engagement). The lungs are now mature, and your baby is practicing for his or her first breath of air. The umbilical cord is 20 inches long and will support baby through birth until the lungs take over. Your baby will spend the next few weeks putting on weight. At birth, most full–term babies weigh between 6 pounds and 9 pounds and measure 19 to 21 inches long. But healthy babies come in many different shapes and sizes.