Pregnancy Week 27

Your Baby

This week is a very significant week: your baby’s lungs are now capable of breathing air. By the end of this week your baby will be that much more prepared for life outside your womb.

Now that your baby can breathe air, you can breathe a sigh of relief! With sufficient air sacs and surfactant, your baby will have a much easier time breathing by itself and adapting to the outside world, and a much higher chance of surviving premature birth.

By this time, your baby’s brain wave patterns are similar to those of a full-term baby at birth. Activity is beginning in the portions of the brain that process visual and audio information.

As your baby grows physically stronger, its thumping and bumping will become stronger, too. You can monitor your baby’s movement by counting its kicks.

You

As the baby gets bigger, you may notice some shortness of breath. As your growing uterus presses on your diaphragm, it becomes harder to fill your lungs and to breathe out completely.

You will need about an extra 300 calories per day now, as you enter the last three months of your pregnancy. Non-pregnant adults can generally maintain their weight and good health on 2,100 calories per day, but pregnant women generally require about 2,400 calories a day.