Your toddler at Week 31

As your infant's senses boom, your breathing room decreases.

•           Your toddler’s sense of listening to has absolutely advanced. He may additionally “bounce” now whilst he hears a loud sound and pass to the rhythm of track he likes.

•           Your child can turn his head from side to side.

•           Your toddler has in all likelihood shed most of his lanugo, the downy fur that protected his body. His new layer of fats keeps him heat now.

•           Your toddler is urinating about 2 cups of liquid into the amniotic fluid each day now. Your very own body replaces the amniotic fluid several instances every day.

Weighing in at 3-plus kilos and measuring about sixteen inches long, your infant is quickly drawing close his start period — even though he is were given to p.c. on any other 3 to five kilos earlier than D-day. he is also putting in longer stretches of sleep, which is why you're probable noticing extra defined styles of wakefulness (and movement) and relaxation (whilst he is quite still).

baby's developing five Senses

Your infant's mind is running beyond regular time these days, growing quicker than ever. Connections between individual nerve cells (he is were given to make trillions of them!) are being made at a excellent speedy price. he is now processing records, tracking mild and perceiving signals from all 5 senses. certain, your baby cannot odor some thing right now, but it is handiest due to the fact he's nonetheless submerged in amniotic fluid and desires to be respiratory air to get a whiff of whatever. lucky for you — and your toddler — yours may be one of the first actual scents he breathes in, a heady scent on the way to fast grow to be his very favorite.

Pedaling His ft and Sucking His Thumb

So what's your little dove doing all day even as you are busy feathering your nest for his arrival? Making faces, hiccupping, swallowing, respiration, pedaling with little fingers and ft along your uterine wall or even sucking his thumb. In truth, a few babies suck their thumbs so vigorously even as in the womb that they're born with a callus on their thumb (what little suckers!).

Shortness of Breath

So your stomach appears like it is to your chest and your lungs experience like... hmmm... they do not even sense like they're there anymore — do they? Movin' on up at 31 weeks pregnant, your uterus can now be felt 4 inches above your stomach button. this means that your uterus is pushing all of the inner organs that was once there someplace else, crowding your lungs and making it greater tough for them to make bigger completely. The result: Your frame is spare on air and may be until your toddler drops near the give up of pregnancy in instruction for birth. even as this shortness of breath may feel very uncomfortable to you, your baby is as glad as a clam because he’s getting his oxygen from the placenta.

That out-of-breath feeling may also get better closer to the stop of your being pregnant, when your infant drops down into your pelvis in coaching for delivery. till then, be sure to stand as instantly as you may (given the burden you're carrying around) and sleep propped up or on your side so that your lungs have extra space to... well, breathe.

do this: How a baby Responds to intercourse

intercourse and orgasm can have an interesting effect on toddlers in the womb, as you can have observed. some are very quiet after their dad and mom have sex (rocked to sleep via the rhythmic movement, perhaps) whilst others turn out to be frisky themselves (good day, where's the birthday party?). both responses are completely regular and in no way suggest that your toddler is aware of the goings-on...just that he's having amusing going alongside for the journey. So hold on taking part in your sex life — and your orgasms — as an awful lot as you want and for as long as you can (which, together with your practitioner's approval and a few advanced tornado-type movements, may be right up until transport day). pretty soon, leaping into bed collectively with a baby inside the residence may not be pretty so smooth or handy.

more recommendations

•           shopping for or registering for a crib set? skip the bumpers: cute because the may also look, they pose a critical SIDS chance. Ditto for pillows, filled animals and blankets.

•           Is your health center bag packed? If no longer, now’s a great time to get it equipped, just in case.

•           it may no longer be just pregnancy weight. if you word unexpected facial swelling, talk for your doctor. along side adjustments in imaginative and prescient and complications, swelling can be a sign of preeclampsia.

commonplace signs

•           greater frequent Urination

Your uterus puts greater stress in your bladder in the 1/3 trimester, giving it less room to store urine. reduce down on the toilet trips by means of double voiding: Pee, then while you’re done, pee once more. That’ll make sure you’ve emptied your bladder completely. study greater

Occasional complications

If tension is twisting your head up in knots, try spending a couple of minutes in a dark, quiet room. in case you’re at work, near your eyes and placed your feet up for 15 mins. it's also generally safe to take acetaminophen sometimes while nothing else seems to alleviate the pain. examine greater

Backaches

That burgeoning stomach also can do quite a number for your lower back as it curves to house the burden. if you haven’t already, now could be the time to incorporate a few prenatal yoga into your exercising habitual — the stretches will relax your returned (and your mind!). read greater

Clumsiness

Your shifting posture, your increasing girth and your loss of concentration can also make you clumsier in recent times. Take it smooth whilst you’re hiking into the shower or tub and roll up any area rugs that would journey you up at domestic. examine more

•           pregnancy mind

Welcome to mommy (to-be) mind — a condition that’s a end result of shrinking mind mobile volume inside the third trimester (don’t worry — your brain cells cross back to everyday a few months after delivery). Don’t pressure out approximately your foggy reminiscence, considering pressure just makes it worse. Write things down or program them into your cellphone and delegate duty if viable. examine greater

Sleep issues

that is another not unusual third trimester woe, due to a constellation of other conditions, consisting of leg cramps, heartburn, common urination and undeniable old tension (with a sprint of pregnancy hormones). If tension continues you tossing and turning all night time, speak it out with friends or your accomplice in the course of the day.