Week 25 of Your Pregnancy

Welcome to week 25 of your pregnancy. You only have two more weeks left in your second trimester.

Your Trimester: Second trimester

Weeks to Go: 15

While many pregnant women have been experiencing baby kicks for weeks, for some first-time moms, week 25 is when in-utero movement finally becomes more noticeable. Helping: Your soccer ball-size uterus is the highest it has been, sitting approximately halfway between your belly button and the bottom of your breastbone.

If your uterus gets very hard and tight and then quickly reverts back to normal, you’re experiencing Braxton Hicks, or practice contractions. Some pregnant women have already felt these; for others, they begin right about now.

At the same time, your heart is working especially hard to keep up with the uptick of blood flowing through your veins to support your growing baby. (Blood volume will continue to increase, reaching its maximum at about week 34 to week 36.) Because of this, you may feel a pounding or fluttering sensation in your chest. Standing up too quickly and dehydration can make this worse.

Normally, this is nothing to be concerned about. But if the racing seems prolonged, or you’re also experiencing shortness of breath or chest pains, call your healthcare provider.

Just as your heart is working overtime right now, so is your baby’s. In fact, his or her heart is beating so loudly at this point that others would be able to hear its telltale thump thump if they placed an ear to your abdomen.

At 13 inches long and 1½ to 1¾ pounds, your baby is getting big, slowly and steadily gaining the fat he or she needs to stay insulated after birth. While not all babies are sporting hair on their heads right now, if it’s there, the color and texture are already established—but know that both can change after your baby is born.

In other developmental news:

• Capillaries, which are the smallest blood vessels, have developed under baby’s skin and in his or her lungs.
• While baby’s nose has looked like a nose for a little while, the nostrils are now beginning to open.
• Your baby's auditory system is continuing to develop, and he or she may be able to distinguish your voice from others’ this week.

If last week’s glucose screening raised a red flag, you’ll be back for a three-hour glucose tolerance test this week. For this test, you need to fast for eight to 14 hours prior to testing. Because of this, it’s best to get it done first thing in the morning. You also can’t eat during the test.

Once at your healthcare provider’s office, your blood will be drawn and you’ll again consume a glucose drink, this one containing 50 percent more glucose than your previous test. Your blood will be drawn and your blood glucose will be checked three more times, every 60 minutes after you consume the glucose drink. You should arrange for someone to transport you to and from the test, if possible, since your energy levels will likely be low.

If needed, a fetal non-stress test (NST) is often done between week 38 and week 42, or two weeks overdue. However, if your pregnancy is considered high-risk, your healthcare provider may offer you this test anytime after week 28. Your physician or midwife will analyze your baby’s heart rate and activity for roughly 30 minutes with the help of a fetal-monitoring belt or belts around your abdomen.

There are lots of skin changes that can occur during pregnancy, and starting this week, your chance of getting an itchy skin rash rises. Pruritic urticarial papules and plaques of pregnancy (PUPPP) is the most common rash to occur in pregnancy. And while it most often occurs at week 35, it can appear any time after week 24. Carrying multiples increases your odds.

The intensely itchy rash first appears on the abdomen and can spread to your thighs and rear. (Often the rash is red and raised, but sometimes it’s dotted with tiny blisters.) Usually, the rash clears up soon after delivery. In the meantime, take relaxing oatmeal baths to ease your symptoms, and talk to your healthcare provider about using a corticosteroid cream, such as triamcinolone. While oral antihistamines such as Zyrtec are usually less effective for quelling itch, they may be helpful at night to aid sleep. For severe symptoms, a corticosteroid, such as prednisone, may be given orally.

If you’re the point of contact with your health insurance provider, now is a good time to request the enrollment forms necessary to add your newborn to your health insurance plan. Typically, you’ll need to add your baby to your policy within 30 days of birth.

However, you don’t have to simply tack your baby onto the policy you currently have. Having a baby qualifies you for a special enrollment period, so you can either re-enroll in what you currently have or you can change your policy to better suit your growing needs.

You may also want to speak with your employer about enrolling in or changing your contribution to flexible spending accounts used for healthcare or childcare.

• Continue taking prenatal vitamins.
• Continue drinking about eight to 12 glasses of water a day.
• Continue doing your Kegel exercises daily.
• Contact your health insurance carrier to learn about to-dos to take care of once baby is here.