28 Weeks Pregnant – What to Expect Your 28th Week of Pregnancy

At 28 weeks pregnant, your baby is the size of a cucumber. Heidi Murkoff from the What To Expect When You’re Expecting series takes you through what you need to know at this point in your pregnancy.

Your baby is settling into the position for birth, weighing around 2.5 pounds and measuring 16 inches long. Dreaming about your baby at 28 weeks pregnant? Your baby may be dreaming about you, too, as brain wave activity measured in a developing fetus shows different sleep cycles and rapid eye movement.

It’s week 28 and from here on out, there will start to be small differences in the rate of growth depending on whether your baby-to-be is a boy or girl. A bouncing blue bruiser is likely to grow bigger and heavier than a princess playing on team pink. Genetics and other factors also weigh on how fast a baby grows and how big she will ultimately be on arrival.

So, while on average a 28-weeker is around two and a half pounds and almost 16 inches tall, your little one maybe currently longer, shorter, heavier, or less tubby. As long she continues to get good reports at those prenatal checkups, you can rest assured your baby’s on the right track and in the right range for growth.

Your minute miracle has added another trick to her repertoire: hiccupping. If you haven’t yet, you’ll not only be able to feel hiccups on the inside, as little rhythmic twitches, you’ll be seeing them on the outside too, making your belly shake like a bowl of jelly. These tiny spasms are thought to be caused by the sudden, irregular contraction of the immature diaphragm, which is still trying to gear up for life outside the womb by practicing the ins and outs of breathing.

Some babies hiccup several times a day, every day, others not so much, but you’re bound to feel those adorable twitches every so often. And an ultrasound might even be able to pick up that little chest heaving from the hiccups, too. Entertaining for you and happily not uncomfortable for baby.

Another activity that can be picked up is REM or rapid eye movement. Those tiny flutters of baby’s eyes suggest that she’s dreaming away, since REM is considered the “dream” phase of sleep, but there’s no way of knowing what’s on your little one’s mind or what, if anything, she might be dreaming of. What we do know is that sleep cycles are coming at more regular times, meaning your sweet sleepyhead is developing a more regular pattern of sleeping and wakefulness.

Problem is, your on-the-go movements lull her to sleep during the day, keeping her awake and raring to go just when you’re settling down for the night. Still, there’s nothing more satisfying than feeling your amazing miracle summersault and stretch inside of you. Plus, as they say, baby’s keeping you up with those antics now is good preparation for after she’s born and when every night’s a night to howl.

Want more satisfaction? Though the bun in your oven is far from being fully baked, her chances of survival outside the womb are at least 90 percent at this point.