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

by Claire October 15, 2015, 4:28 am 2k Views 47 Comments

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.

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Written by Claire

Claire is our Community Manager here at New Moms Forum. A mom of two (almost grown-up babies), Claire has been building and operating community-based websites for almost 20 years. In her downtime, Claire enjoys spending time with her family and drinking copious amounts of red wine!