Your baby
It is getting steadily more cramped inside you. Your baby may already be lying neatly head down, but may just as well be in a breech position. Do not worry: your baby still has at least two weeks' room to settle the other way round in the womb.
Do you feel a regular tapping in your abdomen now and then? Then your child has hiccups. Sometimes you can even see your bump move. The hiccups come from your child drinking amniotic fluid: when the stomach is too full, the diaphragm is irritated and contracts in a reflex. Hiccups can last a little while, but they pass by themselves and do no harm.
You
Around this time the top of the womb reaches halfway between your navel and your breastbone. The womb can then press a little against your ribs, which now and again leaves you short of breath. When your baby drops down at around thirty-six weeks there is more room again and breathing becomes easier of its own accord.
At this stage of pregnancy you can be so taken up with your expanding bump, visits to the midwife, getting the nursery ready, arranging childcare and so on that your relationship suffers. Before your baby is even born you are already more father and mother than partners, and that can lead to tension. So try to make time for one another and keep talking about your feelings and your expectations.
A breastfeeding course
Are you planning to breastfeed? Breastfeeding is natural, but it often has to be learned. To prepare well you can attend a breastfeeding session, so that you know what to expect. Did you know that feeding takes up a great deal of time at first? Around eight feeds a day, each of three quarters of an hour to an hour, including winding and changing.
At the session you get all sorts of tips and information about breastfeeding. How do you best latch your baby on, for instance? And what should you look out for if you are unsure whether your baby is getting enough?
Moral support at the birth
Would you like other people at the birth besides your midwife or gynaecologist and your partner? Your sister, perhaps, a friend or your mother? You can also engage a doula, a professional birth coach.
Third trimester
