Now you are in pregnancy week 25. In another 15 weeks or so, you will deliver your beautiful little one. This week your little one weighs around 1.5 pounds and is 13.6" long. That's a lot of growth, nearly 2 inches. Your uterus is now shaped and sized, like volleyball. From now until delivery, your little one is working hard to put on weight and when born will usually be about 7.6 pounds and over 20 inches in length.
In pregnancy week 25, your little one's spine is maturing with the development of the 1000 ligaments, 33 vertebrae and 150 joints. All the bones are still hardening, while the spine is forming. The spine eventually supports your baby. Fingerprints are already fully formed. If the baby were to be delivered now prematurely, it has a good chance of survival that is about 82 % success rate, due to modern medicine.
In pregnancy week 25, tiny blood vessels called capillaries form, and this capillary system allows oxygen, carbon dioxide, nutrients and waste material to be exchanged at each organ. Nostrils are forming which will be open by the end of this week. By the end of pregnancy week 25, the alveoli or air sacs and the lung blood vessels begin to develop, so that when you little one is born he can breathe through his lungs.
How is your body doing in pregnancy week 25? The uterus as mentioned earlier is as big as a volleyball. And the growing uterus presses against the back and pelvis and sometimes sends sharp shooting pain to the lower back and legs. Some pregnant women suffer from sciatica; which is a condition where the baby's head which is pressing against the pelvic bones; compresses the nerves in this region; and causes pain in the lower back, legs and sometimes buttocks as well.
Sometimes the pain can become really bad that they can't walk without extreme pain. This pain mostly disappears when the baby is delivered. There are many ways to alleviate the pain, such as not sitting for too long; not bending at the waist too many times; going to a chiropractor who has treated similar cases in other pregnant women; using a pregnancy pillow to support wherever support is needed; sleeping on a firm mattress; applying a hot pack to the area; not lifting heavy things or going for some physical therapy.
Get your doctor to tell you about the symptoms of pre-mature labor, so that you are aware, and can go to the hospital immediately. Some of the warning signs are continuous lower back pain; four or more contractions per hour; pressure on the pelvis as though the baby is pushing; watery and bloody discharge; continuous cramping like period cramps in the lower abdomen.
Around pregnancy week 25, the doctor will check you for gestational diabetes. Gestational diabetes can cause major complications during delivery; such as having a large baby; a possibility of a caesar; stillbirth; respiratory distress syndrome or pre-eclampsia. With modern health care, the mother can still deliver a healthy baby. Gestational diabetes usually goes away after delivery.
