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You’re 30 weeks pregnant, and it’s time to start counting kicks! Here’s what else is going on this week with you and baby.
How Big is Baby?
Measuring slightly over 15 ½ inches now, your baby has grown about a half-inch in the last week and likely weighs more than 2 ½ pounds.
What’s New with Baby?
Baby’s hands and feet are fully formed, with fingernails and toenails. They’ve even been practicing gripping and grabbing. You may see your little one grabbing their foot in an ultrasound! Baby can now open and close its eyes and even sense changes in light coming from outside the womb—and might have a good head of hair by now! Plus, their brain is developing at a very rapid rate.
What’s New with Mom?
At 30 weeks pregnant, you may experience back pain, shortness of breath, leg cramps, swelling in your legs and feet, and changes in your skin, in addition to heartburn and frequent urination, says Dr. Catherine Spong, a Maternal-Fetal Medicine specialist at UT Southwestern Medical Center. “If this is not your first baby, you are likely to experience more pelvic pressure. Your body is working very hard to support the growth and development of your baby. All this hard work can leave you feeling very tired, even more so than in your first trimester.”
Catherine Spong, M.D., is a professor and the Chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at UT Southwestern Medical Center. A specialist in maternal-fetal medicine, prematurity, fetal complications, and improving outcomes in children, Dr. Spong’s clinical responsibilities include high-risk labor and delivery, the antepartum unit, the extended-care unit, and obstetric and gynecologic sonography.
María Florián-Rodríguez, M.D., is an assistant professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and a UT Southwestern Dedman Family Scholar in Clinical Care. She is a urogynecologist and specializes in the treatment of pelvic floor disorders.
Fun Fact
Baby is much more active now, and many providers recommend counting baby’s kicks to assess baby’s well-being. Apart from the joy of feeling your little peanut moving around (this is likely baby hiccupping!) and responding to you, it’s also a way to monitor fetal movement. “The goal is typically to feel at least ten distinct movements (kicks, rolls, flutters, etc.) within a two-hour period,” Spong says. “Any time you feel that baby is not moving as frequently as before, we recommend that you sit or lay in a quiet place for at least one hour and count baby’s kicks. If you notice a significant decrease, contact your provider for an evaluation.”
What to Know About the Pelvic Floor
You’ve seen the commercials, the ones for incontinence pads or liners that depict a woman sneezing or coughing and looking sheepish because they peed a little. Many women accept this stress urinary incontinence (SUI) as a fact of life, something that inevitably happens after delivery that they just have to live with.
But you don’t! There are things you can do to prevent this from happening to you, Mom. But before we get into those solutions, let’s first learn why SUI is common.
“The pelvic floor is a collection of muscles that provide support to the pelvic organs: bladder, uterus, vagina, and rectum,” says Dr. María Florián-Rodríguez, a urogynecologist in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at UT Southwestern Medical Center who specializes in the treatment of pelvic floor disorders. “During pregnancy, stretching of the pelvic floor occurs to accommodate the growing uterus and support the weight of the baby.” Childbirth, particularly vaginal delivery, can stretch and weaken the pelvic floor muscles. Because of this, about one-third of women experience SUI in the first three months after giving birth.
So, what can you do to prevent pelvic floor issues during and after pregnancy? “During pregnancy, stretching and breathing exercises are helpful in learning how to coordinate the diaphragm and pelvic floor muscles to prepare for pushing during delivery. Yoga and perineal massage improve the flexibility of the pelvic floor and can help limit the risk of vaginal tears,” Florián-Rodríguez says.
Pelvic floor muscle exercises, like Kegels, after delivery can strengthen those muscles and can treat and help prevent the onset of pelvic floor disorders like urinary incontinence, fecal incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse. Within a few weeks or months of maintaining a daily Kegel exercise routine, new moms can see a reduction in the amount of urine leakage.
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This blog is provided for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute the provision of medical advice or professional services. This blog is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
The above article was written by DFWChild contributor Katelin Walling with information provided by UT Southwestern Medical Center as part of their sponsored content.
