Pregnancy Week Twenty Five
Baby’s Development
Crucial work is going on deep in your womb this week. The spine acts as the ‘information highway’ in the human body and at twenty-five weeks, your fetus is busy building hers! This week, the vertebrae, joints, ligaments and rings are developing, building the pathway for communication through her entire body.
Her nostrils reach completion this week as well. Amazingly enough, a recent study proved that even at this extremely early stage, babies can detect and show preference for certain smells. Her sense of smell will become so well developed in fact, that once born she’ll be able to detect you based entirely on your own odor. A combination of this elevated sense and the growing sensitivity developing around her mouth this week will make her a ‘nipple searching machine’ in a few short months.
With the development of her spinal cord, her dexterity is improving as well. If you were to place an object in her palm this week, she’d be able to grasp it quite well. She’ll have a similar reflex in her foot for a few months after she makes her entrance into the world. If you tickle a newborn’s foot, their toes curl up in a grasping motion not unlike a hand. Some scientists believe it’s an instinct left over from our more primal years!
Your Body and Emotions
Hopefully you’re documenting your body’s progression so you can compare your size this week to when you were only a few weeks expecting. Your uterus should be roughly the size of volleyball this week, jutting out past your hipbones. What a difference from when you had the tiniest of pooches!
Your increasing size may be putting a great deal of pressure on your pelvis and back. Because of this, some women will start to experience sciatic pain that will continue until delivery. Sciatica occurs when the baby’s body or head starts to press on the pelvic bones and as a result, compress the nerves along the spinal cord in the lower back. The pain can range from slight to absolutely debilitating and is often described as a quick, nasty shot down one or both legs. Unfortunately, there is nothing that can be done about this except to be patient. Some treatments that may help include lots of rest, avoiding bending at the waist, support cushions for sleep and finally, lots and lots of massages. Enlist your partner to give you a nightly massage or make an appointment with a masseuse or physiotherapist. Sciatica is not easy to live with so don’t hesitate to take all the steps necessary to ease at least some of the pain.
Dad’s Tips
Amazingly enough, you no longer need a Doppler machine or stethoscope to hear your little one’s heart beat. Whereas before you needed to wait for your partner’s appointment with her obstetrician to be reassured by the steady swooshes of your baby’s heart, now all you need is your ears. Try this for fun! Choose a quiet time of the day or night when background noise is almost non-existent. Lay your head on her belly and listen carefully. You may have to move around a bit to get the right position, but your baby is at such a size now that you should be able to hear her heart thumping away.