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The entire journey of pregnancy is peppered with various milestones that function as a great way to keep track of the babies as well as the mother’s progress. Carrying twins at 28 weeks in the womb is one of the crucial ones in that regard since it officially welcomes the third trimester for you. Your doctors, too, would get their game on and begin to focus more intensely on various aspects of your babies, ensuring that they are at their fittest best when they come out into the real world. Right from understanding their position to choosing how to deliver them successfully, a lot of decision making begins to take place this week. All of these points are important in mitigating any fatal risks the babies might face in these final months, and increase the chances of you holding healthy babies in your arms happily.
The Growth of the Babies At 28 Weeks
The onset of the third trimester flags off yet another stage in the development of your babies inside you. This usually does not affect the length of babies anymore but puts its prime focus on getting their weight up to the mark and their bodies protected completely. With a fully developed skeletal structure that continues hardening over the months, fat layers begin to increase and start making your little ones chubby and cute.
Your babies don’t yet have fully developed lungs and those will continue to progress step by step every week. The placenta that was providing all the nourishment as well as substances required for sustenance also ends up growing in size with the demands of the babies. It, itself, would be as heavy as a kilogram.
The activities of your little ones will continue with increased intensities. The movement and blinking of eyes will increase in frequency, as your babies will set into a cycle of sleeping and awakening as appropriate for them. Brain convolution development will continue further with increased sensitivity to different stimuli. The amniotic fluid that was completely surrounding your babies will reduce in quantity progressively. This will continue to happen since the babies will take up most of the space inside the uterus, leaving very little amniotic fluid by the end of the pregnancy.
What is the Size of the Babies?
Next time you pop into a supermarket to get some vegetables for the house, take a good look at the eggplants kept there. That’s pretty much how large your babies are inside you. Their length usually does not increase much during this week, staying somewhere around 37 centimetres or so, when measured from their head down to their toes. However, their weight would have jumped up quite a bit, leaving each baby to be nearly 850-900 grams.
Common Bodily Changes
All that your babies are doing throughout this week for most of the time is merely putting on a tremendous amount of fat and gaining weight steadily. This is precisely what your body needs to adapt itself to and undergo changes to suit it.
- The activities that your little ones participate within their wonderfully cosy home inside you can make its presence felt to you in various forms. Mothers begin to experience the kicks, punches and tons of other acrobatics that babies carry out inside them. Another addition to this strange feeling is when your babies start to experience hiccups. Since they are taking in amniotic fluid in large quantities as an act of breathing, it tends to flow through the diaphragm speedily, causing hiccups to ensue. While you may not hear the sounds or experience them on the outside when that does happen, the sensations that you feel within you have been termed by many pregnant women to be some of the most enjoyable and funny moments throughout your pregnancy.
- Swelling would be a factor that most women get used to by the time the third trimester makes its appearance. While those may not be painful all the time, there would be instances when cramps occur all of a sudden. Mothers have known to complain about a weird sensation in their legs, especially the region around the calves, which feels like cramps. These usually arise when you are lying down for a small break or sleeping peacefully in your bed. Doctors are yet to lock down to a specific condition that might cause cramps to arise, but the numerous changes that undergo within the body make it difficult to do so. Nevertheless, a simple flexing or stretching of the feet and toes, as well as standing on a cold floor can cause the cramps to fade away.
- There is something fantastic and marvellous about the fact that the uterus pretty much makes large space for itself inside your body, without causing much pain in any section. Pain is a cause for worry, especially in the pelvic region where the uterus is primarily located. But most of the times, there is merely a sensation of pressure out there. This begins to get a lot more area-specific and quite evident in the latter stages of the pregnancy since the babies start increasing in size tremendously. If the orientation of a baby is such that the head is resting in the pelvic region, the pressure can be felt to be higher than what you usually do. Whenever this happens, it is important to rest for a few minutes until the pressure wanes away.
Symptoms Of Twin Pregnancy at 28 Weeks
The various symptoms you experience in the 28th week of your pregnancy would seem extremely strong in comparison to the rather peaceful weeks that you had just a while ago.
- Your pregnancy would suddenly find itself to be synonymous with a dull ache that tends to cover the entire body in general. The cause could vary right from the heavyweight babies in your tummy to the hormones wreaking havoc in various regions of the body. Combined with the stress of the pregnancy, the ache can quickly take its toll on you. Relaxation and breathing exercises have always been the best way to counter it.
- If you have been working while you were pregnant, these weeks will start making extensive movements a little tiring for you. The large size of the babies will inevitably put some pressure on the organs responsible for breathing effectively. With a lower amount of breath and, consequently, oxygen being inhaled, it is quite natural for you to feel exhausted easily. Furthermore, random contractions that can strike at any moment of the day can cause you to stop and control yourself before they fade away properly. These minor contractions and shortness of breath can leave you feeling disoriented and frustrated at times.
- The increasing size of your breasts would have reached its peak in the previous weeks, but there would be times when they end up leaking milk or yellow coloured colostrum all of a sudden. This leaking can even be in quantities, causing you to soak your bra and, unfortunately, your clothes, too. This is normal but definitely needs to be taken care of.
Twin Pregnancy – Belly At 28 Weeks
With the 7th month of the pregnancy on you, the belly would be as big as it has never been before. The round curvature would be highly pronounced, and the stretch marks could also get stronger, given how intensely the skin needs to stretch itself. An itching sensation could emerge as a result of it.
Certain creams, gels, or oils can help reduce the marks and calm the itching sensation. These are usually safe during pregnancy and do not harm the baby.
Twin Pregnancy At 28 Weeks – Ultrasound
Women who have a normal pregnancy or separate twins, usually don’t undergo a scan as of yet. Most doctors tend to conduct an ultrasound scan in the 28th week of the pregnancy, if any prior pregnancy complications have been detected, or if a woman might have identical twins in her womb. These scans, too, are just a normal routine to monitor the progress.
Scans at this stage don’t reveal much about the babies, except for some eyelashes which might get evident in the coming weeks.
What To Eat
Most doctors would ask you to stick to a specialised diet that focuses on the mother keeping herself healthy and the babies putting on weight as quickly as possible. A dietitian might also be recommended who would specify each food item and its quantity down to the letter. Frequent meals are the way to go here on out. Nearly 6 meals a day is the perfect number. Major calories should enter the body in the mornings while ramping down the intake towards evening. Consumption of salt needs to be cut down to reduce any bouts of swelling. Specific dietary adjustments might be required if the woman has diabetes.
Pregnancy Care Tips
Ensuring a few basic habits and tips can maintain your safety and healthiness to its optimal level.
Dos
- If there are any medical appointments, book them in advance right away
- Begin to keep track of your baby’s kicks and note them down
Dont’s
- Avoid drinking caffeinated drinks since it can disturb your baby’s progress
- Don’t eliminate exercises completely from your schedule
What You Need To Shop For
Once you know you are having multiple babies, you can purchase specific products for them, such as:
- Matching twin one-piece dresses
- Car seats explicitly made for twins or triplets
A mother who is 28 weeks pregnant with twins would have a lot of things on her mind, while she continues to balance her mood and health to be at her best. Support her through it and don’t be afraid to offer any help that could make her time better and easier.
