Cheritera Hikayati

This is it — you're two-thirds to the finish line at 28 weeks pregnant, as you enter the third trimester! And what a difference a trimester makes. Gone, most likely, are the days when you could call pregnancy "comfortable" (that is, if you ever did). These days, your baby's kicking (or lack of) is keeping you up at night and worried during the day, your feet are swollen, you're getting tired all over again, and your backache is a pain that just won't quit. And even though he or she hasn't started crying yet, it may seem that your baby's getting on your nerves already — literally. As your baby gets settled into a proper (you hope) position for birth, his or her head (and your enlarging uterus) may rest on the sciatic nerve in the lower part of your spine. And if that happens, you may feel sharp, shooting pain, tingling, or numbness that starts in your buttocks and radiates down the back of your legs — otherwise known as sciatica. The pain of sciatica can be quite intense at times, and though it may pass if your baby shifts positions, it can also linger until you've delivered.

A heating pad, a warm tub, stretches, or just some self-imposed bed rest can help with the discomfort. So can some complementary and alternative therapies.

About my baby, he's actively inside me! Super duper active! Alhamdulillah...

Are you dreaming about your baby? At 28 weeks pregnant, your baby may be dreaming about you, too. Brain wave activity measured in a developing fetus shows different sleep cycles, including the rapid eye movement phase, the stage when dreaming occurs.
By now, your baby, who weighs in at about two and a half pounds and stands — or rather lies — at almost 16 inches (measured head to toe) has added blinking to his or her growing bag of tricks. (Outside in the real world, blinking is necessary to help keep foreign objects out of the eyes.) Other impressive new talents being added to your baby's roster in the womb include coughing, more intense sucking, and, perhaps most important, better breathing. Of course, it's still best if a baby doesn't check out of that uterine hotel just yet — there's still a lot of growing and maturing to do over the next 12 weeks.