26 weeks pregnant

Your Child may already be in the head-down position, the ideal position for a natural birth. You may experience sleep disruptions due to hormones and your growing belly.

Your Child’s development
The little one now weighs about 750g and measures about 35 cm in height — the size of a red cabbage.

Hearing and language: The ears have now fully developed. Even though Your Child is surrounded by amniotic fluid and wrapped in the layers of your body — which means that all noises from outside your body will be muffled — Your Child’s little brain is now starting to register the sounds of language. If you speak a lot of your native language while Your Child is still in the womb, the little one is more likely to pay attention to those who speak that same language a few days after birth. In the coming weeks, Your Child will become even more receptive to sounds, especially your voice.

The lung: The branches of bronchioles keep expanding like a sprawling tree. By now, approximately 17 orders of branches have formed, and each terminal formed 2 or more respiratory bronchioles. In two weeks, Your Child has a very high chance of surviving a preterm delivery, because the lungs are then able to breathe. 

The tiny nails: Your Child’s tiny fingernails are now visible after being underdeveloped for many weeks.

Your development
You might be feeling more tired because painful leg cramps could affect your sleep.

The leg cramps: The cause of leg cramps during pregnancy is not fully known. Some theories say that Your Child presses on certain nerves and blood vessels that go to your legs. But, also, calcium or magnesium deficiency or dehydration might play a role. You may help prevent them by flexing and releasing your feet several times before bedtime.

Braxton Hicks: You might keep experiencing Braxton Hicks contractions, and the closer your due date gets, the more they seem like real labor. You’ll know when real labor starts if the contractions occur every 5 minutes. 

What you can do
Although it may get increasingly difficult to be active with all the added weight, make every effort to stay active since it prepares you for delivery. 

Rh factor blood test: If you tested Rh-negative at the beginning of your pregnancy, you will be offered an Anti-D injection at around weeks 26-28. Anti-D stops your body from making antibodies, thus, preventing your immune system from rejecting Your Child’s red blood cells.