Pregnancy – Month 7

Welcome to the third trimester. This is the home stretch, and it's a big one, so pace yourself. Your body is doing a lot of work right now, and it's normal to feel more aware of that than you did a few months ago.

Physical changes you might notice

Everything from Month 2 through Month 6 can still apply. New this month, your belly might get itchy as the skin stretches, breast tenderness can pick back up, and you'll probably feel more fetal movement than ever before. Tingling, pain, or numbness in your hands is common too, usually from swelling putting pressure on nerves in your wrists, along with leg cramps that tend to strike at night.

Emotional changes you might notice

Moodiness and forgetfulness often start easing off around now. A lot of women get more curious about labor and childbirth this month, so don't be surprised if your pregnancy books start looking a little worn around the edges. There's often real pride creeping in too, especially once your bump is impossible to miss.

Appetite changes

Appetite is usually strong this month, though some queasiness can still show up here and there. For a rundown of what your doctor will be checking at your visits from here on out, our guide to third trimester testing covers it.

The inside story

By the end of this month, your baby is nearly ten inches long from head to bottom and weighs about two and a quarter pounds, roughly the size of an eggplant. Fingerprints and toe prints have already formed, and the eyelids, which have been fused shut since around Month 4, are starting to open. If your baby were born now, survival outside the womb is genuinely possible with intensive neonatal care. Recent data puts the odds at around 80 to 90 percent, with some studies reporting even better numbers, though a birth this early still comes with real risk of complications and isn't something to aim for. Every extra week your baby stays put from here improves those odds further.

Sleep and energy

Finding a comfortable position gets harder as your bump grows, which can disrupt sleep more than it did in Month 5 or Month 6. Leg cramps are a common culprit too. If one grabs you, try flexing your foot upward, toes toward your shin, to stretch out the calf muscle.

Easing the stress

This is a great month to sign up for childbirth classes if you haven't already, and to start talking with other mothers about what labor and delivery were actually like for them. Reading up on what to expect helps too. Ask your doctor for book or class recommendations if you're not sure where to start.

Special risks worth knowing about

What used to get lumped together as pregnancy induced hypertension is now split into two more specific diagnoses, gestational hypertension and preeclampsia, both worth knowing the warning signs for since your doctor will be watching your blood pressure closely from here on. Cervical insufficiency, sometimes still called an incompetent cervix, is another thing to be aware of. It happens when the cervix silently shortens or opens too early, without labor pain to warn you, and it's usually caught through a vaginal exam or ultrasound rather than symptoms you'd notice yourself. Depending on timing, it can be treated with a stitch called a cerclage, which is successful in the large majority of cases, sometimes paired with bed rest. Preterm labor, meaning labor that starts before 37 weeks, is also worth knowing the signs of at this stage.

Want to see what your baby looks like at this stage? Our ultrasound images page has real examples. For more on the two conditions covered above, ACOG has detailed guidance on hypertension and preeclampsia in pregnancy, and Cleveland Clinic explains cervical insufficiency and cerclage in plain terms. When you're ready, Month 8 continues your third trimester.