28 weeks pregnant: what is happening this week

37.6 cm and the third trimester by the convention this site uses. The heart rate has settled to around 140 beats a minute, down from about 170 earlier on, which is a change worth noticing because a slowing heart rate here is maturation rather than anything to be concerned about. The face and body are recognisably those of a newborn. There is a substantial appointment this week. A blood test is taken, the bump is measured, labour and birth are discussed, and anti-D is offered where the blood group requires it. The RSV vaccination is recommended around week 28 and can be given up to labour; whooping cough is given now if it has not been already. Newborn screening tests get explained around this point too. Discomfort is genuinely increasing by now - heartburn, indigestion, back strain, swelling in the ankles and feet, and nosebleeds. That is a lot of separate small things at once, and the cumulative effect is more tiring than any of them individually. It is worth naming that rather than treating each one as a separate complaint to be solved.