Third trimester

29 weeks pregnant: what is happening this week

Week 29 of 42worked example

38.6 cm

Measured: head to heelabout the size of a butternut squash
This week runs: Thu, Jul 16, 2026 to Wed, Jul 22, 2026
Days to the estimated due date: 84
Term window (37-42 weeks): Thu, Sep 17, 2026 to Thu, Oct 22, 2026

The NHS publishes this figure for week 29, about the size of a butternut squash. It is an average from patient guidance rather than a measurement of any particular pregnancy, and the measurement basis changes at week 20 - see the note below the dates.

38.6 cm, butternut-squash length, and the NHS description shifts in tone: perfectly formed, with the remaining weeks given over to organs maturing rather than parts appearing. Fat is being laid down in earnest. Vernix, the greasy protective layer that arrived around week 20, begins to thin from here. Breathlessness is the dominant complaint of this fortnight, and the mechanism is simple - the diaphragm has less room to move because something is pressing up against it. Leg cramps continue. Trips to the bathroom at night increase. And the timing problem gets worse: the most active period is frequently the hour after lying down, because lying down is when the rocking stops. There is a specific piece of work available this week that is easy to defer and disproportionately useful, which is figuring out the route to the hospital and where you actually park at two in the morning. Not roughly. Precisely: which entrance is open overnight, what the parking costs, whether it takes cash. Every maternity unit has a different answer and none of them are findable at speed.

Put your own dates on week 29

Your estimated due dateNothing you type here leaves your browser. Without a date the panel shows a worked example built from a last period of Thu, Jan 1, 2026.

Week 1 began: Thu, Jan 1, 2026
Week 29 begins: Thu, Jul 16, 2026
Week 29 ends: Wed, Jul 22, 2026
Estimated due date: Thu, Oct 8, 2026

Dates run on ACOG's 280-day convention, the same arithmetic as the due date calculator. Share this week with your dates: /pregnancy/week-29?s=d:2026-10-08

Everything you type here is computed in your browser. Nothing you enter is stored on a server, sent anywhere, or shared — there is no account and no health data to leak.

What the NHS describes this week

The NHS puts the foetus at around 38.6 cm from head to heel this week.
The body is fully formed, with the remaining weeks given over to organs maturing.
Fat is being laid down, and the vernix layer begins to reduce.

What happens around now

Breathlessness increases as the diaphragm is compressed. The whooping cough vaccination should be completed by week 33 on NHS guidance if it has not been given already.

On the measurement. The NHS publishes a length for each week from 4 to 40. Up to week 19 it is measured head to bottom (crown to rump, the measurement a scan takes while the legs are curled). From week 20 it is measured head to heel, which is why the figure jumps from 15.3 cm at week 19 to 25.6 cm at week 20 - the baby did not grow 10 cm in a week, the ruler changed. The NHS states the change on its week 20 page.

Where week 29 comes from

NHS: week 29 of pregnancy
NHS, Week-by-week guide to pregnancy — the guide these weeks are built from

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