At seven months pregnant, you’re entering the third trimester, roughly weeks 28 through 30. Your baby weighs about 2 to 3 pounds, your body is working significantly harder than usual, and you’ll likely notice new symptoms showing up alongside familiar ones. Here’s what’s actually happening and what to look out for.
How Big Your Baby Is Now
At week 28, your baby measures nearly 10 inches from head to rump and weighs about 2¼ pounds. By week 30, they’ll stretch past 10½ inches and approach 3 pounds. That’s a lot of growth in a short window, and you’ll feel the difference.
Your baby’s eyelids can partially open around week 28, and by week 30 their eyes open wide. The lungs are maturing but aren’t fully ready yet. Your baby is also building up fat stores under the skin, which will help regulate body temperature after birth. Brain development is rapid during this stretch, with the surface folding into the wrinkled pattern that allows for more complex neural connections.
What Your Body Feels Like
The third trimester brings a collection of symptoms that are mostly annoying rather than alarming. Knowing what causes them helps.
Back pain: Pregnancy hormones loosen the connective tissue that holds your pelvic bones in place, while your growing uterus stretches out your abdominal muscles. Together, these shifts put extra strain on your lower back. This is one of the most common complaints at this stage.
Shortness of breath: Your uterus is pressing upward against your rib cage, leaving less room for your lungs to expand fully. You may find yourself winded climbing stairs or even talking for a while. This improves later in pregnancy when the baby drops lower into your pelvis.
Heartburn and constipation: Pregnancy hormones slow digestion, and the growing uterus presses on your intestines. The combination means food moves through your system more slowly, leading to acid reflux and irregular bowel movements. Smaller, more frequent meals and staying hydrated can help.
Frequent urination and leaking: As the baby settles deeper into your pelvis, bladder pressure increases. You’ll probably need to urinate more often, and you may leak a little when you laugh, cough, or sneeze. Pelvic floor exercises can reduce leaking, though they won’t eliminate the frequency.
Heart palpitations: Your blood volume has increased dramatically by this point. The growing uterus can slow blood returning to your heart, which sometimes causes a fluttery or pounding sensation. These episodes are usually brief and harmless.
Braxton Hicks vs. Real Contractions
Many people start noticing Braxton Hicks contractions around month seven. These feel like a tightening in your abdomen, often focused in one area rather than spreading across the whole uterus. They tend to show up in the afternoon or evening, after physical activity, or after sex. The key thing: they’re uncomfortable but not painful, they come at irregular intervals, and they don’t get stronger over time. Changing position or going for a short walk often makes them fade.
Real labor contractions are different in specific ways. They’re painful, they come at increasingly shorter intervals, they grow stronger and last longer with each one, and they don’t stop. A useful benchmark is the 5-1-1 pattern: contractions every 5 minutes, each lasting at least 1 minute, continuing for 1 hour. That signals true labor. At 7 months, true contractions would be considered preterm, so knowing the difference matters.
Tracking Your Baby’s Movements
The third trimester is when daily kick counts become useful. Pick a time when your baby is usually active, sit with your feet up or lie on your side, and count each movement (kicks, jabs, rolls, pokes) until you reach 10. Some babies hit 10 movements in under 10 minutes. Others take 30 minutes or longer. Neither pace is better or worse. What matters is learning your baby’s normal pattern so you can notice if something changes.
If your baby’s movements suddenly feel weaker than usual, or if it’s taking significantly longer to reach 10 movements compared to previous days, contact your provider. Changes in movement patterns are one of the earliest signals that something may need attention.
Appointments and Screenings
Most pregnant people have already completed their glucose screening test between weeks 24 and 28. If yours happened right at the cutoff, you might be waiting for results or completing a follow-up test at the start of month seven. The initial screen involves drinking a sugary solution and having your blood drawn an hour later. If those results come back elevated, a longer follow-up test with multiple blood draws confirms or rules out gestational diabetes.
If you’re Rh-negative (a blood type characteristic identified early in pregnancy), you’ll receive an injection around week 28 to prevent your immune system from producing antibodies against your baby’s blood cells. This is a routine precaution, not a sign of a problem. You’ll get a second dose after delivery.
Your prenatal visits will also start becoming more frequent around this time. Many providers shift from monthly to every-two-week appointments somewhere in the third trimester.
Eating and Energy Needs
Your calorie needs in the third trimester are about 300 extra calories per day compared to your pre-pregnancy intake. That’s roughly the equivalent of a banana with a tablespoon of peanut butter and a glass of milk. The emphasis at this stage is less about eating more and more about eating well: iron for your expanding blood supply, calcium for your baby’s developing bones, protein for tissue growth, and fiber to counteract the constipation that plagues this trimester.
Hydration also becomes more important as your blood volume peaks. Dehydration can worsen Braxton Hicks contractions, headaches, and constipation, so keeping water within reach throughout the day pays off.
Sleep and Comfort at Night
Getting comfortable in bed becomes a real challenge at seven months. Side sleeping, particularly on your left side, is the most commonly recommended position because it keeps pressure off the large blood vessel that runs along your spine. That said, experts at the University of Utah point out that the evidence linking back sleeping to serious complications is weaker than many people assume. Their takeaway: the stress of forcing yourself into an unnatural position is likely more harmful than occasionally waking up on your back. If you roll over during the night, don’t panic. Just shift to your side and go back to sleep.
A pillow between your knees can ease hip and lower back pressure. Some people find a wedge pillow under the belly helpful as well. Heartburn tends to be worse at night, so propping your upper body slightly can reduce reflux.
Warning Signs of Preterm Labor
Most discomfort at seven months is normal, but certain symptoms warrant immediate contact with your provider. These include regular or frequent contractions (not the irregular Braxton Hicks type), a constant dull low backache that doesn’t improve with position changes, pelvic pressure that feels different from usual, vaginal spotting or bleeding, and any gush or steady trickle of fluid from the vagina, whether watery, bloody, or mucus-like. Mild belly cramps that persist also fall into this category.
Preterm labor caught early can sometimes be slowed with medical intervention, giving your baby more critical development time. The difference between “this feels uncomfortable” and “something is wrong” often comes down to whether symptoms are persistent, worsening, or rhythmic rather than random.