28 Weeks Pregnant: The Third Trimester Begins

Twenty-eight weeks marks a real shift. The countdown feels different now, and a lot of the planning that seemed far off suddenly sits close enough to actually start.

At 28 weeks, your baby is roughly the size of an aubergine, around 37.6cm from head to heel, and this week the third trimester officially begins.¹

How big is the baby at 28 weeks?

About 37.6cm head to heel, close to an aubergine.¹ Around this point the baby's heart rate, which raced earlier in pregnancy, has settled to roughly 140 beats per minute.¹

What's common around 28 weeks

Nosebleeds turn up for a lot of people in this stretch of pregnancy. The extra blood flowing through your body, combined with the way pregnancy affects the small vessels in your nose, makes them more frequent than usual.¹

By now many parents also start noticing the baby's own rhythm: stretches of wriggling and stretches of quiet that tend to repeat. That sense of a familiar pattern is something a lot of people describe in the third trimester. Your midwife or doctor is the person to ask if anything about your pregnancy feels off to you.

Prep this week: get the hang of tracking movements and patterns

This is a nice week to get familiar with how you'll keep an eye on your baby's movements and daily patterns, while there's no rush. Knowing what feels normal for your baby starts with simply paying attention to the come-and-go of activity over a day.

nappi has a kick counter for whenever you want to use it, plus a place to note patterns as they emerge. Setting up your baby profile now, with the due date and your partner in the same nappi household, means the record carries straight through to the day they arrive. No starting over.

Frequently Asked Questions

When does the third trimester start?

The third trimester begins at 28 weeks and runs to birth.¹ It's the final stretch, when most of the remaining work is growth and maturing rather than forming new structures.

Why am I getting nosebleeds in pregnancy?

Nosebleeds are common in pregnancy because of increased blood flow and the effect of pregnancy hormones on the delicate vessels inside your nose.¹ A midwife or doctor can talk you through anything that's bothering you.