Your baby this week
Your baby now measures about thirteen and a half inches and weighs around one and a half pounds — roughly the size of a head of cauliflower, if cauliflower were adorable. The filling-out era has officially begun: baby fat is starting to smooth those wrinkles, and the skin is growing less translucent and more pink as tiny blood vessels, capillaries, form and fill beneath its surface.
The headline, though, is response. Your baby's hearing and nervous system are now connected well enough that familiar sounds get reactions: a kick at the sound of your voice, a startle at a sudden noise, a flurry of movement when music plays or when you laugh. Your voice remains the favorite — it arrives through your body, clear and constant — and many babies visibly settle or stir in answer to it. Partners talking to the bump get their rewards now too: a well-timed thump against a resting hand is becoming a regular feature of the evening.
Other construction news: your baby's nostrils, which were plugged until now, are beginning to open, and the lungs continue their slow, vital work — air sacs multiplying, blood vessels weaving, breathing movements rehearsed daily. Hair is growing with more definite color and texture. The spine is strengthening, the hands are fully formed with tiny fingernails, and your baby's grip keeps improving.
The brain is having a headline season of its own: this stretch brings rapid brain growth — the surface developing its folds and grooves, multiplying the room available for all the learning to come — and the sensory systems are wiring in, hearing now, vision refining behind still-closed lids, touch spreading across the skin.
Sleep and wake cycles are clear now, and you'll notice your baby often wakes when you lie down to rest — your movement through the day rocked them to sleep, and stillness is their alarm clock. This explains a great deal about 2 a.m.
Your body & symptoms: the full-capacity cast
Your body at week 25 is working at full capacity and occasionally filing complaints. Your uterus is about the size of a soccer ball now, and your bump makes its presence known in every chair, car seat, and flight of stairs. The guest list this week: heartburn, especially after dinner and especially lying down, as space gets snug and the stomach shares its neighborhood. Backache and hip aches that build through the day. Restless legs in the evening — an irresistible urge to move them just as you settle.
Tingling or numb hands, particularly at night: fluid retention can press on the nerves in the wrist, a common and usually temporary nuisance called carpal tunnel symptoms; mention it at your visit if it's strong. Leg cramps still make their cameos. Braxton Hicks pop by irregularly and leave when you rest and hydrate. Mild swelling continues its evening appearances. Vivid, cinematic dreams become a nightly festival — pregnancy dreams are famous for good reason. And through it all, the frequent bathroom trips are staging their return, because your bladder has less and less say in the matter.
You may also notice the appointments themselves changing character: belly measurements at each visit now track your baby's growth curve, the heartbeat check is routine music, and your doctor's questions turn more toward how you're actually living — sleep, movement, mood. Answer honestly. “Exhausted and a bit wobbly” is useful medical information, not complaining.
The glucose screening window (weeks 24–28)
A quick, important calendar item. If your glucose screening hasn't happened yet, you are right in the standard window — most doctors schedule it between weeks 24 and 28. We covered the test in full in our Week 24 post; the short version is a sweet glucose drink, an hour's wait, and a blood draw, screening for gestational diabetes — temporary blood-sugar changes that are common in pregnancy and very manageable when caught.
If yours isn't booked, this is the week to ask your doctor about it, including whether you need to fast beforehand, since practices vary. If you've already taken it and everything came back in range, you're done with sugar tests — congratulations, carry on.
Practical tips from the trenches: bring something to read for the wait, expect the drink to be sweeter than anything you'd choose, and pack a protein-rich snack for immediately after the blood draw — the post-test wobble is real, and future you will be extremely grateful to prepared you.
And if your screening number came back high, remember that's not a diagnosis: it simply leads to a longer follow-up test, which many women pass. Your doctor will walk you through every step; your only job is to keep the appointment.
Sleep: winning back the night
Now, sleep — because at week 25, it has become a project. Start with position: side-lying is the standard recommendation now, and the winning setup is a small village of pillows — one between your knees to align your hips, one supporting the bump, one behind your back to prevent the flat-on-your-back roll. Full-length pregnancy pillows exist for a reason, but an army of ordinary pillows works remarkably well.
Then manage the night-shift disruptions. For heartburn: finish dinner earlier when you can, keep evening meals smaller, and prop your head and shoulders. For bathroom trips: front-load your hydration earlier in the day and taper in the last hour or two before bed — daytime hydration matters, so shift it rather than shrinking it. For restless legs: a warm bath or shower before bed, gentle calf stretches, and a daytime walk all help many women; if the restlessness is nightly and miserable, tell your doctor, because things like iron levels are part of that conversation.
For the 3 a.m. mind-racing: keep a notepad by the bed — writing the thought down exports it from your brain, which can then, mercifully, power down. Bring your partner onto the sleep team, too: this is the era when the spare pillows migrate, the fan gets negotiated, and somebody ends up diagonal. And give screens a curfew if you can — the midnight scroll through worst-case forums has never once improved a night's rest.
Welcome, also, to the unofficial 3 a.m. club — membership: nearly every pregnant woman on Earth. You are not failing at sleep; you are experiencing the standard-issue rehearsal schedule, and your body is practicing the broken nights that newborn life will bring — with the crucial difference that right now, you can still nap at noon without anyone crying about it. Take the nap.
And reframe the goal: perfect nights may be on pause for a while, and that's survivable. Rest counts even when sleep is broken — naps, lie-downs, and quiet feet-up time all refill the tank.