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Day 160 of 280 · 22 weeks + 6 days

Looking ahead to month six

Last reviewed · 3 min read · 10 sources · Plain-text version

The last day of your fifth month. Today you read ahead: the glucose test, a first birth plan, and when to tell work, each with a week beside it.

Size this week
about the size of a sweet potato
Length this week
around 27.8 cm from head to toe
A white woman with a rounded bump in a loose cardigan curled in an armchair by a window at dusk, a paper wall calendar on her knees, pencil in hand, a mug on the sill.

Twenty-two weeks and six days: the last day of your fifth month. Tomorrow a new month starts with a few dates in it. Today you look at them once, calmly, before they arrive.

Your baby

A single sweet potato on a plain white ceramic plate, soft daylight.

Around 27.8cm long from head to toe, about the size of a sweet potato (NHS). The lungs are developing and your baby practises breathing in the womb (NHS). By 24 weeks, footprints and fingerprints have formed and the baby sleeps and wakes on a regular schedule (NICHD).

Your body

Stretch marks may appear around now on your tummy, upper thighs or breasts. The NHS calls them harmless, and they usually fade after birth (NHS). Lotions and oils can't really prevent them, but avoiding excessive weight gain can lower the risk (MedlinePlus). The Office on Women's Health puts it in two words: "Be patient" (OWH).

Try today

  1. The month-six preview

    Time: 15 minutes

    1. On a calendar, mark weeks 24 to 28 and write "glucose test" across them; that's when most women are screened (MedlinePlus).

    2. At week 24, write "birth plan, page one". The NHS puts writing a birth plan on that week's list (NHS).

    3. Beside it, note the two questions the NHS raises a week later: what pain relief you'd prefer, and who you want with you at the birth (NHS).

    4. At week 25, write "work". The NHS's latest point for telling your employer is 15 weeks before your due date, around week 25 (NHS). That deadline is the UK's; check what applies where you work.

    Make it work:

    Three words on three weeks is enough. Nothing on this list needs doing today.

Watch for

  • Normal

    backache, still on this stage's symptom list (NHS); rest and heat can help (OWH).

    Call your provider

    if the pain does not get better (OWH).

  • Normal

    feeling less steady as the bump grows (NHS).

    Call your provider

    if you fall; the NHS says stay calm, but tell your midwife as soon as possible (NHS).

  • Normal

    a month of new sensations that are hard to name.

    Call your provider

    if you feel like something just isn't right, even if it isn't on any list; the CDC says to reach out when something seems wrong (CDC).

For you

If you still smoke, it isn't too late to matter: the CDC says quitting at any point in pregnancy helps (CDC). Ask your provider for support. If that isn't you, skip this paragraph.

If you're the partner: put the same three weeks in your own calendar. The birth plan has a line in it about who's with her, and that's probably you.

That's your fifth month: the anatomy scan, the first sure kicks, a back-care routine, a wellbeing plan, a short list of reasons to call straight away, and a glucose test on the horizon. The notes continue in your sixth month of pregnancy.

Sources

This guide is general education that summarizes published research and guidance from groups like the American Academy of Pediatrics, the CDC, and the WHO. It isn’t medical advice, and every child develops on their own timeline. Your pediatrician knows your child; if something feels wrong, call them. In an emergency, call 911.

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