Chorevia

Day 191 of 280 · 27 weeks + 2 days

Prunes

Last reviewed · 3 min read · 6 sources · Plain-text version

Twenty-seven weeks and two days. Bloating and constipation are common around now. Three days of fiber and water, and a note on what changed.

Size this week
about the size of a head of cauliflower
Length this week
around 36.6 cm from head to heel
A Latina woman with a rounded 27-week bump in a soft sweater at a breakfast table by a window, a bowl of bran cereal topped with prunes and a tall glass of water.

Twenty-seven weeks and two days. Today's note is about the part of pregnancy nobody puts on a card: your bowels. It's ordinary, it's fixable, and breakfast is where it starts.

Your baby

One whole head of cauliflower with the leaves trimmed, on a plain pale wooden table, soft window light.

Around now your baby is around 36.6cm from head to heel, about the size of a head of cauliflower (NHS). All the organs are maturing in preparation for life outside the womb (NHS). The digestive system is one of them; yours, meanwhile, is having a harder week.

Your body

Weight gain is likely around now, and so are bloating and constipation, because your stomach is squeezed by the growing baby and by the hormone progesterone (NHS). Digestion also slows in pregnancy, which can bring heartburn as well as constipation (MedlinePlus). The Office on Women's Health defines constipation as fewer than three bowel movements a week, with hard, dry stools (OWH).

What helps, according to MedlinePlus: drink plenty of water, 8 to 9 cups a day, and add fiber from raw fruits and vegetables such as prunes and from whole grain or bran cereals (MedlinePlus). Ask your provider before using a stool softener or a laxative (MedlinePlus). Constipation and piles travel together: up to 50 percent of pregnant women develop hemorrhoids, and they tend to get better after delivery (OWH). Fluids and a high-fiber diet help prevent them (MedlinePlus).

Try today

  1. The prune plate

    Time: 5 minutes each morning, three days

    1. Make breakfast a high-fiber one: a whole grain or bran cereal, with prunes or a piece of raw fruit on the side (MedlinePlus).

    2. Pour a full glass of water before you sit down, and refill it as the day goes; the target is 8 to 9 cups (MedlinePlus).

    3. Add one raw vegetable to lunch.

    4. Each evening, write one line: how your stomach felt, and whether things moved.

    5. On the fourth morning, read the three lines and keep what helped.

    Make it work:

    If nothing has shifted after a few days, that's a question for your provider, not a reason to reach for a laxative on your own (MedlinePlus).

Watch for

  • Normal

    a little bright red blood on the toilet paper from piles, which are usually not painful (MedlinePlus).

    Go to the ER

    for a lot of rectal bleeding or bleeding with dizziness or faintness (MedlinePlus).

  • Normal

    not always knowing where blood came from.

    Call your provider right away

    about any vaginal bleeding late in pregnancy, and call 911 for heavy bleeding or a stiff, painful belly (MedlinePlus).

  • Normal

    more trips to the bathroom.

    Call your provider

    for pain when you pee, or a change in the color or smell of your urine, which may mean a bladder infection (MedlinePlus).

For you

Tiredness, snoring and blocked nasal passages are common around now too (NHS). If the snoring is new, it isn't you being a worse sleeper; it's on the week's list. For a stuffy nose, MedlinePlus suggests a humidifier and saline nasal spray (MedlinePlus).

Bodily talk is part of the job now. Say "I'm constipated" to your partner or your provider in the same voice you'd use for "I'm tired." It gets easier, and by the birth you'll have said far stranger things in front of more people.

If you're the partner: buy the prunes, fill the water jug, and keep any snoring jokes to yourself this week.

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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