Pregnant

You’ve made it to the third trimester — celebrate! Do a little extra something for yourself this week; you deserve it.

Screening for Gestational Diabetes
This is your last week to take your "one hour glucose challenge" test, if you haven’t already done it. One hour prior to your regular blood test, the lab technician will give you a super-sweet drink that tastes a lot like 7Up. If this test result comes back high, you will be given another test to verify if you have developed gestational diabetes.

Sign Up for Classes
Your hospital or birth center should offer courses on childbirth, breastfeeding, and baby care basics. There are also often classes for expectant dads (who may be feeling a little left out by now). In addition to new skills, classes can offer you a new opportunity for bonding with your partner: there’s nothing like a birth class to inspire awe in your partner at the work your body is doing and will do. Classes are also a chance to meet new parents who may be future friends for you and your baby.

Go Shopping
Now’s the time to start thinking about things to buy for your baby (and for you.) Check out our list of mom-recommended new baby essentials.

Your Body at 27 Weeks Pregnant
Around this time, some women will feel an unpleasant sensation in their lower legs and an irresistible urge to move them as they sleep: it’s restless leg syndrome, which is very common in pregnancy. Stretching before bed, increasing your iron supplements, and cutting down on caffeine may help.

Your Baby at 27 Weeks Pregnant
Your baby is now about 14 1/2 inches (37 cm) in size and weighs about two pounds (900g); she’s about the size of a head of lettuce. Her hearing is completely developed, so go ahead and talk, sing or read to her if you haven’t started already. It may feel a little funny, but she can really hear you!

The preceding information was adapted from The Pregnancy Companion.

Image Source: iStock Photo

This question comes from a Group Therapy post in our TrèsSugar Community. Add your advice in the comments!

I'm 26 years old and I've been hooking up with a guy for almost a year. Originally I asked him if he had a gf and he said no. When I found out I should have ended it but, I couldn't, it was too easy.

He lives across the street. We were free at the same time . . . it's just perfect. He is much younger than me as well, he's 21, the gf is 19 and away at school most of the time. Well, 2 months ago I missed a couple of days of my pill and didn't think anything of it, and continued to have sex with him, and now I'm pregnant.

I just want some opinions on how I should go about telling him. I'm definitely keeping the baby, and have no problem raising the baby on my own. I make good money and have family so, honestly I can do it, but he is the father and he should know. Just a little stuck, I guess because I have grown to like him and I really feel bad about the whole situation now.

Have a dilemma of your own? Post it, anonymously, to Group Therapy for advice, and check out what else is happening in the TrèsSugar Community.

This question comes from Group Therapy in our TrèsSugar Community. Add your advice in the comments!
I'm 23 years old, and I was seeing this girl in a sexual relationship.  I specifically told her it would be nothing beyond physical, because I am traveling overseas for Graduate School (that, and I did not like her anything beyond that).  I decided to break it off, but before I could, she told me she was pregnant. Obviously, this was unexpected (she was on the pill, although I was stupid not to use a condom as well).  I know this is going to make me sound like a bit of a monster, but I really have no feelings for the girl.  In fact, since then I have come to not like her at all, and even if it is from me being upset at all of this, the best I will ever be able to do is be ambiguous about it.

Read the rest below.

• Learn how to make steamed artichokes. — Chow
• What not to eat when you're pregnant. — The Epi-Log
• Find out where some of Gourmet's editors have ended up. — Good Bite
• Domino's Pizza is now stalking people who haven't tried its new recipe. — Slice
• Watch Josh Ozersky introduce Katie Lee to egg foo yong. — Ozersky.TV
• In-N-Out Burger has raised the price of its burgers. — Grub Street LA
• What does Jeremy Fox, ex-chef of Napa's famed Ubuntu, have up his sleeve? — Feast
• San Francisco could be going meatless on Mondays. — Eater SF
• An inside look at Genoa's pesto showdown. — The Atlantic

Pregnant and high, 37-year-old Sandria Doremus entered a treatment facility in Greenville, SC, with the hopes that she could get off drugs and properly care for her baby. Her other motivation? She wanted to avoid being incarcerated after she gave birth.

It could easily have happened to her. A hospital reported her drug use to the police — as required by law.

Although this practice has abated, since 1989, at least 126 women in South Carolina have been arrested and charged with harming their fetuses by abusing drug and alcohol, according to the National Advocates For Pregnant Women. Only about 80 pregnant women around the country were arrested on similar charges in the same time period. Although local and state agencies across the country have attempted to prosecute pregnant women for drug use, their cases are usually rejected by the courts.

Although many women say that they're glad they had a chance to clean up and be sober mothers, some women admit that their fear of being arrested kept them from getting treatment earlier.

"These are addicts who become pregnant," says Lynn Paltrow, executive director of the National Advocates For Pregnant Women. "They aren't women who chose to use drugs after becoming pregnant."

What do you think about criminalizing addicted women who get pregnant?