Normal Baby Activities in the Third Trimester

Movement

• By the third trimester, you may start to wonder if you've got an aspiring acrobat swimming around your uterus, but don't worry -- an active baby in the womb doesn't necessarily mean you'll have an active child later on. The kicks and "butterflies" you started to feel in the second trimester will become much more pronounced -- even jolting -- in the seventh and eighth months of your pregnancy. As you near the due date, however, the kicking and pounding may decrease in frequency while increasing in intensity.

Reactions and Reflexes

• Babies begin responding to stimuli such as sound and light in the last three months of pregnancy. A baby begins developing a sense of sound by 20 weeks, and her hearing is fully developed by eight months. According to family physician David L. Fay, a mother's voice is the loudest sound the baby will hear while in the womb. Your baby can also blink, turn her head and use her hands to grasp.

Hiccups

• Many mothers feel a rhythmic fluttering sensation during the third trimester, caused by the baby hiccuping. Some people believe that the hiccups are caused when the baby breathes in amniotic fluid, contracting the diaphragm. Babies may start hiccuping in the first or second trimesters, but it isn't likely to be felt by the mother until much later in the pregnancy. Fetal hiccuping is a normal activity, and some mothers may feel the "butterflies" several times each day.

"Dropping"

• Within a few weeks of the due date, the baby will drop headfirst into the pelvis. Expecting moms should expect to feel new sensations at this point, as the baby's every movement will be noticeable in some form. A turn of the head, for instance, could feel like "sharp, electric twinges" near your cervix, according to the website What to Expect.