Your week 26 guide

Your baby can blink and detect changes in light. Around this point the eyelids, sealed shut since roughly the tenth week, are beginning to separate, so the eyes can open and close and blink for the first time. Enough light filters through your abdomen for your baby to sense brightness and respond to it, sometimes by shifting or turning toward or away from the glow, even though the womb stays dim and the vision behind it is still forming.

Eyelashes, scalp hair and fingernails continue to grow. The nails now reach almost to the fingertips and will keep growing right up to birth, which is why some newborns arrive needing them trimmed. These small details are the finishing work rather than the structure.

Practice breaths draw amniotic fluid in and out rather than air. Moving fluid through the airways exercises the diaphragm and chest muscles and helps stimulate the lungs to develop. The lungs are also producing more surfactant now, the substance that allows the air sacs to stay open, and it is one of the main things that improves week by week from here.

Insomnia, clumsiness, bloating, constipation and gradual ankle swelling may make the day feel harder. Lying awake at three in the morning or bumping into a familiar doorframe can be frustrating, and it does not mean you are handling pregnancy badly. You deserve support with the discomfort. New blurred vision or other visual changes are different: contact your maternity team immediately, even without a headache. Sudden swelling, particularly of the face or hands, also needs immediate assessment; do not wait for your next appointment.

Hair and nails can grow faster or change texture. Some women find their hair thicker and glossier and others find it unmanageable, and nails can become brittle rather than strong. These changes are temporary and largely reverse in the months after birth.

Blood pressure monitoring becomes especially important as pregnancy advances. Pre-eclampsia usually develops after twenty weeks and often causes no symptoms at first, which is exactly why blood pressure and urine are checked at every appointment. Attending those checks matters even when you feel completely well, and you never have to decide alone whether a symptom is significant.

Tour your planned birth location or look through its process online, because there is comfort in knowing where you will be when the day comes. Walking the corridors, seeing the rooms, or reviewing everything remotely beforehand takes away some of the fear of the unknown, and arriving somewhere that already feels a little familiar tends to feel calmer. Ask practical things while you are there, such as where to park and which entrance to use at night.

Start or refine a list of what you actually need rather than what is marketed to you. Newborns need somewhere safe to sleep, clothing, feeding equipment, nappies and a car seat if you drive, and remarkably little else in the first weeks. Breaking it into one decision at a time keeps it from becoming another source of pressure.

Put rest and low-risk stress relief into the schedule as genuine commitments. Your body is already doing a full day's work before you do anything else, and treating rest as something you earn after finishing everything means it never happens. Protecting it is practical rather than indulgent. InshaAllah, putting a rest break in the diary can help you protect it.

Build fibre gradually: Fibre supports digestion and helps with constipation, which is common in pregnancy. Different types of fibre come from different foods, so variety is useful.

Sources include fruit, vegetables, beans, lentils, chickpeas, wholegrains, oats, nuts and seeds. Increase the amount gradually if you need to, because a sudden large increase often causes bloating and discomfort, and drink regularly alongside it.