Third Trimester 2021

Read my first trimester and second trimester posts!

Physically

I’ve been feeling lots of kicks and movement. And a lot more pressure, which means I have to pee like every 30 minutes. Earlier in 3rd trimester, I was feeling a lot more pressure around my belly button as it was stretching. Now my belly button is completely flat. 

I’ve still been able to work out, but Ryan had to rig up a second longer extender for my spin bike handle bars. My legs are starting to rub my belly while spinning, but alternating between in the saddle and out of the saddle helps! 

Occasionally I experience hip pain when walking, kind of like my hip bones are grinding together. I’ve been trying to incorporate more hip strengthening excerises and that seems to help.

At 38 weeks and moving forward, I started feeling more tightness in my hips after sleeping or sitting for long periods. Sometimes my sternum feels like it gets stuck together after sleeping too. There’s just a lot of pressure from only being able to sleep on my sides! 

The maternity jeans I bought during first trimester are too tight under my belly now. I still live in sweatpants and leggings. Thank goodness for Amazon because I’ve been able to order maternity shirts. Officially at 39 weeks, I only have 1 pair of sweatpants that fit comfortably. I was hoping for warmer weather by this time in May so I could have maternity shorts which are more comfortable, but it’s still been chilly.

I definitely feel more clumsy, dropping things randomly. Picking things off the floor in the morning isn’t as difficult as it is by the end of the day. Baby has been in the same position since at least 36 weeks, with her back curled up on my right side, so sometimes my belly feels like it’s bruised where her back constantly rubs my belly.. especially now that I’m running out of space. 

Sleep

I feel like I’ve been blessed with good sleep still. Yes, I wake up 4-5 times a night to pee, but usually can I fall back asleep. Working from home is also a huge blessing because I can set my own hours. I still love the pregnancy pillow and I might continue to use it after the baby is born because it’s that great! 

Salsa started cuddling with me again. This is something we would do before I was pregnant and during first trimester, but he didn’t do it much during second trimester. It is more uncomfortable though on my hips.. I’ll be laying on my side and he either perches himself along my ribs and hips or he’ll curl up half on my belly and half on the pregnancy pillow. 

I also learned that’s it’s important for me to eat a good bedtime snack, about an hour before bed. If I eat too close to bed, there’s a lot of pressure when I lay down, not necessarily heartburn, but this constant pressure to burp. If I don’t eat a bedtime snack or if I eat ice cream, I usually wake up between 4-5am starving and I can’t get back to sleep without eating something. So I try my best to eat something filling, but sometimes ice cream sounds pretty good!

Food

Some of my third trimester cravings include ice cream, string cheese, more cheese in general, iced passion tea lemonade, fruit, peanut butter and pancakes. I’ve been noticing that I’ve been craving more carb-y type foods again like I did in first trimester. And dessert!

Other Details

For Valentine’s Day Ryan gave me a back massager and it’s the best gift ever, it’s probably saved his hands from hours of rubbing my back. Ryan also started having to clip my toe nails for me around 29 weeks. 

We took our first labor and delivery class at 28 weeks. It was a virtual class offered by our hospital. We’re also going through the classes from Tinyhood.com and started reading the The Happiest Baby on the Block. 

We did a few more projects for the nursery – built floating book shelves and framed a mirror for above the dresser. We finished up the nursery by 30 weeks so we could do a nursery tour during our shower. However, the reclining chair we ordered for the nursery back in January is back ordered until June due to a foam shortage. 

We had 2 virtual baby showers at 30 weeks, one with family and one with friends! Virtual showers worked out really great for us since we live in Michigan and most of our family lives in Minnesota. Plus, we have friends that live all over, so it was nice to be able to celebrate with everyone!

It took us a few weekends to organize her dresser and closet. There was a lot of “is this the best place to put this?” questions. It was hard to know how to organize all the different sized clothes, the swaddles, blankets, etc.

We also started going room by room throughout the entire house getting rid of stuff we don’t use. That felt GOOD! 

Maternity Leave Plans

I’ve worked a ton in order to get ahead on content so I can still share new recipes with you while I’m on maternity leave! I’ll be taking maternity leave until mid-August / beginning of September. Babe will start daycare then and I’m sure I’ll have all the feelings. I’ve been able to schedule out my social media posts and new recipes, so things will carry on as normal on the blog! I’ll be checking in periodically and I’ll still be active on instagram stories, sharing about our new normal with our little girl!

Week by Week

It was fun writing quick notes about things I wanted to remember as the weeks passed.

30 weeks virtual baby showers!

31 weeks assembled carseat and stroller. Ryan practiced his diapering skills.

32 weeks washed all baby’s laundry and organized the dresser. We also did a huge stock pile trip at the grocery store for household items.

33 weeks took maternity photos! I was starting to feel more uncomfortable and emotional.

34 weeks started gathering up stuff for our hospital bag.

35 weeks actually packed the hospital bag! We also hung up black out curtains in baby’s room and our room. We also washed bottles and pacifiers. 

36 weeks I started prepping lots of freezer meals! Chicken fajitas, lasagna, and breakfast burritos.

37 weeks still prepping freezer meals, smoothie packs, shepherd’s pie, and muffins. I can’t believe we have 3 weeks left! Lots of “will I go into labor tonight” moments. Ryan and I went out for lunch, first time since the pandemic. It was really nice to sit outside, enjoy spending time together and have a normal date! 

38 weeks I’m feeling ready for baby girl and the countdown has begun. Ryan worked on finishing up critical projects for work. This week was definitely the “let’s get our lives together week, she come come anytime!” I worked on more freezer meals – banana pancakes and quesadillas. I can tell that baby is growing more because my stomach is being squished so eating a full meal is becoming difficult. There’s almost this constant state of fullness in my stomach and I’m experiencing more heartburn.

39 weeks starting to feel antsy, excited and anxious. I’ve wrapped up all my work stuff so there’s not as many tasks to keep me distracted, but I’ve been cleaning, making a few more freezer meals and trying to enjoy this time! Sleep is definitely interrupted because I have to pee all night long.

40 weeks My due date is May 19th, the same day this post is scheduled to go live on the blog. I’ll try and come back and update this post depending on when babe comes! We’re ready to meet this sweet babe and hope I don’t go much into my 40th week.