3rd Trimester Recap! Weeks 28-40
Week 28 & Week 39
We are officially a little over 2 months out from when Shanley made her arrival into this world, and here I am finally sitting down to write the recap of the last few months of her time still in my tummy… aka my third trimester. :)
Going into the third trimester, based off of what I had read / heard from others I expected it to be similar to the first trimester. I was planning to be very fatigued, nauseous. and waddling around pretty uncomfortable as my bump grew bigger. However, I am happy to report that wasn’t the case at all! I honestly felt pretty darn good throughout my last few months of my pregnancy. It felt a lot like the second trimester energy wise, and I had no nausea (THANK GOODNESS). I was able to continue exercising 2-3 times per week, got pretty good sleep, ate a wide variety of foods, and really went about my daily activities as I normally would.
Now while these blog posts are mostly for me to be able to look back on, I do know there are some you who are interested in them as well… so read below to learn more about what happened during my third trimester! :)
Weeks 28-40
Week 28 I found out that I did indeed have gestational diabetes (GD). I was told that after the glucose tolerance test, my fasting number was higher than they like to see. I honestly was SHOCKED… I thought to myself… “HOW could I possibly have GD”. I ate fairly well, exercised regularly, started pregnancy at a healthy weight… what the heck! Turns out ANYONE can get GD, no matter what they look like or how they eat. It’s just something that happens thanks to our placentas and how they deal with all the hormones in our body during pregnancy! I was quite sad / bummed in the beginning. I had gotten pregnant in the midst of HA recovery where I ditched all food rules, and began allowing myself the freedom to eat all foods… then I got GD and I thought the freedom I had achieved was going to… once again be replaced with restriction. The good news, it wasn’t as bad as I had thought! Sure I needed to be mindful of my carb / sugar intake… but I didn’t have to completely restrict anything! I focused on eating a more balanced diet than I was first trimester (aka more protein + veggies … less carbs / sweets), and added in an evening walk after dinner. I still enjoyed sweets here and there and I honestly grew to love the evening walks with Trev and the way I felt by being more mindful about the foods I was eating! :) The only real annoyance of GD for me was having to prick my finger several times a day to see what my blood glucose numbers were. I found that just my fasting numbers would be high occasionally, usually for good reason due to a little leniency the night before. All in all what seemed like such a bummer in the beginning ended up not being all that bad! :)
Week 30
I had my third and final baby shower thrown by my mom and oldest sister. It was super fun, full of good company and delicious food! I requested it be a brunch, and the food consisted of a crepe bar, several different quiches, bacon, sausage, fresh fruit and more!!! It was also Covid friendly and spent mostly outside under a tent on my parents deck… even when it was lightly raining! :) Oh Covid, how you made things during my first pregnancy veryyyyy interesting!
Week 33
We started our child birth classes this week! Due to covid our class was fully online via zoom. We did them with a doula we had considered using for birth, her website is KindBirth.com The classes were very helpful in giving us the confidence we needed to tackle labor and delivery. It gave us the knowledge we needed on the unknown. Once we had that knowledge, what felt so scary became much less scary, and more exciting! Even with it being online we managed to make some friends, which was really awesome! Now Shanley has a friend who is just 5 weeks younger than her! :)
Week 34
Since I had gestational diabetes, it was required we do a growth ultrasound, and we had ours during week 34. I looked at this as a little perk of having GD, because normally you don’t have an ultrasound at this point in pregnancy. We got to see Shanley one last time before she made her entrance into the world, and we found out that she was measuring 5lbs 13oz +/- 14oz… which was clearly an estimate! We also found out her head was measuring at 37 weeks!! I was like YIKES that’s a little frightening. :P Makes sense now, and it wasn't all that bad… I mean she made it out eventually! :P
We also did maternity photos during this week. Taken by my friend Valen with Valen Lee Photography. I felt it was a good point because I was clearly looking pregnant, but I wasn’t uncomfortable. Our photos turned out amazing, and I will be forever grateful we did them. Such a great way to capture such an important time in our lives!
Week 36
It was at this point that I stated to really feel changes happen in my body as it prepared for labor. The only big change as I approached my due date was that I could feel things shifting down below as my body prepared for what was to come! I got pretty sore in my pelvic region once Shanley dropped (around 36 weeks) , which makes a lot of sense but was something I didn’t expect! I asked my midwife to ensure that was a normal feeling, and she said. “Yes! You have a small bowling ball (Shanley’s head) sitting down in your pelvis, making things stretch in ways they’ve never stretched before”. OBVIOUSLY I was going to feel that! :P
Week 39
I worked out up until this week. Doing a fairly intense (for a 39 week pregnant woman) Christmas themed workout on Wednesday December the 23rd
Week 40
Shanley made her appearance RIGHT ON TIME on her due date of Christmas Day. I will be sharing my birth story SOON, so stay tuned! :)
Overall the third trimester for me was great! My body changed the most during this time, and while I still had nerves, I got really excited for Shanley to arrive! :)