All of a sudden, I’m in my third trimester, and I realize I haven’t done a full pregnancy update in….at all?
This is partly because it has honestly been a very uneventful pregnancy (as most are when you accept pregnancy and birth as a normal part of life), but also because I was working hard on my new ebook, First Trimester Freakout!
But here we are, 30 weeks pregnant, and I think it’s finally hitting me that we’re 3 ish months from adding a third baby to our family!
Distractions, distractions everywhere!
I felt this some with my second pregnancy and chasing around my son, but this time, it’s definitely been a challenge to focus on my pregnancy while chasing around both my son AND my daughter.
I am on my feet and doing more daily than in either of my other pregnancies. Oh, to think about the luxuries of my first pregnancy when I could nap whenever and go to sleep at 7 pm… Not so much now! But that’s ok – seeing my kids grow and learn is a fair trade-off for a little less sleep.
We also decided to embark on a master bathroom reno (I don’t know why we keep doing this to ourselves – last pregnancy, we moved AND redid our master closet…the closet install happened when I was 39 weeks along) – but we do! Why wait, I suppose! My husband took on the project himself, and he is KILLING it.
It’s so amazing to watch how he involves the kids and how patiently he lets them “help” him. With the short hours he has between working, keeping up with his training and fitness, taking things off my plate so I can get my feet up a little, and still cooking phenomenal meals for our family, somehow, he’s getting this project done, too. I may have to send him on a mini-vacation after all is said and done. He works so, so hard for our family on so many levels.
Ok, but how's the pregnancy?
I’m feeling huge right now – it’s almost like baby had a growth spurt and forgot to tell my belly it was time to grow! So things are feeling a little tight in there as my belly catches up.
We are officially in every-two-weeks territory for appointments now that I’m in the third trimester. It has been so fun to get to know the midwife we’re using for this pregnancy. She exclusively does home visits which is such a nice change of pace – especially now that I’m getting bigger and it’s summer in Texas! Somehow, lugging two toddlers in 107 degree heat with my ever growing belly sounds like zero fun! So I’m grateful for her view – “mamas want to birth at home; why would they want to travel to some office for their prenatal care?”
Unfortunately, my SPD is rearing its ugly head again, though happily, it held off longer than it did in my second pregnancy. I think it’s in part because I’m not being as consistent in the gym. I have very mixed feelings about that because I obviously want to be working out for myself and baby’s health, but if holding back some keeps the SPD at bay… it’s a tough balance!
I’m still focused on movement, but I haven’t been as insistent on lifting weights and keeping up with CrossFit this pregnancy.
Testing alternatives
Around 28 weeks is when most providers will tell you it’s time for the gestational diabetes test. This pregnancy, I did choose to do this test, and I chose to go old school – I monitored my own blood sugar with the finger pricks and kept a log!
I knew in my gut I didn’t have an issue – I truly debated just forgoing the test completely – but my husband felt more comfortable with the data proving there was no issue, and I had no qualms about testing my blood sugar a few times a day. I was honestly kind of curious to see what was going on!
Within the first day, I ruled out gestational diabetes, but I continued testing for a few days in no small part because my son LOVED helping me get it all set up. I think he was a little sad when I told him I didn’t need to do it anymore.
I’m glad I didn’t opt for the gross drink like I did my first pregnancy when I didn’t know any better; I’m glad I didn’t do a continuous monitor because that felt like overkill in my second pregnancy. I am glad I checked in because, pregnant or not, it is cool to see how different foods and movement impact your blood sugar and how your body restabalizes throughout the day (or maybe I’m just a geek).
A big win!
The other test typically done at 28 weeks is another blood draw.
If you’ve been following along for some time, you know I’ve taken a different approach to prenatals this pregnancy. I decided not to take a preformulated pill (except when traveling, and when I do take one, I LOVE my Sprigs Mama Bear Prenatal). Instead, I’ve pieced together the nutrients my body and baby need to thrive, supplementing my whole foods diet with raw beef liver and a few other key nutrients that are difficult to get through diet alone.
And I’m happy to say it’s working! I got my bloodwork back from my 28-week visit, and my numbers have never looked this good in my other pregnancies, especially my iron levels. In both of my previous pregnancies, I was told to take an iron supplement at this point in pregnancy. Not this time!
Prepping the kiddos
While I’ve been technically prepping the kids pretty much the entire pregnancy – involving them in prenatal appointments, talking about baby a lot, allowing them to “say hi to baby” whenever they request it, reading birth books (find all my favorites here), etc. – I’m becoming more intentional about it these days.
My son LOVED watching birth videos when I was pregnant with my second, so we’ve started more frequently doing that again. My daughter seems quite interested as well!
We’re still trying to decide if the kids will be at this birth. Ideally, yes. I feel very strongly about that.
I also, however, recognize that my daughter is very different than my son was at the same age, and I’m not fully convinced she would be ok in the birth space. She is much more dependent on my than my son was at that age, and I don’t know how she’d handle the event.
I also feel weird about allowing my son to be there but sending my daughter off, though at the same time, he’s older, more mature, and more able to communicate his needs in the moment.
I have a feeling it will be a game time decision depending on when labor begins and how it progresses, but for now, my goal and hope is to have both of our children welcome our third into the world.
Are we ready for number 3?
I remember a distinct moment in my second pregnancy when I started getting very sad that my son would no longer have my full attention. I am starting to feel that way about my second as we approach baby time for number 3.
My second child is much more “clingy” with me than my first ever was; my first was always a daddy’s boy (which comes with its own challenges!). I find myself worrying often about how she’ll react to another baby, another little being needing mama’s attention.
And then of course I also have those concerns about how I will have the attention/bandwidth/ability to provide that love and affection to three kiddos.
I also feel like we’ve finally reached a groove of schedule and pattern in our lives, and adding number 3 will disrupt it. Not negatively – it just changes everything. Our schedule, my relationships with my kids, our general family dynamic…it’s an opportunity to enter a new phase, but that is very daunting, especially when I’m finally feeling a little more settled into the two-kid life.
With our house a little bit up in the air because of the construction, I also feel like a nomad in my own home – my husband and I are in a guest room (though most nights, I end up sleeping with the kids), and I don’t feel like anything is put away. It also leaves me feeling like I can’t really start going through baby clothes or organizing anything for baby’s arrival because I have nowhere to put it! It’ll be settled soon enough, but I’m having moments where I want to nest but have no place to really do that!
I started using The Autonomy Mommy’s Third Trimester Checklist the past couple weeks. I needed a way to make myself accountable and more intentional about bonding with this baby I’m growing so this whole pregnancy doesn’t pass me by without me realizing it. And this checklist is doing just that!!
At the same time, I won an amazing grand prize (I never win anything!!) of an online business course which I’m both thrilled and terrified about because of its timing with baby coming so soon. My hope is that the course I won can help me set some things up on autopilot for my business to keep helping you wonderful mamas while I’m able to step away and be with my growing family in those precious early postpartum weeks.
All in all, we are and aren’t ready. I’m so excited to meet this little human that’s been growing and developing inside me for so many months already. And while there are many nerves and worries, I’m working hard to sit with those, accept them, and move through them. I’m grateful to not have to do this work alone – my husband is the best support person there is out there.
It feels like baby will be here before we know it but also like October is forever away.
