My Third Trimester Recap

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If I had to sum up the third trimester in the fewest words, it would be these: acid reflux, back pain, nesting. When I look back (now three weeks after giving birth), those are the things I remember most about the last three months of pregnancy!

There were, however, a lot of fun moments too! We ended up having THREE baby showers. My family threw us one, which was great as we got to see so many of our friends and family. My coworkers threw us a surprise shower, as did our church community. We felt so blessed through this season. And also now have so many clothes we don’t know what to do with! Haha.

Symptoms

So, as mentioned back pain, acid reflux, and nesting were some major symptoms. We were in the process of moving into my parents basement during the last few weeks of pregnancy. I spent a lot of time on my feet walking around, organizing, cleaning, etc. and by the end of the day my lower back was in so much pain I had to just stop, even if I had more I wanted to do. Which, I did because I was also nesting – ha. I had a hard time sleeping due to wanting to get everything on my list done before the baby arrived, but also due to feeling more uncomfortable and going to the bathroom more frequently as the baby settled lower into my pelvic floor.

On the positive side of things though, we had never been more ready for Christmas than we were this year, which was awesome! Decorations were up, gifts were purchased and wrapped, and eventually all we had left to do was wait. Wait for Christmas, wait for baby’s arrival.

With all the moving and preparing and cleaning, I definitely bounced back and forth between having bursts of energy and feeling utterly exhausted. So, I did rest a lot more during the third trimester.

Cravings

Cravings weren’t super interesting this time. I still craved a lot of dairy, but didn’t feel great if I had too much. I think the biggest thing might be casseroles. With my growing belly I could not eat much at once, yet felt really hungry and for healthy food. So, once again I wanted healthy, cooked food, high in calories, low in volume. Casseroles seemed to fit the bill. I didn’t actually have that many, but that’s what I wanted all the time.

Exercise

This was tough. Well, not running was tough. I could still do my Fit Pregnancy workouts just fine, but I couldn’t run anymore. I wanted to, so I would try for a few minutes before getting a painful cramp in my side, so I’d stop. Walking and circuit workouts are what I kept to, especially those last few weeks. But, I’m grateful I was still able to some activity!

What I’m wearing

I pretty much wore the same few shirts and sweaters over and over again because that’s all that fit! These t-shirts (and these) from Target were my absolute favorites to wear with a cardigan (or not as I was SO WARM all the time). As was an over sized sweater from Aerie I got in two colors (no longer available though). When I wasn’t working, I lived in leggings.

Emotions

These were all over the place in terms of excitement, nerves, anxiety. I was so excited for our baby to come and finally meet him! I was also ready to not be pregnant anymore. I was also nervous about going into labor and experiencing delivery – not knowing what anything would be or feel like. And anxious about when it would all start!

All in all, the beginning of the third trimester wasn’t bad and I was still feeling mostly like myself, but towards the end, I was definitely ready to not be pregnant anymore! At 37 weeks I was feeling pretty good, but by 38 weeks, I was ready to meet our baby! Now, that didn’t happen for a few more weeks, which I’ll share about in my birth story.

What about you? What was your third trimester like?