The Final Stretch
If you’ve missed the first two installments of my pregnancy updates, please read them HERE and HERE first so you can get a picture of the entire journey. I can hardly believe that I’m sitting down to write my third trimester update and that pregnancy is OVER now! It’s baby’s nap time so I’m taking advantage. (Update: I’m taking advantage of a third nap in order to finish up this post!) Please stay tuned for an announcement of baby’s name and birth story! It’s a really good one.
My third trimester (week 28) began while visiting Italy! We were on our “last hurrah” trip of our European living experience, and I can’t believe everything I did while in my third trimester. The biggest feat of that trip for me was hiking up Mount Vesuvius! There were times I didn’t think I would make it and waved Mark on to keep going, but he waited for me and we made it together.
Overall I felt pretty good in my third trimester. The first half of it seemed to fly by because we were incredibly busy and making some huge life changes. But as we got near the end of pregnancy, those last few weeks just seemed to DRAG by! My energy also waxed and waned. Some weeks I’d feel really chipper and energized, and at other times all I wanted to do was lounge around. I also managed to sleep 9-10 hours per night! Any less and I didn’t feel my best.
Third Trimester Symptoms
For most of my pregnancy I did not experience much physical pain, which I found near-miraculous given my scoliosis and chronic back and neck issues. However, I think it’s nearly impossible for any woman to experience the third trimester – and especially the latter part of it – without some kind of physical problems.
Something that began to plague me near the beginning of the trimester was belly heaviness and soreness. It started in Week 31, after coming back to the United States from Germany. (More on that below!) Going up stairs became challenging, which was a literal pain because we were on the second floor and there was no elevator in the first hotel we lived in. However, I hypothesize that the reason my belly would get so sore is because of going up and down stairs! After we left that hotel and I was no longer using stairs, the belly soreness mostly went away.
The worst symptom I experienced in the third trimester was a bout of chronic diarrhea. It was so bad that I checked into St. Josef’s hospital in Wiesbaden, Germany, because I wanted to make sure baby was okay and that I wasn’t excessively dehydrated. They kept me in L&D for several hours for monitoring. Baby was fine and my sodium was a little low. So I was just instructed to drink enough fluids and replace my electrolytes at home. My hypothesis as to why I got the diarrhea was because I ate Brussels sprouts – the last time I ate this vegetable, the same thing happened. Needless to say I probably won’t EVER eat them again!
Week 36 is when I began having noticeable Braxton Hicks contractions, which is totally normal at that point in pregnancy. My doctor even said it was a good thing that I started having them because it helps to prepare the uterus for labor. In Week 37, hip soreness after sleeping became chronic. It would mostly go away during the day, and I was still able to sleep well at night, but every morning my hips would be sore. It’s just an unavoidable symptom of pregnancy because of having to sleep on one’s sides!
International Move and Traveling
Yes, you read that correctly: we moved back to the United States from Germany while in my third trimester! It definitely was the most monumental thing about this trimester. We left Germany while in my 30th week. The flight from Frankfurt to San Francisco went smoothly and I had plenty of room to move around thanks to being in a bulk-head row.
Our first “home” back in the U.S. was at the Army IHG hotel near our new duty station. We stayed there from the end of October till November 20th, when we left on one last pregnancy trip! We visited my family in Texas for a baby shower and then we visited Mark’s family in Wisconsin for a baby shower and Thanksgiving. It was such a special, rejuvenating time with family.
When we returned to California, we moved into the Navy Lodge, which we ended up liking better. Spoiler alert: we lived there until AFTER I gave birth! (I told you to stay tuned for a scintillating birth story!) It was quite a long wait to get into military housing here. Some people might say, “I don’t know how you did it” with regards to moving internationally and living in a hotel while massively pregnant. But when you’re a military family, you have to pull yourself up by the bootstraps and soldier on, no pun intended. I know it was a crazy thing to pull off, but at times I’ve felt like it wasn’t a terribly big deal. I guess that was a coping mechanism so I didn’t get too overwhelmed!
My First Experience with American Prenatal Care
I was so sad to leave behind my wonderful German obstetrician! But of course I had to transition to a new doctor in California. I had my first prenatal appointment with him the morning after we arrived!
I will forever be spoiled when it comes to prenatal care. My doctor here is excellent and very skilled, but the system itself just feels incomplete compared to the German system! Having an ultrasound at every appointment was such a treat. In America, the appointments seem so quick and like something is missing! However, at the very end of my pregnancy I gained a deeper appreciation for my OB/GYN due to an unforeseen complication, which I will share about in my birth story.
Starting from my first appointment with my California doctor, I had a prenatal appointment weekly until giving birth. My doctor normally did not perform cervical checks until 40 weeks gestation or if the patient was having regular contractions, which was great! However, in week 38 I began having back contractions so I opted for a cervical check. I was 1 cm dilated with a softened cervix. My doctor was impressed that I was that progressed already for a first pregnancy!
Preparing for Baby’s Arrival
I had dreamed of having a house before Baby Mayor arrived so that we could be at least partially settled and I could work on the nursery. But at the pace things were happening with housing, I began to realize that it might not be a possibility. So I began preparing for “the worst” of bringing baby “home” to the hotel. It’s a really good thing I did that!
In Week 36, we received the Nuna Pipa car seat, which Mark’s brother Matt bought for us! We installed that in our car and also picked up the Halo Bassinest, which is where baby would sleep for his first 4-6 months of life. I also began packing my hospital bag.
In Week 37 (which is considered “early term”), I finished packing my hospital bag except for some last-minute things. I also washed, categorized, and put away (in the hotel dresser) all of baby’s clothes, swaddles, etc. and we set up the bassinet in the hotel, just in case! We shopped for the remaining baby necessities at Target and also received the Nuna Mixx 2019 stroller, which we set up. Having everything prepared made things seem more real that baby would be in our arms soon!
My Last Days of Pregnancy
The end of pregnancy is truly a lesson and exercise in patience. Like I mentioned earlier, the last couple weeks of pregnancy seemed to be as slow as molasses. Christmas was low-key for us – basically all we did was attend Christmas Eve Mass and went out for a nice dinner on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I also turned 38 weeks on Christmas! In that week, I began drinking red raspberry leaf tea and eating dates in order to prepare my body for labor.
Mark’s brother Matt arrived for a visit the weekend after Christmas and stayed till January 4th. On New Year’s Day, I was officially full-term, at 39 weeks! In my pregnancy journal I wrote:
One way or another, [baby’s name] will be here within the next 2 weeks, if not next week! I’m not nervous about giving birth or the pain, it’s the waiting that makes me nervous. Any day could be “it”! Zoey has been very clingy and follows me around our hotel, and it’s not even that big! It’s like she knows.
The week before, I definitely lost my mucus plug. Then in week 39 I was worried I was leaking amniotic fluid. I called my doctor (on the weekend!) and he determined that it most likely wasn’t amniotic fluid. My 39 week prenatal appointment was very quick with no cervical check, and everything was normal.
We still did not have a house and kept our hopes up that we would get moved in before I went into labor. Every few days we’d visit the housing office, with my belly bulging. Mark began his Masters program with the military on January 6th, and the same day we finally got to tour the house we ended up getting! The next day, we received the keys to our house and I had my 15th prenatal appointment – at which I received news I NEVER expected.
That is the day my birth story begins, so I will wrap up my third trimester recap here! Overall, I felt really good most of the time. I surprised myself at times with my spurts of energy, which I put to good use by nesting (as best I could without a house) and getting ahead on my YouTube videos.
While pregnancy is not easy, I am so grateful for such a healthy and smooth experience! I don’t miss the unpleasant pregnancy symptoms, but I do miss the kicks and the miracle of carrying a child in the womb. I’m savoring every moment with our precious little guy, but I do hope that we get to have this experience a second time at least.
I loved sharing my pregnancy with others! I thank you for following along. The best update is yet to come in baby’s birth story! It was not what I expected but it is OUR story and a memory I will treasure forever.