To read about my first trimester go here or here for my second!
Ahh, the third trimester. That magical 16 weeks where you feel the baby move, gain weight at a horrendous pace, and have to pee every 5 minutes.
Technically, I started to feel the baby (whom we affectionately called Waldo) in the second trimester, but as all you mamas know, the third trimester is where it's at. This was, hands down, my favorite part of being pregnant. There I was, going along with my day, and BAM there's a little kick. Such a cool, cool feeling!
Luckily everything was placed just right in there, which meant that Luke could feel him soon after I could. Baby Waldo LOVED his daddy. He'd just be chilling in there, not doing anything and then Luke would put his hand on my stomach and BAM! He woke up. It was magical.
When anyone else would try? Nada. Nothing. He'd be in there dancing away and then someone would try to feel him and it was like he left the building.
(2/19)
The third trimester was a busy time for me. I was in my final full-time semester of college, which meant I was taking 4 classes, plus doing an 135 hr internship. Of course I was also hugely pregnant, which meant I was exhausted. I spent a lot of time on the couch, watching ALIAS and sleeping. Then I would have to hurry up and finish the work that was due for my class, so I would spend 2 days working on Stats (ugh by the way).
(2/25)
I definitely started to get the aches and pains associated with being pregnant. By the end, it was a major ordeal to turn over in bed. My one side would be in a lot of pain, but it took me a good 5 minutes of laying in bed giving myself a pep talk to actually flip over. Luke would wake up in a panic, asking me what was wrong because I was moaning and groaning so much (and no, I'm not dramatic at all!).I also dealt with my hands falling asleep. By the end, all I had to do was grip something (a fork, a knife, a pen, etc) and my hands would be gone. It made cooking and eating all that more interesting!
And of course there was the PUPPS. Luckily someone I knew had gone through it before me and she recommended using Dandelion Root. I seriously believe that is the only thing that kept it under control. That and lots of body butter.
My Boppy body pillow (affectionately nicknamed Jack) was a necessary sleep aid, much to the chagrin of my husband. We only had a full size bed, and there wasn't a lot of room left once the 3 of us were in bed. Also, any time I traveled Jack came with. He was a real conversation piece! He is now shoved underneath our bed, much to the relief of my husband!
(3/29)
The bigger I got, the more ungainly I got, which is pretty typical. Luke would have to pull/push me off the couch and forget about bending down to pick something up! My toenails went unpainted for a looong time because of this.
I also had a harder and harder time finding clothes that would fit me. By the end, even my maternity pants were too small because of how wide my hips got. Luckily I have an amazing mom who would go to Target and buy me bigger (comfy!) clothes and then mail them to me (we're about an hour and a half from the closest Target and I wasn't about to hop in the car!).
(Easter Sunday)
In the middle of all that fun, I graduated from college! Well, kinda. I went through the ceremony and got a diploma holder, but I technically didn't finish until July 15th. But, I'm a college graduate!
We debated a long time about whether or not to go to the ceremony. It was in Billings, MT, which is a 12 hour drive and I was a month away from delivering a baby. However, I received an award from my department and so we decided it was worth the drive. So we piled into the Expedition with my in-laws and headed West. We went right through the area in Montana we lived in so we were able to stop and spend the night with our friends.
It was really nice to break up the drive, because sitting in car for a long time? Not very pregnancy friendly. However, I did get to rock some sexy TED compression hose!
Once we got to Billings, we met up with my mom and my sister-in-law who flew in from MN and Denver respectively. It was so awesome to have family with us. They have all stood beside me and cheered me on during the whole process, so it meant a lot to me to have them there.
(all photos taken 4/30)
As far as we could tell, I was the only extremely pregnant graduate, so I guess that's an honor too! Graduation itself was really hard on my body. I had to go stand in line for an hour on a hard cement floor before the ceremony itself, then I had to sit and stand and sit and stand in various forms for another 2 hours for the ceremony.
By the time I found Luke afterwards I just started to cry because I was so tired and my whole body hurt and my mom and sister-in-law had to leave to catch their flight as soon as they saw me walk and I didn't get to say goodbye, and a lot of the pictures we took were fuzzy and everything was a BIG. DEAL.
However, we went out to eat and after I got some delicious steak into my body I felt a lot better! After eating we hit the road and headed back East. We stayed with our friends again that night and then the next morning we got to go to church with our dear friends at Hope. And I got to see my Fern (for those of you who read my wedding recap, she was the one who kept me sane!), so it was an all around good day. After we had lunch with Fern and her family, we went to Rapid City, where we met up with Luke's aunt and uncle for an early supper (eating was a major theme of the whole weekend, which I loved!).
By the time we got home at 1:00 that morning, I was done. My body was done. My emotions were done. I think I just laid around and did absolutely nothing the next 2 days to recover. But, in the end, I am glad we went!
After graduation all that was really left was to wait for baby (and prepare myself for summer school ... but that's a whole 'nother thing altogether isn't it?).
This is the point in most people's pregnancies when they start nesting. Me? Well, let's just say I'm still waiting for that nesting energy to kick in and Drew is 2 months old. Instead of cleaning and organizing I was dreaming of cleaning and organizing and having panic attacks over the fact that it wasn't done. Gosh I was a bundle of fun to be around.
I also threw in some sleeping late, napping and other important tasks. It was nice because I was able to savor my last days as just the two of us.
(39 weeks and 6 days; taken in the hospital right before induction!)
The other things I was doing at this time were gaining weight and making my blood pressure skyrocket, which made my doctor increasingly nervous. Those fun little activities took me straight to induction-ville, but since that's part of his birth story you'll have to wait on those details!
Posts
