This post is a little late, but I didn’t want to miss sharing my third trimester recap. In case you missed it, I delivered my baby girl, Nora on August 2nd. You can read her birth story here. She came a little earlier than expected and I didn’t get around to this post, but better late than never. When I found out I was pregnant, I heard from multiple people that the third trimester was the worst. Although each trimester had it’s own challenges, I will say that the third trimester was pretty tough.

– third trimester recap –

GESTATIONAL DIABETES

At the beginning of the third trimester (or maybe at the end of my second trimester, I can’t remember), I failed the 1 hour glucose test and I was shocked. I don’t know why I was shocked, but I guess I just never really expected to fail it since I live a pretty healthy lifestyle. After failing the 1 hour test, I was scheduled for the 3 hour test and again, I failed and failed pretty horribly. I got a call from my doctor letting me know that I had gestational diabetes and then heard from a nutritionist that walked me through what the next couple of months would look like in terms of my diet.

Luckily I was able to control my GD with my diet and didn’t have to resort to insulin, but dang it was tough at times. I tested my blood sugar 4x a day for the remainder of my pregnancy and had extra ultrasounds scheduled to check on baby’s growth. Before this, I had no knowledge in regards to gestational diabetes and after going through it, I have learned so much and it’s definitely not easy to go through. I really hope that I can avoid in in future pregnancies! All that to say, I do have to get re-tested in a couple of weeks and I pray that all looks normal, and I think it should.

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SWELLING

I had no swelling at all, until around week 33. It was actually the week of my baby shower and I all of a sudden started to swell and it was bad. Both of my legs were swollen from my toes to my thighs. I had never experienced my entire leg swelling before until then. Everything hurt and every move hurt. Walks were very difficult towards the end of my pregnancy and sleeping was out of the question. I couldn’t really even sit comfortably. The 90 degree weather didn’t help much either. By the last month, my body quite honestly felt done, and it was ready for the little babe to come out. The last couple of weeks consisted of a lot of elevating my feet, soaking them in buckets of ice and compression socks.

OVERALL THOUGHTS ON THIRD TRIMESTER

Honestly, the third trimester is extremely hard. Not only was it physically hard, but the last month feels like forever and I think it’s because of the anticipation of meeting your baby. It’s also really hard to not really know when the baby is going to come and it feels like a crazy waiting game that you want to have a plan for and you just can’t. I was always paranoid the baby would come when Eddie couldn’t get to me quickly, or my water would break at the grocery store. I felt really anxious at the end and was also desperately wanting to deliver and meet our baby. But, my second trimester was full of health issues and those all subsided during the third trimester so that was a huge relief.

– HOSPITAL BAG –

I was going to do a full post on this, but what I realized is that you really do not need to bring a lot to the hospital. I’ve read hundreds of hospital bag blog posts and watched lots of YouTube videos and I had all the things and I barely used anything. I did have a c-section so I didn’t use any of the products I had purchased in the event I delivered vaginally, so that may have been different had I been able to do that. However, I will say the only things I would really recommend are comfortable pajamas, nursing bras, depends adult diapers, your own grippy socks that fit and a good phone charger that is either portable or has a long cord. You really don’t need much else, as the hospital will provide you with everything you need.

I hope that this post was helpful. Be sure to check back for my fourth trimester recap in the next couple of weeks!

Thank with Google

In case you missed it, there is a new update on my blog! I’m so excited to be one of Google’s paid early testers for their Thank with Google pilot program. Thank with Google is an experimental feature that allows you a chance to share which content you value most and why when you purchase a virtual sticker that I’ll be able to see. With a sticker purchase, you have the opportunity to add a personal message and share what my work means to you. Your feedback is incredibly helpful to me and I love to hear from you! It’s a great way to support me, and other creators you enjoy following and allows us to connect and engage. Thank you for your support! This is what the feature looks like: