I’ve finished 35 full weeks of pregnancy (HOLLA!), which means my baby boy is just 2 weeks away from being considered full term! His due date is less than 5 weeks away…I mean, that can’t be true, can it?! 

I don’t know what happened, but as soon as I passed 34 weeks I felt REALLY pregnant. Like, #allofthesymptoms that I hadn’t felt before all of a sudden came whooshing down on me. I’d heard that the last month of pregnancy is typically the most uncomfortable, but I also know that every single pregnancy is different. For me and my pregnancy journey, there was definitely an invisible line that I crossed at 34 weeks that make me go from “eh, this isn’t so different from normal life,” to “I am a very pregnant person.”  

The third trimester has definitely been more difficult than the second, but I’m also enjoying it way, way more! It’s super fun to be pregnant because everyone is nice to me all the time, haha. Since pregnancy is pretty uncomfortable, I have exactly zero qualms with accepting the nicest seat in the room when it’s offered to me.

The third trimester is also going by so quickly!! For the first time during pregnancy, I’m wishing time would slow down instead of speed up. Last night, Nate and I were both lounging in the living room before bed. (We typically hang out together after dinner from about 8:30-10 pm and watch a Netflix show together or read books.) He was reading some sort of science-y book about brewing, and I had just started reading a new novel for my book club. Storm sat down on the couch between us, gave herself a bath, and then fell asleep. The house was perfectly clean, dinner dishes washed, and everything was silent… I read my book for about an hour and then went to bed for 8.5 hours of uninterrupted sleep. 

I have it SO good right now! Just 5 weeks left of my current version of life before everything changes, so I’m really doing my best to soak it all up, enjoy this time with Nate, and appreciate all of the “me” time I’m able to selfishly enjoy. 

Third Trimester Updates: 

MENTALLY

• The biggest thing I’ve been focusing on has been staying in the moment. Pregnancy is all about the countdown to the big event, so it’s easy for me to to always be looking forward to the next moment. The truth is, at one point I dreamed of being exactly where I am right now. And even though I know that life with a newborn will be incredibly happy, I also know that if I can’t learn to be 100% content and happy in my current situation, I’ll never be happy. I don’t want to live my life always looking for the next best thing. So, for right now, I’m ridiculously happy being a 35-weeks-pregnant woman. 
• I’ve had to make a mental shift in the third trimester in regards to how much I can get done in a day. In normal life, I’m a pretty efficient, type-A person and I can cross lots of things off my to-do list in a short amount of time. But now that I’m at the end of pregnancy, I’m slowing down and what I used to be able to do isn’t feasible. This is sometimes hard for me to wrap my brain around and I find myself getting frustrated when I have to, say, take a nap in the middle of the day or sleep in in the morning instead of working on a project. 

PHYISCALLY

• My low back started aching! I mean…did I just age 40 years in the past week? The aches, thankfully, come and go. They’re pretty bad when I have to sit for long periods (I teach private violin lessons for up to 6 hours at a time, and my back usually hurts the day afterward. I have to be careful to stand up periodically to release some of the pressure on my low back.) 
• Swelling. I had two flights to take in my third trimester (29 weeks and 31 weeks), and it took days for my ankles and fingers to go back to normal after those flights! My wedding ring still fits…kinda. If I’m having an easy day and I stay inside in the A/C and eat lots of anti-inflammatory foods and drink green tea, my ring will fit. But if it’s a busy day and I’m running around outside, in and out of my car, and eating salty foods (like all of the tacos I consumed for this taco post), there’s no way I’m going to be able to cram that ring on my finger.  
• Lungs/stomach are all squashed up in there! Getting a deep breath is difficult, so my ability to do cardio has gone way down. I’m still trying to fit in a weekly cardio class at Barre Code, but I do lots of modifications. 
• Ok…this one is kinda weird. My skin has been doing the craziest stuff during pregnancy. I anticipated lots of breakouts, but those actually haven’t been all that bad! However, I’m been to the dermatologist four times this summer (FOUR!) for various skin issues. When I was a little girl I dealt with a lot of little warts popping up on my fingers, and I had to have them frozen off. I haven’t had any new ones in more than a decade, but as soon as I got pregnant, and my immune system was compromised, my body decided to stop blocking that virus and those annoying little bumps started popping up again. But…one of the weirdest things? They also started popping up on my right knee! I MEAN WHAT. Gross. I’ve also had a heat rash on my legs for that requires a steroid cream, and a cherry angioma that I had to have shaved off my shoulder (apparently those bright red moles are linked to the rise in estrogen during pregnancy), melasma like crazy on my face…all of the things. So…super fun stuff. 
• I’m still sleeping well, and I’m thankful for that! I take longer to fall asleep than I used to (turns out that sleeping with a bowling ball for a belly isn’t very comfy…), but once I’m asleep, I’m usually out for a good 8-9 hours. And I’m soaking up every single moment of sleep I can get until the baby gets here. 

EMOTIONALLY

• Third trimester has been fairly easy on my emotions compared to the first trimester. (Actually, everything about pregnancy has been easy compared to the first trimester…)
• Weight gain is still a little hard for me to wrap my mind around, and sometimes I freak out a bit when I step on the scale at the doctor’s office and see that number go up…and up…and up. I never use a scale at home in my normal life, so it’s been really weird for me to be weighed every 2 weeks during pregnancy. Mentally, I know it’s supposed to be happening. The weight gain is for a reason, and it’s all within a healthy bracket. But emotionally it’s challenging to feel so utterly out of control in regards to what’s happening in my body. (I know, I know…it’s all preparing me to let go of control when I’m starting real life with a baby. So I’ve heard.)
• Honestly, most days I just feel complete excitement! I’m in awe that my son is in there, cooking away in his little jacuzzi, getting ready to start his life with us! It’s crazy. 

PREPARATION

• Since this is our first pregnancy, Nate and I decided to take all the classes: 12 hours of weekend birthing classes, an evening breastfeeding class, an evening infant care class, and a private hospital tour. Our hospital offers all of those classes in a nice little package, so I just signed us up for everything. I’ve honestly learned a lot at all of them and I’m happy I decided to invest the time.
• I have the necessities ready to go: a car seat, a place for him to sleep in our bedroom, breastfeeding supplies, and a changing station. I’ve picked a pediatrician and set up my maternity leave.
• Still on the to-do list: well, lots of things! But none of them are 100% necessary, so I’m not stressed. They’ll get done in the next five weeks. A few examples: organizing all of his clothes, finding a comfy glider for his nursery, and prepping some freezer meals for the first few weeks.

I have a feeling he’ll arrive past his due date. Although, maybe I’m just telling myself that so I don’t get my hopes up that he’ll be born right on his due date and then I’ll have to wait around forever.. 

Then again, I had a feeling he’d be a girl, so what do I really know, anyway?

Thanks for reading through this! I’m so happy to have a little community to confide in (seriously…your messages and comments on instagram regarding pregnancy have been the sweetest, so thank you.) I might give another little update as I near the very end of pregnancy, because I know so much will change in the next month! 

Looking for more pregnancy posts? See them all here!