Hello hello, and welcome to Episode 114 of Life On the Brink!
I’m officially entering the ninth month of pregnancy, which is totally wild to say! Around the 20 week mark I shared the beginning of our pregnancy journey and had a little Q&A, and this week I’m back with Part 2! I’m at 35 weeks now, and though I still have a month or so to go, I’m definitely in a different headspace than I was back in January. This Q&A will focus more on the third trimester, nursery and nesting, and plans for birth and postpartum. It’s so crazy to think that I could really meet this little girl in just a few weeks!
What’s in my teacup? Harney and Son’s Provence blend. White tea with apricot, lemon and lavender, so fragrant and perfect.
PREGNANCY Q+A: WEEKS 20-35
Firstly, I get a lot of questions like:
Has pregnancy gotten easier in the 2nd half?
How have your symptoms changed?
What’s now the best/hardest thing about being pregnant?
So I thought the best way to answer all of those is just to give a sort of recap of my symptoms in this second half:
-Winter was ROUGH on my emotions. In Part 1 I mentioned that my intrusive thoughts just seemed really loud and I was feeling kind of low, well that sort of continued through about mid-February. I sought lots of support and handled it as well as I could, but I think it was a combination of pregnancy hormones, grey winter skies, and grief that I’m still processing. Fortunately, this has gotten so much better in the past few months. I still have days where I get really emotional or overwhelmed, but the overall mood has definitely shifted.
-I’ve noticed that my skin, mostly on my face, is a little irritated. I have been blessed with generally clear and even skin, but in the 2nd and 3rd trimesters things changed a lot. Sometimes I feel like I have that “glow” but mostly I’ve just noticed a lot of redness, discoloration, and just general irritation. Nothing major, though, and I’m still taking care of it as best I can. I’ve also got plenty of stretch marks on my lower belly.
-I got sick TWICE during the second trimester (once in January and once in March), and just had to ride those out. Fortunately, they were just colds, never anything serious, but even a cold can hang out so much longer when you’re pregnant, and the second time I got sick it took me about 3 weeks to get over it.
-I’d say the two biggest symptoms I noticed since entering the third trimester were: back pain and swelling. I had some lower back pain around Week 26-27, but it was just a little twinge here and there, nothing too bothersome. By Week 30, though, when Josh and I went on our Babymoon to D.C., there were some times where just walking was painful. I thought maybe that would be the case for the rest of pregnancy, but I’m SO GLAD it wasn’t. A combination of: sleeping with a pregnancy pillow and seeing a chiropractor totally changed the game. Now I’m still cautious of my movements and I make sure to stretch every morning, and it’s been so much better.
I noticed swelling in my feet only rarely a few months ago, but since Week 30 it has been so different. My shoe selection is certainly limited, and I find I swell the most when I’m sitting in one position for too long, especially at a table or desk. Fortunately, my blood pressure has continued to be perfectly normal, but I’m trying to be more conscious of my blood flow and move often.
-and, of course, the heartburn has persisted since the first trimester.
Now, that may sound like a lot, but all this has been spread over almost 4 months. I feel like, all in all, I’ve had a very easy go of things.
Let’s move into some fun planning!
What’s your plan for the 4th trimester?
The timing of this birth is perfect, as my school year will have just ended. I’m taking a break from piano lessons and gigs for the summer and will basically have 2-2.5 months to focus solely on learning to care for the baby. I’m so fortunate to be able to take this time, and plan to just let this summer be dedicated to this transition, then open back up to the world around mid-August (she’ll be about 2 months at that point). I also plan to accept as much help as possible from my family and loved ones, which is such a blessing.
How do you know what you need for the baby?
This is such a great question. I really didn’t want to go buying a bunch of unnecessary things that I wouldn’t end up using, so these resources helped me figure out what kind of supplies I might actually need for a new baby:
-Prenatal classes: as time has gone on, I’ve learned more about what our routines might look like, which has helped guide me in this area.
-Amazon baby registry: They’ve got this nifty checklist feature where you can check off things in nice organized categories as you’re building a baby registry. Of course, some items seemed superfluous to me, but it was a good resource for those things that you don’t know to think of.
(I found it useful to look at other new mom's registries, so here's mine in case they help)
-A FEW Youtubers. I say “a few” because there’s so much content that it’s easy to be overwhelmed. I found that these videos were useful:
I’ve also really loved following the first-time pregnancy journeys of these Youtubers:
-All the nursery things! Lots of you were interested in nursery plans.
Josh and I have been slowly renovating the house over the last year, and it feels so good to have another room to decorate and ORGANIZE (i love it).
-I kept the soft yellow paint that was already in the room and just added this wallpaper to one accent wall. The two blend so perfectly together. I’m still working on gallery wall/shelving, but already it has such a sweet character.
-I found literally all the furniture on Facebook marketplace and have been sticking with white, light wood, and accents of gold here and there. I just want the room to feel warm and inviting and cozy and sweet.
-Since my baby showers, I’ve had so. much. fun. organizing everything in the room. Like, every day I want to get work done just so I can go organize and decorate the room.
Of course, Baby Girl won’t sleep in there at the beginning, but I love having all her little things stored and ready to go.
-That being said, I’ve also been making a little corner of our bedroom ready for her. We have a bassinet and a tiered rolling cart, plus I’m making a part of our dresser into a changing area. Once I have everything organized upstairs, I’ll determine what needs to start out downstairs.
-What is your birth plan?
This is great timing, as I’m currently in the process of writing down my birth plan to take to the hospital. Josh and I have started working with a doula (who also happens to be a close friend of ours), and she’s been so helpful in this process. Currently, these are the my main preferences:
-If at all possible, I want my body to go into labor naturally, on its own
-I would love to labor at home as much as possible.
-Once I’m at the hospital, I want to work with my doula to manage any pain in various ways.
-I plan to make a playlist for this stretch of labor as well, something both peaceful and joyful.
-Natural v Medicated: I’m not opposed to getting an epidural, I think I’ll just decide in the moment if the pain becomes really difficult.
-Once the baby’s born, the hospital policy is immediate skin-to-skin for the whole first hour, which I LOVE.
-I do plan to breastfeed, so I’m going to use whatever resources/consultants are at my disposal to get that going as soon as possible.
Really, I think that’s it! I’m trying to remain very flexible and to mentally prepare for a LONG labor (while praying it’ll be short lol). I think going in without a timeline or a long list of requirements will help me a lot.
Thank you to everyone for your amazing love and support, and for such great questions! I’m curious to see how these last few weeks of pregnancy play out, and I’m just so excited to meet my little girl!
I’ll be back in 2 weeks with the Season 4 Finale, featuring my husband Josh as we talk about this crazy and wonderful transition.
This Week’s Little Joy: Between my birthday and two different baby showers, my house has been overflowing with fresh flowers for the past few weeks. I love it so much, and I’ve got little bouquets all around the house. It feels very Nancy Meyers.
What I’m Listening To: As I contemplate this playlist I want to make for labor, my mind keeps going back to one of my favorite albums: “In Between Dreams” by Jack Johnson. Remember when I said I was going for both peaceful and joyful? Yea, this is exactly that. If you need a little chill-out or something to boost your mood, just start at the beginning and listen to the whole thing.
Thank you so much for listening! Feel free to leave a comment, or head to Apple Podcasts to leave a star rating or review. If you have any suggestions for future episodes, send an email in the contact form on this site. I’d love to hear from you, and I'll be back in two weeks!