We’re 30 weeks pregnant at this point and officially in our last trimester. It has gone by much quicker than I anticipated and I can’t believe we get to meet our sweet little babe in 10ish weeks.

You can read more about our journey up to this point here.

A little disclaimer: I am obviously not a doctor, I’m just a pregnant woman doing what I believe is best for me, my baby and my family. My preferences may not be your preferences and my beliefs may not align perfectly with yours or your experience and that is ok! It’s a bit vulnerable to speak about my birth preferences, decisions and medical care, but here we are. Please be kind. 😉 

The Second Trimester

Overall, the second trimester treated me well. I hate to say that knowing that some women have a tough time throughout pregnancy. I experienced hip/sacrum pain, heartburn, headaches and nasal congestion but none are constant and symptoms come and go. I was sleeping better, waking up less at night (that has changed since I entered the third trimester but I’ll save that for later haha!), my energy was high and I was able to stay active for the most part. I am still riding my Peloton – albeit not very often due to the hip discomfort and my aerobic capabilities have gone WAY down, but it feels good to move and sweat a little.

Baby Movement

The highlight of the second trimester was finally feeling baby movements. I have an anterior placenta (in the front) so I didn’t feel her move until I was nearly 22 weeks. They started as faint little bubbles and have evolved to strong and visible movements. It really is something!

Transfer of Care

I spoke about this on Instagram but around 26 weeks I made the decision to transfer my medical care to a different practice. Since my very first visit at 9 weeks, my OBGYNs brought up labor induction at 39 weeks. I did not take an issue with that recommendation at first but as I began to dive into pregnancy and labor education and preparation, (and I do mean, DIVE! I have made it my mission to educate myself on ALL THE THINGS to prepare as much as possible for my delivery and postpartum experience) I began to disagree with my doctors’ recommendation for automatic labor induction at 39 weeks – which was being based solely on my ripe “advanced maternal age” of 36. Let me just say here, I have read the literature and the studies on stillbirth rates in older moms as well as the trial on decreased cesarean rates in women induced at 39 weeks. Still, I would prefer to give babe a little more time to come on her own. When we spoke to our doctor about our feelings, we were not supported and the conversation did not go as I had hoped. I did not make an immediate switch though. I wanted to avoid starting over with a new office, new doctors, and a new delivery hospital (we had already done our hospital tour and liked it). However, over the coming weeks, I developed some anxiety surrounding the issue. I was having nightmares about inductions and dreading the “battle” I felt I would have with my doctors when 39 weeks rolled around. So, I made the decision to switch to a practice with midwives and haven’t looked back since. If I end up having to be induced for a medical reason then I am ok with that. While I would like to have a birth with the least amount of medical intervention necessary, I am not opposed to medical intervention. I am opposed to routine, one-size-fits-all intervention that doesn’t take into account my otherwise healthy, low-risk pregnancy. So that’s the deal with that. I am proud that I stood up for myself and made a decision that my husband and I feel is best for us and the baby.

What are some of your favorite prenatal products?

I haven’t really purchased too many things for pregnancy. When it comes to clothes, I did buy one pair of maternity jeans but otherwise, I am living in flowy dresses and lululemon leggings. I have been using this belly cream daily, I love this facial cleanser that I received in a bump box (a prenatal subscription box that my mother-in-law gifted to me) and hubby got me an exercise ball that I use often. One thing we did splurge on is a Dyson air purifier. My sense of smell was so heightened that I could not stand the smell of my house! Especially after cooking dinner, the lingering food smells in the air were driving me nuts. We tried beeswax candles (which did help) and I was spraying linen spray on our bedding like a crazy person so hubby did some research on air purifiers and settled on the Dyson. It works so well and we love it!!

What are you doing to prepare for labor/delivery/postpartum? 

I have made it a priority to learn as much as possible about pregnancy, labor, delivery, natural birthing and postpartum. I have read several books and studies, have taken labor prep classes, we hired a doula and are working with her on a hypnobirthing curriculum. I am staying active, trying to keep up with yoga despite not being able to go to the studio, I’m drinking raspberry leaf tea daily and just overall trying to approach it from a calm and relaxed place. I have preferences, yes, but I am open to letting it unfold the way it’s supposed to. My number one priority is, of course, a healthy baby.

What resources have you relied on?

Here are some of my favorite resources:

• The Evidence-Based Birth website
• Sarah Lavonne’s YouTube channel – Sara is labor & delivery nurse and doula and she’s great. We took her online birth classes and have watched many of her YouTube videos.
• HypnoBirthing Classes – As I mentioned above, we hired a doula and are working through the Morgan Method HypnoBirthing classes with her.
• Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth
• Bringing Up Bebe
• Expecting Better
• Cribsheet
• Babywise
• The Fourth Trimester
• The First Forty Days – I haven’t read this one yet but looking forward to it

How’s the nursery coming along?

HAH! To be honest, it’s not! We put the crib together but we have not started working on the nursery at all. I have not even finalized the design plan. :/ We’ve been distracted by our desire to finish a couple of other projects first. I’m going to share a “before” walkthrough of the room that will become the nursery on Instagram and will publish a blog post once I finalize some design plan details. We did receive the glider from our registry from my sweet friend and I have it set up in the master bedroom right now. I figure since that’s where babe will be for a while we may as well have a relaxing spot to chill.

Do you have a name?

Little babe does, in fact, have a name! We are keeping it under wraps until her arrival. 😉

And the most FAQ I received: how are you handling pregnancy amid COVID-19?

I did have a couple of very emotional days brought on by all of the craziness, but I am over that and taking it one day at a time. It is a bit of a stressful time to be pregnant and I do feel like I’ve been robbed of some of the fun aspects of pregnancy but I’m not moping around about it. My biggest concern is related to hospital visitor rules. I may not be allowed to have my doula present during my birth and that’s a big bummer. But as long as my husband can be with me we will be ok. Some New York hospitals are not allowing ANYONE to be with the laboring women, which is outrageous. Some local medical offices are limiting visitors during regular OB checkup appointments so there’s a possibility my husband won’t be able to be by my side for regular appointments. We are a couple of weeks out from my next appointment so I’m not stressing about it now. Aside from that, it’s a bummer I had to cancel my baby shower, cannot go to my prenatal yoga classes that I was really enjoying, cannot go to the chiropractor which was helping with my hip discomfort and I can’t enjoy my last weeks pre-baby visiting with family and friends. Further, I have concerns about being in a hospital environment during this heightened time and exposing my newborn to people postpartum. Definitely not ideal circumstances but most of it is out of my control. We still have 10 weeks to go and the situation is fluid. What is happening now may not be the case when our babe decides to make her debut, and if it is, we’ll adapt and overcome.

That’s about it! Please let me know if I can answer any questions!

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