Third trimester recap

So I'm finally sitting down to start writing this up a month after having given birth. That should give you an indication of how things have been going lately, but more on that later. Instead, I will now try to think back a lifetime or two ago (a.k.a. a few months) to when I was still pregnant so I can talk about how I was feeling and what was on my mind.

People say that the third trimester is absolutely torture -- that you feel huge and tired and achy, etc. I must have just been very lucky, but for me the third trimester really wasn't so bad! I had a lot of aches and pains when sleeping during the second trimester and most of those went away during the third trimester. My bump must have just gotten so big that it was actually finally supported by the mattress when I was sleeping on my side. Even in the last weeks of my pregnancy I was still taking daily walks and exercising (lightly). I managed to avoid any swollen limbs or back pain and it was only in the last few weeks of my pregnancy that I started getting stretch marks to any real degree. I had one or two by my belly button in the end of the second trimester, but once she started moving down into my pelvis and getting bigger it really stretched out my belly and I ended up with a halo of stretch marks around my belly button about 3-5 inches in diameter. My poor belly button was also completely turned inside out. Who knows if that belly button will ever return to its former glory...

My mental journey has mirrored my physical journey. For the most part, I really enjoyed being pregnant. I'm not sure what it was about pregnancy exactly, but I just felt very womanly and sensual even when my bump was absolutely huge and I had gained a few pounds. My body changes didn't really bother me aside from the stretch marks that cropped up at the end which I'm still coming to terms with. It wasn't until I passed my due date that I grew really tired of being pregnant. Any apprehensions about actually giving birth didn't matter to me anymore. I just wanted to move on from this waiting stage and into the next. Every day that I had to go to work past my due date was such a drag and really annoyed me, especially since I couldn't really start any projects of substance because I could be on maternity leave at any moment. I almost would recommend leaving some stuff to organize or get ready until the very end because it just provides something to do and to take your mind off being pregnant. I had finished everything a few weeks in advance and not having a task list combined with the monotony of week nine million of Covid quarantine meant all I could do was sit and stew. Luckily I only went 6 days past my due date and then it was time for the main event!

In the end, I had a really smooth and enjoyable pregnancy. I consider myself extremely lucky. If that were the only part of the story, I would do it again in a heartbeat. However, my actual labor complicated the story a bit more, but we can talk about that in another post.