My Third Trimester Thoughts

My gorgeous girl Alessia arrived three weeks and one day early.

Alessia was due to be born on the 4th July, which is American Independence Day, however popped out early in mid June at 36 weeks and 6 days. Due dates are never accurate anyway!

We did think we were going to have a “Cancer” star sign baby, however, she is a little “Gemini”.
I’m not familiar with many “Gemini” star signs, but the ones I know are really lovely and friendly.

Anyway, as I’m getting some much needed “me time” each week, I thought I would reflect upon the third trimester. Although, in all honestly… It’s taken me days to write little chunks of this post as my little one is the number one priority and needs her mummy.

The third trimester was HARD! Seriously hard.

I had intense sickness through-out my entire pregnancy! It always seemed to be in the evenings when I’d be getting ready for bed and the taste of toothpaste made me throw up my entire dinner and sometimes lunch too! I never really experienced the sickness in the mornings!

The sickness was really draining and taking it out of me as the months went on.

As well as this I developed a health condition named “Sleep Apnea” while I was pregnant, which meant I had to wear this fetching oxygen mask at night during the later stages of pregnancy.

I actually discovered I had Sleep Apnea by wearing my Apple Watch at night and had a few notifications alerting me!

My breathing would stop and re-start while I was asleep, it was really scary and would wake Joe up often.

I found the oxygen mask really hard to wear at night and my sleep was poor because of it, so I stopped using it. I will re-visit my Sleep Apnea condition a little further down the line when I’m settled into more of a newborn routine. Also I don’t know if I only developed this while being pregnant or whether it had been going on for a while.

I also unfortunately had endless complications towards the end. Weekly monitoring soon became intense daily monitoring, as well as frequent growth scans at hospital for Alessia during the last two months in the lead up to when she was born. We also had countless trips to triage thrown into the mix with reduced movements.

However I was in complete safe hands and had great care with all the midwifes locally.

My c-section was scheduled three times because of the complications. This was not a decision that was made lightly. It was going to be the 23rd June, then Friday 13th June, then finally the 12th June. Third time lucky – IYKYK!

I was so relieved that the birth went well. No complications with my stoma, endometriosis scar tissue and what not. Baby girl was all happy and healthy, which is all that mattered!

The surgeon was absolutely brilliant. And my bowel surgeon was present just in case, but was not needed thankfully. It was actually really lovely to see my bowel surgeon in the operating theatre, he has a calming effect and said some lovely words to me when baby girl was born.

Any who, it took a while for Alessia to be placed on my chest, but it was love at first sight. We are so smitten with her and she’s utterly perfect. She is a mini Joe!

The only downside we have had since she was born is that she caught something similar to bronchitis from a visitor very early on, which I’m miffed about! She is slowly getting better, however, I certainly didn’t enjoy the trip to A&E in the early hours.

Anyway, I may talk about my birth experience in the future. I’m not sure if that would be an interest! However, I had a very positive c-section experience locally.

I felt physically strong in the first stretch of the third trimester. I was still doing a lot of gentle exercise and almost 8-10k steps every day. However my energy levels slipped a few weeks in and I was finding exercise too challenging. The exhaustion in the third trimester was something else! Worse than what it was like in the first trimester.

I was really proud of myself that I did a long hike around Ivinghoe Beacon on one of the Bank Holidays. I did a hilly walk for around an hour and a half with Joe and Archie. My heart rate was definitely high on the walk, so I did need to pace myself and take breaks mind you.

The nesting era!

I also really got into nesting – the nesting era! I washed all of the baby clothes, followed by steaming all of them as I don’t own an iron! Which I do not recommend! Took me hours upon hours with a hand held steamer! I also organized Alessia’s chest of drawers and tried to get as much ready as possible.

Everything was all neat and tidy, now it’s a different story!

I also prepped my hospital bag really early on – I wanted to be as organised as I possibly could as I had a feeling Alessia was going to come early – which she did. Some of the things I packed were useful, some were not. I was told to print off my birth plan and I didn’t even look at it once on the day.

Also, during the third trimester, Joe and I started NCT classes. We met a bunch of lovely couples who are all local. We also had a great teacher named Becks. It’s really nice that we have the extra support of the group for advice and that all our babies will be born around the same time.

There is already a reunion date planned for a NCT meet up when all the babies are born. And, 50% of the group already have babies now, which is rather exciting!

Foods that I was craving in the third trimester!

I tried to eat relatively healthy in the third trimester, but the mind and body wanted those greasy and sweet cravings!

Five guys was a dream when I had no energy to cook. I was also obsessed with really cheesy jacket potatoes – almost daily. I haven’t had one since the birth… I might cook up a cheesy jacket potato tomorrow for lunch.

Events and outings!

In terms of events, we didn’t have much planned in for the last couple of months! Although, I had my baby showers in the third trimester! One baby shower in Joe’s home-town and one in my home. We organized both showers, which was hard work but they came together really well!

I shared photo’s of the one in Joe’s home-town in my second trimester thoughts blog post, which you can read here.

Here’s a few snaps from my other baby shower with my family!

After a hospital appointment for my Sleep Apnea in late May, my mum and I had an afternoon out in Harpenden. We dined at the Waffle House – my craving at the time! The day after, Joe and I had a rare date night locally at a lovely little Italian restaurant that I adore.

Joe and I also had an afternoon tea date day at The Grove’s Feast event in early June, which was a real luxurious treat. Unfortunately we weren’t blessed with good weather on the day as it was an outdoor event, but I very much enjoyed the experience and the little details of the afternoon tea.

I also did some pregnancy snaps beforehand. This is my favourite of the bunch.

A few days before my c-section, we had a BBQ at my cousins house! T’was a chance to properly meet the other babies in the family, as two of my cousins have had their babies within the last nine or so months.

It’s so lovely that all three babies are born in the same “school year” and I hope they all get along really well, as all us cousins do. We have two baby girls and one baby boy in the family. Then my sister has two older boys. Christmas’ are going to be fun with the little babes!

Final musings.

I have to say that I am SO glad the third trimester is done and dusted with. Which I feel utterly awful for saying that, however, I had so many complications towards the end that I just wanted baby girl out and here in the safest way possible. I also did not enjoy the heaviness of my belly – it was starting to get uncomfortable pottering about around the house all the time!

I’m also so so glad that I missed being heavily pregnant in this crazy UK heatwave that’s been happening over the last few days, as I would have been approaching 40 weeks this Friday.
I definitely feel for all the pregnant mums in this heat right now!

Alessia is all hot and bothered, as are we, and air-conditioning has been a life-saver. Although such an eye sore!

Personally, I feel like Joe and I are working well as a team! We’re ensuring we are both getting plenty of rest as well as “me time” or time to do some DIY or cleaning jobs around the house. Or even have time to have a shower or eat! What a luxury!

I’ll be really sad when he has to return to work as his help and support has been invaluable. I’m SO lucky that I have him at home for six weeks – a very rare paternity leave in the UK as it’s usually one or two weeks.

Maternity leave is going to be really tough while he is working away, as I’ll be on my own for a long stretch while Joe is in the office three days a week and two days WFH, working with aligning with American time-zones.

I’m hoping that my mum or others can help me as much as they possibly can while Joe is at work. I’m sure I’ll work out a weekly routine for Alessia, Archie and I to get out and about every day, otherwise I might go insane staring at four walls. And I’m hoping I get the time to write as it’s my passion.

By the way… The snaps above were me at 5am on the day of my c-section – blasting out a bit of Celine Dion… as you do! I also opened a fortune cookie the night prior and thought the message was lovely and relevant.

Any who, I think I’m ready to click publish! I’m planning to enjoy the rest of the day with my darling Alessia, gorgeous Archie and my helpful husband. While watching Wimbledon of course – there were some cracking games on day one!

One more thing… I may have a natter about the “fourth trimester” or the “newborn period” in another post. Would this be of interest? Though for now I’m enjoying my newborn bubble with my little family! With a few emotional cries thrown in here and there! Oh the joys of sleep deprivation and wild hormones!

Hope you’re all enjoying Summer! I’ll catch up with you all when I next find time to write.