Hey guys! So I’m currently 36 weeks and I’ll be going on 37 weeks tomorrow! YAY! Only a few more weeks until we are holding our sweet girl in our arms! (She’ll be a lovely mix of Tony: He is Lebanese, Dutch, Polish, German. Myself: Half Mexican, and the other half is English, Spanish, Italian, Irish/Scottish, a dash of French, some Portuguese and African. I recently did my Ancestry DNA, so that’s why I’m so specific.) Culturally though I consider myself 100% mexican LOL! I thought it would be perfectly fitting to do a 3rd trimester update since I’m nearing the end of my pregnancy. The good, the bad, the ugly. I’m laying it all out here.
Some of the things that I really loved.
The number one thing I loved was not having any morning sickness. Woo-hoo! I’m SO thankful to God and my little angel for taking it easy on me this far. I had one spell of nausea this entire pregnancy. At first, I did worry about this, I would over hear people saying through their own experience, if you didn’t get any morning sickness the “pregnancy wasn’t strong enough to continue” I also read this on google. This is completely FALSE by the way. If you don’t get morning sickness, it does not mean you will have a miscarriage by any means.
I definitely felt fatigued during the first trimester and again in the third, but nothing too extreme. I kept active and didn’t use my pregnancy as an excuse to be lazy. I was probably most active during the second trimester and early into the third. I still try to maintain activity everyday, even if it’s only walking each day.
The biggest challenge
I’ve been dealing with so far is swollen feet. Its gotten to the point where it is a daily occurrence. I don’t eat a lot of salt. Some women just retain more water which allows the growing belly to be flexible and expand. The salt does make it worse but it doesn’t prevent it from happening either.
Body aches and pains
It tends to be much worse in the morning. My hands are extremely stiff and painful upon waking. I have to slowly move them to get them to function back to normal. A lot of this is due to excess fluid. Even my knees feel filled with fluid. My back and pelvis are getting better, but still quite painful in the morning getting out of bed. Sciatic nerve pain has improved, but some days I still feel it.
Sleepless nights
Sleeping with tons of pillows in an upright position is my new best friend. I’m getting up to use the bathroom 3-4 times a night. Maybe this is mother nature’s way of prepping me for motherhood. I feel like these are some of the pregnancy details no one shares.
Regrets
Some of the things I regretted was not eating the slice of chocolate cake. (Ha, JK I totally ate it.) I gained a lot of weight this pregnancy. All for good reason…I’m letting my body do what it needs for a healthy pregnancy. I was underweight pre-pregnancy. I really started putting on weight quickly in the 2nd trimester. Especially month 8. I feel my body has plateaued, once I got into week 35. Your body knows exactly what to do. Trust it. It’s okay to eat hot cheetos and ice-cream. My advice is to remain active, eat when you’re hungry, just find balance in whatever you do. I learned stretch marks are inevitable, drowning your body in lotions and oils doesn’t prevent them. I did experiment with using a topical retinol and hyaluronic acid which seems to be helping. I’ll give you another update on how this actually worked later. At the end of the day I have no real regrets.
Advice
Overall, embrace the beauty of pregnancy. The highs and lows, the good, the bad, the ugly. Most importantly don’t compare your pregnancy journey to anyone else’s. Your pregnancy is going to be unique and beautiful in its own special way. Just like your precious bundle of joy.
Prayers:
Please keep me in your prayers. I’m hoping for a smooth delivery with no complications and hardly any discomfort. I’m declaring that right now in Jesus’ name!☺️
Photography: Rachel Straughen
Shop my entire maternity look here
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