2 months to go - advice/experiences?

[Anonymous]

Good morning ladies!

I officially have two months to go and I feel like I'm heading into the textbook third trimester...a little less energy, a little more pelvic pain and just plain feeling big, increased heartburn...pregnancy dreams (last night I dreamt I had my baby and then, half asleep, I used the dream to justify sleeping on my back...how's that for wishful thinking?) and feeling anxious about getting it all done in two months!

I've been trying to get lots done now, thinking that I'll only feel worse and worse as I go on.

Any other advice? How are the rest of you third trimester ladies feeling?

[Anonymous]

OP here - oh, and of course, the requisite stressing out about my weight gain (thus far it's about 23 lbs at 31 weeks....was hoping to keep it to under 30 altogether, seems possible but unlikely). And did I mention more tired than usual??

[Anonymous]

i hear ya! i have about six weeks to go and i definitely preferred the second trimester to the third. i've gained something like 37 pounds already and really hate getting on the doctor's scale - and getting the lecture afterward! my feet and ankles are swollen pretty much all the time now, and i learned the hard way this week that if i take off my shoes at work, i probably won't get them back on. and sometimes the baby moves herself onto a nerve, which makes me feel really woozy and weird. walking wears me out a lot more than it used to, and i get winded bending over or tying my shoes. and it's hard to find a comfortable sleeping position, between the sore back and the heartburn and all that.

i also sometimes freak because i feel like i still have so much left to do and nowhere near enough time/energy to do it all!

and sometimes i freak because let's face it, labor is on the horizon and it scares me. And then i'll be trusted with a new baby 24/7 - which scares me too!

complaining aside, i am happy to be having a baby and i look forward to being a mom. and my pregnancy really hasn't been that bad in the grand scheme of things. i just probably won't do this pregnancy thing more than one more time, if at all!

good luck in your final weeks!

[Anonymous]

I delivered my DD almost 6 months ago and all i can say is do not/not wait to pack your bag for the hospital. I thought since it was our first baby that I would go the full length of the pregnancy or even be late but, as it turns out, I delivered in my 39th week. I even had some pre-labor a few days before going into full labor. You think that would have been enough to get my bags packed, but nooooooo. We had all my stuff laid out on the guest bed, but in between timing contractions, my husband was stuffing things in duffels and racing to the car to get us ready to go to the hospital. Trust me, you will want him by your side during this time rather than packing the car!

Good luck! Becoming a mom has been an amazing experience, totally worth the wait, and more fulfilling than anyone can ever prepare you for.

[Anonymous]

Sleep and cook. Those are the two things I missed doing the most when my son was a newborn. Sleep all you can now. Cook and freeze meals so you're not relegated to take-out all the time.

[Anonymous]

Nesting definitely has kicked in for me. I HAD to stay up until 1am fixing up and organizing a bunch of stuff (that really could've waited) and then I saw the mail pile so I wanted to shred/organize that too, but when I finally sat down to take a rest I fell asleep!

I resist looking at myself in the mirror. I feel like a beached whale, but am excited so it sorta cancels out the negative feelings.

[Anonymous]

I'm also in my last 2 months and feeling the same thing. Don't worry about sleeping on your back- I've been on bed rest for the last 2 months and am supposed to lay on back all the time. When I sleep and I try to lay on my side now, the weight of the baby makes me very uncomfortable so I've been sleeping on my back as well. The doctor says that it's fine and the whole staying of your back thing is exaggerated.

[Anonymous]

I gave birth about 6 weeks ago. I had to be on bed rest for much of my third trimester, and then had a hard recovery from an unplanned C-section. I also went really stir-crazy being cooped up in the house with a newborn. I hope none of this happens to you, but it has made me wish I'd taken greater advantage of the time I had to go out and do fun things with my husband. We love our baby and spending time with her, but I really miss going to the movies or dinner, just the two of us. My biggest advice to you, which no one gave to me, was to spend some real quality time with your partner--both now and after your baby is born!

[Anonymous]

Go to the movies. Every day, if you can. Sleep as much as possible. Go out to eat. Get dessert. Get a mani/pedi. Pack your bag. Set up the nursery. Enjoy the quiet time with your significant other. Do all these things that you won't have to time once your bundle of joy arrives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Go to the movies. Every day, if you can. Sleep as much as possible. Go out to eat. Get dessert. Get a mani/pedi. Pack your bag. Set up the nursery. Enjoy the quiet time with your significant other. Do all these things that you won't have to time once your bundle of joy arrives.

Agree with this. Sleep, sleep, sleep, and sleep some more. I have two kids now - 3 and 1 - and they do both sleep through the night, but they are up between 6:30-7 every morning and my 3 year no longer naps. What I would give for a weekend where I could sleep in both days and take naps. Also, spend some good quality time with your SO. Your relationship is going to change a lot in 2 months - for the better hopefully, but it will be stressful. Enjoy this quiet time and being able to just hang out together as a couple.

[Anonymous]

I know you're excited and it's hard not to focus on the baby, but try to focus on yourself at this point. Once he/she is born, your focus will be entirely on the baby for a long time. To echo what some of the PPs have said, go out to eat, treat yourself to a massage/facial, spend lots of time with your S.O. and friends (especially friends w/o kids since, at least in my case, I see my mommy friends all the time now that I've joined the ranks and my single friends not as much).

Also, I will be scheduling an appt to get my teeth cleaned, my eyes examined, my hair cut & highlighted and my brows and bikini waxed during my last month of pregnancy. These are the kinds of things that fall through the crack when you have a newborn. It's not significant in the grand scheme of things, but I hate looking at the pictures of myself with DS when he was an infant and seeing my bad roots!