My pregnancy journey: The third trimester
And we're now down to the last 12 weeks of pregnancy! In a few weeks, we'd finally meet the newest addition to Val and my families.
The second trimester made me feel like I was back to my old energetic self. Though my belly was growing steadily, I felt good and had a healthy appetite. But the third trimester, according to the pregnancy websites I've been browsing, is all about my body gearing up for childbirth. Which means the return of several uncomfortable symptoms and a lot of stress.
And I have to agree, somewhat because...
On top of the flu, a novel coronavirus (dubbed SARS-CoV-2) has been making its rounds globally, causing severe acute respiratory illness (referred to currently as coronavirus disease, COVID-2019). It was first detected in Wuhan, China and has infected around 400,000 people (with more than 100,000 recovering and over 18,000 deaths as of March 24th) all over the world. As of February 28th, the U.S. has heightened its travel advisories to countries with their own outbreaks: people are to avoid unnecessary travel to Italy, Iran, South Korea, and China. People are instructed to practice good hygiene practices to prevent the spread of the coronavirus while the CDC is getting a protocol out for screening and then for treating the disease. In the USA, Washington state was the site of the first outbreak but by March 23rd, the number of cases in the state of New York has overtaken that of France. The World Health Organisation has called it a pandemic because it has spread like wildfire since being discovered in December 2019.
In response to the pandemic, a shelter-in-place order was issued by California Governor Gavin Newsom. During my Week 32 appointment (which was the day before the shelter-in-place directive became active), my OBGYN told me to stay at home and not to attend barre classes in the meantime (assuming that the studio remained open during the shelter-in-place) to avoid contact with contaminated surfaces and to avoid airborne droplets from sick people walking about. On my Week 34 appointment, my OBGYN informed me that epidemiologists estimated that the epidemic would peak around the time that I was going into my 37th or 38th week of pregnancy. Scary, of course, but I kept telling myself that the risks were manageable.
If there's one thing I could say about this whole journey, it is this: Val and I definitely have a lot of things to say to the wee one when he's bigger: how we carried him through a very challenging year which saw his dad placed in self-isolation after a business trip to Rome (and eventually continued to work from home because the office was closed down during the epidemic) and his mom ordered to hunker down at home in the government's attempt to clamp down the epidemic early on. How panic-buying led to artificial disruptions of stocks for tissue paper (of all things), disinfectants, diapers, and rice. How social distancing did not mean a discontinuation of social media interaction and trolling. And more importantly, how childbirth at the time of the epidemic kept reminding me about how lucky we are that we are going through this in a world where medical and molecular biology methods, coupled with statistics and data science, have made combatting an illness such as COVID-19 less of a guessing game but more of a pinpointed effort to deactivate a virus.
Initially, I thought that my absence from barre is related to the swelling I've been experiencing with my feet. My Dansko clogs became so snug that I opted to put them in storage for the remainder of my pregnancy. I subbed those with my trusty Geox Respira ballet flats (that expand as my feet swell), which I thought would last long but those wore out fast (because of age and my added weight). So I bought a pair of Sole Terra sandals, which I hope to use once the weather's become warmer. Also, the maternity pants that used to be loose around my legs now look like yoga pants because my legs also have begun swelling. So I've been keeping my legs up when seated to help minimise the oedema and I've switched over to real leggings (my Lululemon, Blanqi, Motherhood Maternity, and A Pea in a Pod leggings are now taking on extra mileage in terms of use) as bottoms both when at home and when running errands. These leggings help because they don't feel like my legs are being constricted and, paired with the Blanqi maternity tops, I get ample support to minimise back pain. Mommy is still amazed that I haven't been complaining too much at this stage.
My fingers have not been spared from the swelling. My rings used to be quite loose, but with the beginning of the third trimester, I started having difficulty taking them off before I showered. Fearing that my blood circulation would be constricted if my fingers swelled even further, I opted to put them in storage until I've given birth. Initially, I was thinking of buying those silicone rings that expand with my finger; but Val vetoed the idea because the swelling is just temporary and I could always have my rings resized (yes, all three that he had given me) if needed.
And then, there's my nose. I thought that it's swollen because of my cold. I've been having minor nosebleeds here and there as well (thanks to the dry air and my need to expel the mucus). However, with my symptoms waning, my nose remained somewhat swollen to the point that my eyeglasses were no longer sliding down when I resumed taking barre classes.
I guess this part of the pregnancy is when women feel sad or anxious about their ever-changing body shape and increasing clumsiness. I have not been spared; a flight of stairs led to a bout of huffing and puffing. I also couldn't see my feet anymore (as of February 3rd)!
I normally sent Val photos so he could see how big our precious cargo was growing, but by Week 32-ish, I was in no mood to be in photos anymore, especially after seeing a photo of me looking fat. Note that this was all in my head because my weight didn't reach unhealthy limits (it was well within the pregnancy weight increase range). Good thing was that he understood perfectly. I did send him a photo but one taken by Barbara when I was visiting them, around Week 34, a time when I couldn't run after Gabriel anymore. I am not complaining though, because we're almost at the finish line and the wee one is growing healthily.
For posterity's sake, this is me and the wee one at Week 36 and 4 days... I also sent the photo to Val so he can see how we've grown.
Because of diastasis recti, I no longer do abdominal exercises (like the various types of crunches, leg lifts, and leg drops) that put pressure on the affected muscles. Instead, I concentrate (read: struggle balancing myself) on doing modified bird-dog exercises, squats, and planks... I also now put a barre ball behind my back and prop my arms on the floor to support it when I do seated floor exercises.
It's nice that my barre classmates and instructors are all very supportive. Quite a few have approached me already to let me know that what I'm doing is really a wise decision; something they had wished they had done when they're pregnant. Many of them mentioned that they only started doing barre after they've given birth and have weakened muscles.
The second trimester made me feel like I was back to my old energetic self. Though my belly was growing steadily, I felt good and had a healthy appetite. But the third trimester, according to the pregnancy websites I've been browsing, is all about my body gearing up for childbirth. Which means the return of several uncomfortable symptoms and a lot of stress.
And I have to agree, somewhat because...
My third trimester began in the midst of a pandemic.
I had a cold and a cough, which got me calling the OBGYN between appointments just to ask what medicine I could take to alleviate the symptoms. I even felt sick enough to stop attending barre classes for a week. This was a good decision because without the additional physical exertion and despite my lowered immune system because of pregnancy, I was able to start recovering sooner than during my bout with bronchitis in California in 2018. However, because of my current cold and cough, the OBGYN opted to delay my Tdap vaccination, a booster shot that is designed to protect the wee one from whooping cough (a contagious disease caused by Bordetella pertussis) during his first sixty days. Tdap will also protect us from tetanus (caused by Clostridium tetani) and diphtheria (caused by Corynebacterium diphtheriae). I received the Tdap booster shot after my cough and cold symptoms stopped two weeks later.On top of the flu, a novel coronavirus (dubbed SARS-CoV-2) has been making its rounds globally, causing severe acute respiratory illness (referred to currently as coronavirus disease, COVID-2019). It was first detected in Wuhan, China and has infected around 400,000 people (with more than 100,000 recovering and over 18,000 deaths as of March 24th) all over the world. As of February 28th, the U.S. has heightened its travel advisories to countries with their own outbreaks: people are to avoid unnecessary travel to Italy, Iran, South Korea, and China. People are instructed to practice good hygiene practices to prevent the spread of the coronavirus while the CDC is getting a protocol out for screening and then for treating the disease. In the USA, Washington state was the site of the first outbreak but by March 23rd, the number of cases in the state of New York has overtaken that of France. The World Health Organisation has called it a pandemic because it has spread like wildfire since being discovered in December 2019.
In response to the pandemic, a shelter-in-place order was issued by California Governor Gavin Newsom. During my Week 32 appointment (which was the day before the shelter-in-place directive became active), my OBGYN told me to stay at home and not to attend barre classes in the meantime (assuming that the studio remained open during the shelter-in-place) to avoid contact with contaminated surfaces and to avoid airborne droplets from sick people walking about. On my Week 34 appointment, my OBGYN informed me that epidemiologists estimated that the epidemic would peak around the time that I was going into my 37th or 38th week of pregnancy. Scary, of course, but I kept telling myself that the risks were manageable.
If there's one thing I could say about this whole journey, it is this: Val and I definitely have a lot of things to say to the wee one when he's bigger: how we carried him through a very challenging year which saw his dad placed in self-isolation after a business trip to Rome (and eventually continued to work from home because the office was closed down during the epidemic) and his mom ordered to hunker down at home in the government's attempt to clamp down the epidemic early on. How panic-buying led to artificial disruptions of stocks for tissue paper (of all things), disinfectants, diapers, and rice. How social distancing did not mean a discontinuation of social media interaction and trolling. And more importantly, how childbirth at the time of the epidemic kept reminding me about how lucky we are that we are going through this in a world where medical and molecular biology methods, coupled with statistics and data science, have made combatting an illness such as COVID-19 less of a guessing game but more of a pinpointed effort to deactivate a virus.
Hello, swollen feet and fingers... and nose!
This is us on Week 28. Swollen fingers and feet not seen in the photo. I'm so happy that I invested in Blanqi maternity support tops.
Initially, I thought that my absence from barre is related to the swelling I've been experiencing with my feet. My Dansko clogs became so snug that I opted to put them in storage for the remainder of my pregnancy. I subbed those with my trusty Geox Respira ballet flats (that expand as my feet swell), which I thought would last long but those wore out fast (because of age and my added weight). So I bought a pair of Sole Terra sandals, which I hope to use once the weather's become warmer. Also, the maternity pants that used to be loose around my legs now look like yoga pants because my legs also have begun swelling. So I've been keeping my legs up when seated to help minimise the oedema and I've switched over to real leggings (my Lululemon, Blanqi, Motherhood Maternity, and A Pea in a Pod leggings are now taking on extra mileage in terms of use) as bottoms both when at home and when running errands. These leggings help because they don't feel like my legs are being constricted and, paired with the Blanqi maternity tops, I get ample support to minimise back pain. Mommy is still amazed that I haven't been complaining too much at this stage.
My fingers have not been spared from the swelling. My rings used to be quite loose, but with the beginning of the third trimester, I started having difficulty taking them off before I showered. Fearing that my blood circulation would be constricted if my fingers swelled even further, I opted to put them in storage until I've given birth. Initially, I was thinking of buying those silicone rings that expand with my finger; but Val vetoed the idea because the swelling is just temporary and I could always have my rings resized (yes, all three that he had given me) if needed.
And then, there's my nose. I thought that it's swollen because of my cold. I've been having minor nosebleeds here and there as well (thanks to the dry air and my need to expel the mucus). However, with my symptoms waning, my nose remained somewhat swollen to the point that my eyeglasses were no longer sliding down when I resumed taking barre classes.
I guess this part of the pregnancy is when women feel sad or anxious about their ever-changing body shape and increasing clumsiness. I have not been spared; a flight of stairs led to a bout of huffing and puffing. I also couldn't see my feet anymore (as of February 3rd)!
I normally sent Val photos so he could see how big our precious cargo was growing, but by Week 32-ish, I was in no mood to be in photos anymore, especially after seeing a photo of me looking fat. Note that this was all in my head because my weight didn't reach unhealthy limits (it was well within the pregnancy weight increase range). Good thing was that he understood perfectly. I did send him a photo but one taken by Barbara when I was visiting them, around Week 34, a time when I couldn't run after Gabriel anymore. I am not complaining though, because we're almost at the finish line and the wee one is growing healthily.
For posterity's sake, this is me and the wee one at Week 36 and 4 days... I also sent the photo to Val so he can see how we've grown.
By Week 36, my maternity pants and shorts were already in storage. I've resorted to wearing drawstring lounge pants that I bought from Motherhood Maternity or those that I borrowed from Mommy (which are getting tighter) and Lululemon Align pants (which appear to have no stretch limit!).
My abs have started separating.
The swelling was a change I had been expecting. But what surprised me was the doming on my belly when I stand up from bed. The OBGYN said that this is "diastasis recti", the separation of abdominal muscles caused by the baby's growth. But she assured me that both diastasis recti and swelling are par for the course and both are mild on me (as of Week 28). This is good news because I didn't start showing symptoms as early as Week 25. This is an indication that my core muscles have become stronger since I started doing barre. In fact, I think that barre really is helping me a lot because aside from the minimal back pain (note that I don't wear maternity support on days when I attend class), I've regained some definition in my biceps and triceps (not yet obvious in the photo but I could see them when my arms are bent); my thighs have harder muscles as well.Because of diastasis recti, I no longer do abdominal exercises (like the various types of crunches, leg lifts, and leg drops) that put pressure on the affected muscles. Instead, I concentrate (read: struggle balancing myself) on doing modified bird-dog exercises, squats, and planks... I also now put a barre ball behind my back and prop my arms on the floor to support it when I do seated floor exercises.
It's nice that my barre classmates and instructors are all very supportive. Quite a few have approached me already to let me know that what I'm doing is really a wise decision; something they had wished they had done when they're pregnant. Many of them mentioned that they only started doing barre after they've given birth and have weakened muscles.
What's nesting?
Some women get the urge to prepare the baby's nursery early on. I haven't been bitten by that particular bug by Week 30. Perhaps, it's too early; perhaps, I still am rushing through the final outputs I have to submit as a consultant. Nevertheless, I've been reading an article which reminds parents-to-be to keep the nursery simple, as per recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatrics. So, if anyone sees how bare the baby's room is going to be, let it be known that I am not aiming for a photogenic room; rather, Val and I agreed that we're going to concentrate on making the baby's space as safe as possible. Again, all that may change when the nesting bug arrives...
I got this screenshot from the 2016 Slate.com article by Elissa Strauss on SIDS prevention.
I was on the phone with Ninang Trining one Sunday morning and she asked if I have started shopping already for the wee one. I told her that we've already purchased the baby's crib and playpen, travel system, monitor, bottle steriliser, bottle warmer, and a bunch of bottles (plus the free bottles that come with every in-store purchase at Destination Maternity). She was quite surprised that I was able to complete the big purchases early on (and staying below my budget) and that the only things left are the baby's clothes. I haven't set the crib and the stroller system up yet though.
Since that phone call, I had bought a night light, bathing supplies, nappies, and a trash bin. I don't think I'll be buying more stuff until the baby is born because Biboy and Barbara gave me Gabriel's unused baby clothes and things that he's outgrown.
Our final shopping haul before I give birth, I think. We might have last-minute shopping to do but so far, the only things left on the birth registry are clothes.
By Week 35, however, the contractions started becoming painful and were concentrated on the lowest portion of my belly. I knew that these contractions weren't the real thing yet because they still occurred at random times and there were no regular intervals. But just in case I did start having the real ones, my OBGYN had given me instructions about what to do.
Since that phone call, I had bought a night light, bathing supplies, nappies, and a trash bin. I don't think I'll be buying more stuff until the baby is born because Biboy and Barbara gave me Gabriel's unused baby clothes and things that he's outgrown.
"Practice" contractions.
Oh boy. My OBGYN has been asking me about contractions since the middle of my second trimester. But I only started feeling it a few weeks into my third trimester... when I was driving at night. The second time I felt it was right after my last shopping spree for baby gear and supplies. Surprisingly, these "practice" contractions aren't painful; they just keep surprising me because they occur at random times of the day. I'm not sure what's triggering them but I noticed that I feel them when I'm seated. I've never felt it happen during barre class or when I'm walking, for instance.By Week 35, however, the contractions started becoming painful and were concentrated on the lowest portion of my belly. I knew that these contractions weren't the real thing yet because they still occurred at random times and there were no regular intervals. But just in case I did start having the real ones, my OBGYN had given me instructions about what to do.
Baby's kicking up a storm.
In the second trimester, I'd randomly feel the wee one poke and jab. But during the third trimester, I noticed that he pokes and jabs when Motown classics and Michael Jackson songs play on the radio. He's generally quiet when classical music is being broadcasted. The kicks and the jabs were a lot stronger... enough for me to see my clothes shifting!
And then Week 34 happened. Instead of pokes and jabs, I started feeling the baby roll and shift. These movements were big enough to make me feel uncomfortable and have fleeting instances of breathing difficulties and urges to pee. Though painful at times, I prefer to feel him moving inside so I'd know that he's happily growing in there, getting ready for his grand entrance. On my Week 36 check-up, my OBGYN told me that because the baby is very active, I actually don't need to count kicks.
And then Week 34 happened. Instead of pokes and jabs, I started feeling the baby roll and shift. These movements were big enough to make me feel uncomfortable and have fleeting instances of breathing difficulties and urges to pee. Though painful at times, I prefer to feel him moving inside so I'd know that he's happily growing in there, getting ready for his grand entrance. On my Week 36 check-up, my OBGYN told me that because the baby is very active, I actually don't need to count kicks.
Parenting classes.
I'm scheduled to attend three classes to prepare me for life after pregnancy. However, the county is being extra cautious about the coronavirus (COVID-19) spreading in groups so on-site classes have been cancelled. Instead, I've been given access to online classes, still through my hospital's labour and delivery department... except for the pain management class. So my OBGYN walked me through the different options available for me and what her thoughts and the feedback of her patients were with these options. She also said that many moms don't attend these parenting classes anyway, because their medical teams were with them every step of the way.
Then my preparations for the last weeks of the third trimester were suddenly interrupted...
Then my preparations for the last weeks of the third trimester were suddenly interrupted...
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