Third Trimester Part Three: 36 to 38 Weeks
My third trimester of pregnancy started around September 1st. You can read these two recaps - “Third Trimester Part One: 28 to 32 Weeks” and “Third Trimester Part Two: 33 to 35 Weeks” first if you’d like to go in chronological order.
In this post, I’ll cover details and updates during weeks 36 to 38, which occurred between November 1st to November 21st.
We are SO eager for baby boy to be here with us.
Week 36:
During week 35 I was feeling pretty overwhelmed with how much we still needed to do to prepare for Hayes’ earth side arrival. I have multiple friends who had their first baby between week 36-37 so I knew I need to make major preparation progress in order to feel good about him possibly coming anytime.
I took the week off from my pilates and yoga classes to focus on emotional readiness, appointments, registry shopping, and more labor research. This was my first week off from my classes since I moved to The Netherlands and it actually felt nice to take a break. The extra time and space allowed me to check off a bunch of miscellaneous tasks.
I had ordered the book Ina May’s Guide To Childbirth, so one Saturday I read on the couch for basically half the day. It’s a really good book. I found my values to be very aligned with what she had written, which was very validating as I feel like many of my beliefs are out of the norm for an American this day in age. If you’re curious about physiological birth, I highly recommend reading as it’s very eye-opening to the magic that birth is. It helped me feel even more empowered by my body.
On Monday, we got to meet our Kraamzorg (postpartum midwife). She came to our apartment for an in-home consultation / visit. The lady and I had a lot of shared core values when it came to approaching birth and postpartum holistically. Typically, a new mom would get 6-8 hours of care per day but since we signed up so late, they’re really booked. However, she said we will still get 2-3 hours per day for the first 8 days following Hayes’ birth. I still think this is so generous and it’s really reassuring to know I’ll be receiving in-home support.
On Wednesday, we had our 2nd appointment at the hospital. Everything went great. They tested the flow from the placenta through the umbilical cord and took some other measurements. We listened to his heart beat, which is always my favorite part. They want us to go to 3 hospital appointments total for them to get enough data to give us the green light for a home birth.
On Thursday, we had an introductory meeting at Consultatiebureau, which is the child health clinic where we will take Hayes for preventative care until he’s four years old. They monitor growth and development, give vaccines, offer parenting advice and post-natal support. The nurse was so warm. I had to get the Whooping Cough Vaccine and she was very patient about my phobia of needles. We also learned that someone from the clinic will come to our home within 10 days of Hayes being born to check on him. I think it’s really amazing that they come to YOU in those early postpartum days, instead of making a new mom venture out. With his winter due date this is especially wonderful. I can’t imagine I will want to trek through the elements with a newborn.
Hopefully we don’t need it, but we finished our hospital transfer birth plan that includes all our preferences on what we do and don’t want.
We also went to the Tom O’dell and Chance Pena concert in Amsterdam, which had been on our bucket-list since we moved here. When Clay and I took a break in 2024, I sent him the song “Good Love Die.” The lyrics say, “it’s a special kind of sin to let a good love die.” Sending it to him was my way to tell him I missed him and felt like it was a shame we had let ourselves drift apart. He really resonated with it and I think we both listened to HUNDREDS of hours of Chance Pena over the following months. Now, he’s definitely “our” artist.
It was super important to me that we went to the concert, as his music was really there for us during a hard time. When we arrived to the concert venue, we were a few minutes late, and I kid you not… as we sat in our seats, Chance started playing Good Love Die. It made me feel so grateful for our journey and that all roads led us to that moment together.
Week 37:
After a week of appointments and baby preparation, we definitely needed some fresh air so we started week 37 off with a road-trip around part of The Netherlands. This day trip came to fruition because I had found a bamboo baby bouncer on Facebook Marketplace in a city an hour away. We got a rental car to pick it up and decided to make the most of it by visiting a few cities. You can read about that more here. Overall, it felt SO good to get out of our bubble.
More baby registry packages showed up, which is always a highlight of my day. One in particular that I was really excited about was a linen canopy and linen crib organizer from Matuu (handmade here in The Netherlands). Clay was at a coffee shop when it got delivered and I was so eager to put it up that I got the ladder from the shed myself. I brought it inside and rearranged our living room to make this sweet corner for baby.
We had our final 3 of 3 hospital appointments on 11/11 and it was the best wish come true. All the measurements and tests for me and baby were in healthy ranges. We got the official approval from their team to have a home birth, which was a massive relief. Of course, we still could have done it but having their professional support provides a lot of reassurance. Even the woman helping us at the hospital said she had two home births and totally understood my desire. I just love that this is normal in The Netherlands… I’ll never get over their natural approach!
The good news also have me a nice energy boost and I went to my yoga and pilates classes that week. As usual, I got my prenatal thai massage on Friday.
We also had another appointment with our actual midwife team to go over details for the home birth. She let us listen to baby’s heartbeat and did a physical exam of my belly, which confirmed he is “very engaged.” As you can see in the photos, he has dropped so low!
This prompted us to double check that the home birth pool was good to go so we practiced inflating it, putting the liner in and using the hose adapter that will go on the kitchen faucet. Starting to feel SO real.
We also made progress on obtaining a few other necessities:
Purchased a car seat (and cute toy chain to go on the handle)
Purchased baby safe shampoo, body wash and lotion
Purchased a haul of secondhand “everyday” clothes from Vinted (I got 16 items for $45… crazy!)
Received multiple baby registry gifts such as a bamboo brush, linen play mat, more onesies, a custom pacifier clip, socks, and booties
Prepped electrolyte ice chips for during labor and got healthy snacks to have on hand (fruit, yogurt drinks, bone broth, dates, etc)
Week 38:
At this point, I definitely understand why women say things like “it’s time to get this baby out of me,” make eviction notice jokes and comments about being pregnant “forever,” because I’m feeling BIG. I am still biking around, walking daily, and went to my classes but it’s getting more straining for sure. Between wanting my body back and being excited to meet him ~ I am having to practice patience on a daily… (hourly) basis.
I have really enjoyed being pregnant but the never-ending symptoms are starting to weigh on me a little bit. My iron is low so I had ground beef one night for dinner and the heartburn was horrific. The worst chest pain I’ve had in my life. It kept me up nearly all night. I’ve still been taking my iron supplement daily so I guess I’ll just stick with that and chicken / turkey.
We filmed a haul of all the items my mom got us and shared it to Facebook. We are feeling SUPER blessed by how helpful and supportive our families have been. Hayes will be the first grandchild on my side <3
You can watch here: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/17RaqrvTKf/
I read a few more chapters of Ina May’s Guide To Childbirth. Clay and I practiced birth positions with the yoga ball, me leaning on him, and using a rebozo scarf. As baby continues to drop lower, the pain on my pelvis and ligaments has increased. I really can’t believe I can still bike around and go to pilates but movement is medicine! I truly do feel better and more empowered after exercise. Of course, I’m taking it easy and being mindful of my energy levels but I’ve found if I rest too much, I started to get in my head and feel too lazy / stiff.
At this point, nearly all of baby’s laundry (clothes, bedding, blankets, burb cloths, bibs, etc) has been washed. It’s all nicely folded and hung up accordingly. I’ve gone through many check lists online, read reddit threads, Pinterest posts, asked other mom’s, etc. I’ve compared all that to what we have, and I’m feeling super good about it. We’ll see how it goes when he arrives, but it looks like we have almost everything we need!
Peaches definitely seems to know baby brother is coming soon. She has been an absolute perfect little snuggly angel. Her demeanor has been so loving and calm. It’s making me love her even more, which I didn’t think was possible after 9 years. I am so eager for her to meet him.
Now that the temperatures have dropped in The Netherlands, there’s an increased need for warmer clothes and more layers. I’ve been avoiding purchasing anything for myself to prioritize what baby needs but I was feeling kinda “down” on Tuesday so I went shopping at Zara. I was there for hours, looking through every rack. I wanted to find items that both fit me now and would fit postpartum. After trying on a bunch of things, I found some winners that I am really excited about. I got three pairs of pants (which is what I really needed), a few sweaters, a pretty sleep dress, a scarf, gloves, and two long tank tops (to wear under sweaters).
I went to a momma meet up at a local cafe, hosted by the same gal who did the momma’s radiance retreat that I went to in September. It was good to see some familiar faces! In total, there were probably 15-20 women there. It’s been so nice to attend events like that. It’s made me feel bad for Clay (and other men) that there aren’t really things like that for new dad’s. Even though the women is experiencing a lot with pregnancy, bringing a baby into the world is also a massive change for men and I wish they had more support.