Third Trimester Part One: 28 to 32 Weeks
My second trimester (weeks 13 to 27) spanned from about May 18th to August 31st. In my Second Trimester Recap, I left off with my two week trip back to Omaha to check on my clothing store and see family.
My third trimester of pregnancy started around September 1st.
I’m splitting this into a three part blog post (28-32 weeks, 33-36 weeks and 37-40 weeks) because if I wait too do it all at 40 weeks then baby will be here and I’ll be too consumed with him <3
Week 28:
We kicked off the third trimester with a weeklong European roadtrip through Germany, Austria and Switzerland to celebrate Clay’s 30th birthday. I felt great during this trip, especially considering the long hours in the car, packing, checking in and out of hotels, activities, and still working during the trip, etc. It felt good to get ready each day, dress up and take my mind off wellness, cooking, birth research and pregnancy in general.
Week 29 to 30 ish:
Nearly right after we returned, it was Clay’s turn to make the trip back to Omaha to see his family (and attend a friend’s wedding). He was gone for 17 days. Even though my Omaha trip and the European roadtrip were so rewarding and fun, afterwards I was feeling a little disorganized. It was perfect timing for Clay to be gone and for me to have alone time. I realized I honestly hadn’t had a week of alone time since February!
I did all the girlie self-care things and fully embodied the nesting energy. I organized every aspect of our home… the closets, cabinets, drawers, etc. I rearranged our living room. I wrote out the “curriculum” content: the outline and concept of this podcast episode and the 10 syllabus for my self-created classes. It helped me lay out a schedule for the upcoming months that balanced work, health, hobbies and preparing for birth.
I continued my favorite classes at my yoga studio. My preferred weekly lineup includes one prenatal pilates, one prenatal yoga, one yin yoga, one face yoga, and one slow flow. Then I also one at least one of the spiritual classes such as meditation, reiki, a sound bath or cacao ceremony.
Baby’s kicks started becoming much more frequent and much more intense, with the height of activity between 10pm-12am. The weight / pressure on my bladder started waking me up in the middle of the night.
From here on, sleep became disrupted, waking every few hours to his kicks, needing to pee, or reposition my body to get comfortable.
Another new symptom was acid reflux. I had never had it in my life so I wasn’t even sure what it was at first. It was pretty intense for a few days so then I started eating smaller + more frequent meals, which helped.
Thankfully, overall I still felt very energized and never had to take a nap. I continued my daily walks, bike rides and taking Peaches to the park to play.
Week 31 to 32 ish:
I am sure my body was growing steadily, but it seemed like I had another growth spurt where my belly really popped in these few weeks. It started to get harder to do things like shave my legs, pick things up, do all the usual movements in yoga class, or sleep comfortably in any position. The pressure of baby on my pelvic floor started to feel heavier.
I knew I was big because I started getting comments from strangers, such as asking when I was due, how pregnancy was going, smiling at my belly, etc. It was clearly very obvious to them that I was pregnant and not just chubby haha.
One Sunday afternoon, Clay and I took some tripod photos at home and shared the news of baby boys name (Hayes Nolan Fisher) on social media. I am so glad we have these photos together now to cherish forever.
We also got our first baby registry package deliveries. My Aunt Laurie and Grandma Amy were SO generous. It was so fun to open those items and it helped all of this feel even more real. We plan to film a “show and tell” of the gifts once a few more get delivered since we didn’t have a baby shower.
After months of waiting for our Dutch visas, we finally got approved and were able to get Dutch health insurance… which means we could finally register with a midwife center. (Midwifery is the main form of care for healthy pregnancies and births in the Netherlands, where midwives manage the vast majority of low-risk pregnancies and births, providing personalized and natural childbirth care).
We are super grateful to have a midwife center in our city that has all 5 star reviews AND speaks English. We went to our first appointment on October 8th and it was such a good experience. I did have to get my blood drawn though so I hated that, but she was super patient, calm and encouraging.
The acid reflux would come in waves, some days worse that others. My gums are still sensitive but the water flosser that I got around week 18 has helped significantly, now I could use it without them gushing blood.
I still continued my same movement routine of daily walks, daily bike rides and about 4-7 classes per week at my yoga studio. I did get a solid lifting session at the gym in once during week 32 and once during week 33 that both few super empowering. I was impressed with my body’s ability to handle these workouts.
A random perk is that my hair continued growing so fast, looking thick and healthier than ever. I chopped it early in the summer and it easily grew more than an inch per month.
I started having Braxton Hicks contractions at 32 weeks + 4 days. It was initially hard to pinpoint what they were but they felt different than kicks.
I’m still feeling energized, optimistic and creatively inspired. However, my interest in work is dwindling a bit. It’s hard to prioritize work when I know how important taking care of myself (mind, body and spirit) is! Work will always be there but I can’t redo this time of my life and I want to be as prepared for labor as possible.
