My Third Trimester - Nesting & Self-Care
Bumpdate with Imo
I ticked over to the third trimester on my 30th birthday - a sign of the times.
I celebrated my birthday by having a beach party with great friends where we ate delicious food, swam in the ocean, played beach cricket and listened to music - thankfully we had this day because a week later we were put back into a snap short lockdown again in Victoria.
By the third trimester I felt well and truly pregnant, it’s true what they say… you grow and then you grow some more. You don’t think you could possibly get any bigger, and then you do!
With a marginal cord insertion and a breech baby I had a lot of monitoring and scans through these final months meaning I spent a lot of time in and out of the hospital. At the time the extra precautions felt overwhelming but in hindsight you can understand they were just keeping an eye on everything (deep down I knew that we were both doing ok).
At 30 weeks we started a 4 week Calm Birth Course, I'll admit it was quite challenging preparing for a birth that I didn’t think we’d be able to have, with Goldie in breach the chances of us having a scheduled cesarean were high.
I tried everything to spin her around into the correct position - Spinning Babies exercises, acupuncture, moxibustion and even handstands against the wall… I do feel like I spent pretty much any of my spare time in an inverted position wishing that she’d just turn around!
At 37 week I had an appointment at the hospital, then and there on the spot they offered me an ECV which is a procedure where 2 doctores manually try and turn your baby by pushing on your stomach from the outside. The success rate is pretty low and there is a chance that it can bring on labour which would lead to an emergency cesarean. Being Covid I didn’t have Al with me at the hospital so I called him quickly, told him what was happening and said I'll call you back if we’re having a baby today!
To everyone’s surprise the ECV worked and they successfully spun Goldie into the right position. I called Al and he couldn’t believe it - we were so happy, our birth preferences were back on the cards.
Design & Building:
By the third trimester we had all of our Nursery furniture designed, it was just about getting them finished in time. I absolutely felt that intense ‘nesting’ feeling and I spent all of my spare time in the workshop prepping the timber for Al to build the cot and rocking chair. In my mind these things needed to be completed by the birth and as it turned out my contractions started as soon as I knew the cot would be finished in time. We did get to bring our baby girl home to a finished nursery!
To bring colour and texture to the room we chose a beautiful thick woven rug by Rugs For Good and colourful linen by Sage and Clare for the cot and bed in the nursery (for those nights one of us may have to sleep in there too).
Preparation:
If you haven’t gathered by now I am a planner… With 6 weeks to go I started preparing meals. Every Saturday we would go to the Torquay Farmers Market and I would buy produce. I’d come home and cook all afternoon, sometimes four enormous meals at a time, I’d divide them up into portions and pop them in the freezer. By the time Goldie was born we had enough food to last us months - which we needed. This was hands-down the most valuable thing I did to prepare.
Speaking of meal-prep, I did antenatal expressing from 37 weeks. I would sit in bed in the morning, put on some nice, relaxing music and collect colostrum into a little cup and then transfer to a syringe and freeze. I loved doing this, I was making food for my baby, I called it “Goldie Milk” and by the time of her birth I had a large bag of syringes ready to go. In my mind I knew that if we struggled to establish breastfeeding I had backup and could take my time without being stressed she’d go hungry.
My friend Caroline gave me a great tip: purchase a large pack of cloth nappies and use these on your change table (or on your bed in the middle of the night). We still have these scattered throughout the house - in our bedside tables drawers, in the bottom of the pram, in her room... There is literally one always at arms reach which is super helpful if you have a spewy baby!
Throughout the pregnancy I started to create a birth playlist and collected songs that brought Al and I joy. Some of the songs were relaxing and others more fun and upbeat. We listened to this playlist a lot in the third trimester, the labour and the weeks after her birth. Now whenever I hear a song from it I get quite emotional (in a good way).
After being recommended by a few friends, Al and I signed up for the Calm Birth Course - it was amazing. It really covered everything you need to know - you could attend with no prior knowledge of pregnancy and birth and walk out feeling really confident about what to expect. I’ve written more about how the course helped us in our Birth Blog.
Reading:
My friend Alex lent me a book called “Breastfeeding and Parenting” by world-renowned breastfeeding expert Sue Cox. I knew that breastfeeding can be one of the most challenging parts of becoming a new mum and one that comes as quite a surprise when it doesn't go as planned. I think we’re conditioned to believe that it should be easy and come naturally, which isn’t always the case.
The book gives really great science-based guidance through every stage of your pregnancy, feeding and parenting journey. I love practical advice so I found this book extremely helpful and to this day (touch wood) I haven’t had any troubles with breastfeeding.
Travel:
At 36 weeks we went on a Babymoon to the Lon Retreat on the Bellarine Peninsula, gosh it was so nice to get away just the two of us, you can read more about it in the travel section of our Journal.
We also spent a lot of time in those final months catching up with friends - something I really recommend doing - soak up all of their goodness, go out to a fancy restaurant, jump in the car and go for a drive. Be spontaneous!
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HEY! WE’RE AL + IMO
We’re a husband and wife duo, building our dream life one DIY project at a time. We are proudly self-taught, furniture-makers, business owners, designers and stylists.
DIY RUNS IN OUR DNA
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