Third Trimester Diaries: Week 38 to 40

The last two weeks of pregnancy were incredibly humbling for me. My due date was January 1 so I spent the last two weeks of December very slowly and just hanging out. The Christmas season is one of my favorites in England and not having the energy to do anything or go to any festivities was really hard.

The highlight of those weeks was our Christmas food shop at M&S and Waitrose. Unfortunately for me, waddling around in the crowds wore me out so badly, by the time we got through Waitrose I thought I was going to be ill.

My camera roll on my phone tells the same story — not a lot happened in those final weeks. I got a sick note to take work off the rest of the month because I was so tired and uncomfortable. I really thought I’d try and work up until my due date. When I went in for my midwife appointment in early December, I started to cry just because I was done. The physical toll pregnancy takes was overwhelming for me. I hated that I couldn’t walk a short loop without excruciating pain and not being able to breathe.

One silver lining of being so pregnant in December is that when the sun disappears at 3:45 PM, it doesn’t make you feel so bad about being couch bound. The final two weeks of my pregnancy were a blur of nice Christmas food, knitting, doing my traditional Christmas puzzle and watching lots of TV and movies.

One downside of being pregnant during this time is not being able to partake in certain treats — so you have to get creative. I discovered a lovely bottle of Nozeco, an alcohol-free prosecco that turned out to be perfect for my faux-mosas because my Christmas is not complete without some form of a mimosa.

Prepping for baby

We left a lot of things to the last minute when it came to prepping for baby. We managed to get the basics in place: the changing station assembled, a combo changing station and chest of drawers ready to be filled, and a rocking chair tucked into the corner. I don’t think we unboxed a lot of other items until after the birth of our daughter. I vaguely recall sitting and trying to figure out how my breast pumps worked, and my husband set up the bottle washer. I had washed all the baby clothes so they were ready to go. And finally the car seat was installed very late in the game.

Those were our essentials.

I decided to buy a bedside cot last minute as I didn’t want to be hauling the bassinet up and down the stairs. This turned out to be a good decision as we’ve now got a two month old and she only tolerates the bassinet for our outings. She doesn’t really nap in it anymore when we’re in the living room. She likes her bedside cot.

We really wanted to be as minimal as possible to prevent overbuying, and it’s hard to know what you’ll actually need and use despite a million people online giving you a checklist. Every baby is different when it comes to what they’ll like. There are so many things you’re told you need to buy, I ended up being overwhelmed by it all and not buying a lot.

The End of Pregnancy

Baby Chloe arrived very nearly right on time. My contractions started early on January 1st, around 6:00 AM - that’s when they woke me up anyway. She was born January 2nd at 2:05 AM.

Despite hormones and sleep deprivation blurring my recollection of both pregnancy and the last 8 weeks in the newborn trenches, I don’t have that overwhelming sense that I want to do this again. The plan was for one, and I’m just fine with that. Postpartum has brought its own physical challenges and a deep desire to have my body completely back to me.

Pregnancy was an experience, and while in those final weeks I was a little bit sentimental about my belly disappearing, I don’t feel that way any longer. I love being able to take long walks without being in pain. I can bend over to put shoes that lace up on instead of resorting to slides. Breathing is easy again, restless legs no longer torture me, and my sternum doesn’t feel like it’s going to split open.

For me, it’s a relief.