My Third Trimester Essentials
My third trimester is coming to an end any day now, so I thought it was time to share all of my third trimester essentials! I always knew the third trimester would have its challenges. The first trimester—with its nausea and fatigue—was rough. I couldn’t do much of anything, and I was so grateful when it ended. The second trimester was much easier, during which I felt more like myself in a lot of ways, with energy to exercise every day and a fairly normal appetite, though some days I was starving! During my third trimester, I have felt differently week-to-week and even often day-to-day. I have had Braxton Hicks around the clock since the beginning of my second trimester, and they only became stronger and more uncomfortable over time. In my eighth month, my mid-back was killing me for several weeks until the baby dropped and I felt some relief. I’ve rotated between heartburn and indigestion and struggled to stay asleep nearly every single night of my pregnancy. In the final days of the third trimester, my energy is definitely decreasing, as is my appetite, and I am growing more uncomfortable. I’m grateful that everything I’m experiencing is totally normal and expected! Nonetheless, I’ve been constantly adjusting and problem-solving, and I know I’m not alone, so I’m sharing everything that has helped me during these final few months of pregnancy!
Here are my Third Trimester Essentials:
Spinning Babies Yoga Sequence: If you’re not familiar, Spinning Babies is a program designed to help get baby into the ideal position for birth: left occiput anterior, which means baby’s head is down, face is toward your tailbone, and back is to your left side. We purchased the Parent Class video and the Daily Essentials video. The Daily Essentials includes demonstrations of moves to perform daily, followed by a yoga sequence, which basically blends these moves into a yoga flow. I enjoy the yoga flow, so I just skip to that part of the video. I have not been super consistent about doing it, but I do enjoy doing it at night before bed to relax me and help my body feel more comfortable.
Body pillow: I started out this pregnancy with a little knee pillow, then moved to a regular pillow, then finally stole my husband’s body pillow for the last month of pregnancy. My hips have bothered me more and more at night while I sleep on my side, and the body pillow really helps keep my hips open. Any body pillow will do!
Neti pot: I’ve dealt with nasal swelling on random nights throughout pregnancy. I feel fine all day and then as soon as I lay down for the night I can’t breathe out of my nose. As I’ve read, increased blood volume during pregnancy can lead your nasal passages to swell, so even if it were safe to take a nasal decongestant, it probably wouldn’t help. In addition to sleeping with my head at an incline, I’ve found that the neti pot helps a bit for opening up my nasal passages, and it’s a perfectly safe option! If you haven’t tried it before, it’s definitely a strange feeling, but not super uncomfortable—just make sure you use luke-warm or slightly warmer water, and make sure it’s been boiled first to ensure there’s no bacteria.
Nux vomica: The ONLY thing that has helped my heartburn and indigestion. Nux vomica is a homeopathic remedy in the form of these tiny beads you put under your tongue to dissolve. These remedies are super gentle, totally safe (but always check with your health care provider first!), and surprisingly effective. In week 38, I had terrible heartburn every night. When I started taking nux vomica, the heartburn was gone within 24 hours. I have found it also helped with indigestion. I do have to keep taking it somewhat consistently to keep those symptoms away, which I’m fine with since it’s a natural remedy.
Imperfect Foods: Imperfect Foods has been a life-saver over the past few months! We get all of our organic produce and meats delivered to our door each week at a great price and we never have to hit the grocery store. I know this will really come in handy postpartum as well. What I love about Imperfect Foods is that they rotate their products frequently, so we’re always trying out new veggies and other products, and you get to choose what comes in each box (versus some similar services that send you mixed boxes of random items). Since the inventory is not as large as a regular grocery store, it’s not quite as ideal if you’re trying to make specific recipes. However, during pregnancy, I have kept our meals super simple: mostly a protein and some veggies, and some fruits for snacks and desserts. I’ve been able to keep up my healthy eating habits even though I don’t have the energy for (or interest in) spending much time in the kitchen.
EMbody: I talk more about exercise in this post, but I have followed the Every Mother EMbody prenatal fitness program for much of my pregnancy, and I plan to continue to follow it postpartum. I absolutely love this program—the workouts are exactly what I need during pregnancy, using minimal equipment and pretty simple moves while still challenging me and preparing my body to give birth. One of the main reasons I chose this specific program is because it’s been shown to decrease diastisis recti, which is the abdominal separation that happens during pregnancy and can result in the “mommy pooch/tummy”. I have definitely been less consistent about exercise during this final month of pregnancy, as I am pretty worn out some days and don’t want to push too hard, but on days when I feel well, I really enjoy these workouts!
GentleBirth (book & app): I had a real fear of childbirth for much of my life. When I first found out I was pregnant, I couldn’t even allow myself to think about the eventual birth because I would panic. I quickly realized that I would need to do some serious mental/emotional work to move past this fear. As I had already built a consistent meditation practice, I started focusing more on birth-related meditation and learned of hypnobirthing, which is the use of self-hypnosis to relax your mind during birth, which allows your body to do its thing. While I did not take a hypnobirthing course, I have used the GentleBirth hypnobirthing and meditation app every night for at least the past six months, and I think it has made a profound difference in how I feel about birth. I also read the book, which, to be honest, is very poorly edited, but it’s full of useful strategies and positivity that also really helped me. I thought I would at least start feeling anxious about the birth when I got closer to my due date, but I am now four days out and feeling pretty calm! I can’t stress it enough: mindset is incredibly important for every aspect of life.
Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth: I cannot say enough about this book. Ina May is considered to be America’s leading midwife, as she was instrumental in bringing homebirth back on the scene in this country. As such, I would say this book is geared toward births at home or at birthing centers, though it is still somewhat applicable if you plan to deliver at a hospital. The book begins with lots of birth stories; it’s so helpful to read these so you have some idea of the wide array of birth experiences that can happen. The rest of the book shares research and expertise on all things pregnancy and childbirth. It helped me get more excited about having my own childbirth experience.
The First Forty Days and The Fourth Trimester: I spent A LOT of time preparing for the birth, and then I realized that I needed to spend some time mentally, emotionally, and physically preparing for postpartum! After all, labor and birth lasts about one day and postpartum lasts for several months (some say years) and has many challenges of its own. In addition to preparing 30+ Whole30 freezer meals, I asked several friends for their tips for postpartum recovery and read the aforementioned books. I was surprised to learn about the physical recovery, as it sounds pretty rough and yet is so rarely discussed. I’m glad I know more about what to expect and am armed with supplies and support to help me get through it as smoothly as possible.
If you’re currently pregnant or trying to conceive, I wish you the best of luck, and I hope the tips in this post come in handy for you! Also check out my First Trimester and Second Trimester Essentials!
Is there anything you would add to this list? Drop your own third trimester essentials in the comments below!
