Third trimester wrap-up

Well, I was worried that I wouldn’t get around to writing this while I was actually still in the third trimester… but this baby’s got other plans! I’m currently 41 weeks + 1 day as I write this.

40 weeks pregnant

This baby is taking its sweet time to make its grand entrance, apparently! 

I was lucky to have a pretty easy first and second trimester, with almost no morning sickness – just lots of exhaustion and growing pains, but nothing that wasn’t manageable. Then along came the third trimester, which brought with it a gooooood number of bumps in the road.

39 weeks pregnant
but wait, there’s more!

Positive affirmations for pregnancy & birth

labor
Wish I could find a site to credit this to, but a friend sent it to me!

I absolutely love positive affirmations – whether they’re used to center yourself around your pregnancy and birth, or just in everyday life. It’s SO helpful to me to have a word or a phrase accessible in the back of my mind to pull on when I’m feeling stressed, off balance, overwhelmed, or anxious. And I’ve REALLY needed them during this pregnancy!

but wait, there’s more!

Dealing with gestational diabetes

I had a wonderfully uncomplicated first & second trimesters of pregnancy, so I feel a little bit like I’m “paying” for it with this lovely third trimester!

I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes, much to my surprise, right around the start of the third trimester, after failing two glucose tolerance tests. I was absolutely not expecting this! I went into the first test feeling like it was a totally unnecessary test {just about every pregnant lady has to take it, depending on your doctor} because why on earth would I have diabetes? I definitely had a preconceived notion that gestational diabetes only happened to people who didn’t take care of their bodies, who didn’t know how to eat right, or that you at least had to have history of it in your family. Yeah, I was a little overweight before getting pregnant, but I wasn’t eating ice cream every night or anything! Oh, how wrong I was – and how damaging those notions can be.

I’m pretty sure almost every mama diagnosed with gestational diabetes {GD for short} goes through a bit of a mourning period, if it’s not an expected diagnosis. WHAT did I do wrong? Is it just because I’m fat and don’t eat enough vegetables? So much self-blame and bad feelings raced around my head. Totally normal feelings,  but totally misplaced and ultimately hurtful to myself. If you’re recently diagnosed, tell those thoughts to SHUT IT. They’re wrong and dumb and you’re fine.

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