Wow, it's going to be exciting! Final spurt! From the 28th week of pregnancy to the 40th one speaks of the third trimester or trimester, i.e. the last third of the pregnancy.
Now it's about the very important questions: How to give birth? Where? In the birth center, in the hospital, maybe even at home?! Ultimately, only you can decide, together with your gut feeling and the medical assessments of your gynecologist and midwife. Information events in the respective maternity wards also help to make the right decision. Register in good time for the events - and then for the birth.
Typical for the third trimester:
1. First of all, a weight falls from your heart, because from now on the baby would be able to survive, it would be born prematurely. From the 36th week of pregnancy it could even be breathing on its own. Baby is gaining weight again and is now being monitored more and more closely.
2. You may find it harder to breathe as all the organs are being pushed out of the uterus - especially if you are very pregnant in midsummer. Your baby just needs space. And the fascinating thing: it all works somehow! The uterus is an insane organ that can increase in size many times over.
3. You slowly but surely say goodbye to the sight of your feet. Your stomach grows and grows and just gets in the way at some point when you look down on yourself. A pedicure might be just what you need, so shortly before the birth. Even your previously graceful, elegant gait is now probably giving way to that of a waddling duck. And your neighbor sees your popped out belly button out the window across the way, even if you have three layers of clothes on.
4. In the third trimester you complain aside Shortness of breath possibly also via heartburn, back pain, dizziness. Also, everything is so exciting that you may have trouble sleeping again. Don't lie flat on your back, the weight of your stomach can put pressure on the vena cava. But then you usually get sick automatically and your body changes position.
5. Once you've finally found the perfect angle to fall asleep, you have to get out again and go to the bathroom. At all: You spend what feels like the whole day peeing. For that alone, maternity leave is worth six weeks before the birth: In the end, you hardly ever get to do much else than run to the toilet.
6. You wake up in the morning and suddenly you have a fat and a thin hand? Do your hands and feet feel like rubber gloves that have been filled with water? Unfortunately, water retention is part of it - but it is not a must-have. Drink a lot, do a lot of gymnastics, including hand gymnastics.
7. The nest building instinct: Does it really exist, or is it just our gate closure or gate opening panic? It was always like this for me: the more active I became, the more likely it was a sign that the child was coming soon. And this activity, in turn, certainly favored the onset of contractions. On the day I was born I still had to do irrational things like spontaneously replant the balcony and only get white daisies - wherever I wanted to find them in winter.
8th. Towards the end it's like grown children: Both sides are happy when the child slowly fledges. Instead of nervousness or even fear before the birth, many mothers around the 40th week of pregnancy long for the child to finally come.
9th Den maternity pass you should always carry with you, like your wallet or mobile phone, when you leave the house. The hospital bag having packed helps just as much as the Baby bodies and baby carrier ready for the car. Taking care of the finances and parental allowance in advance helps enormously. Inform yourself at parental allowance advice, eg via family counseling services in your city. They are often even free and competent.
10 If you already have children, prepare them well for the fact that they will soon be a big sister or brother. Or that they don't have to worry about mom when they go into labor and they're there. There are, for example, great children's books. Your child can also be responsible for putting lotion on your stomach or putting a music box on it in the evening. Maybe they have a say in choosing the baby's name, or at least feel included in the decision. The siblings and the baby bump can already play together when the tummy rumbles and a baby hand wants to give them a high five. But once the baby is born, even the most prepared sibling can suddenly become afraid that it has now been written off after all. Celebrate being a big sibling now with a small gift or even a small party. Otherwise, it is advisable if not much changes in the everyday life of the older sibling: it continues to go to daycare, it still has its routines and processes. It still has cuddling times with mom, although certainly less than before. But it feels loved.
11. Exercise contractions, contractions, labor pains: what is it now? Your body practices the emergency again and again, even in the 2nd trimester. Practice actively, for example by breathing consciously and preparing yourself mentally. (There are tips under the keywords hypnobirthing and The Peaceful Birth ). You may not even notice the contractions at the end, or you may perceive them as PMS pain or a slight ache in your back. But it can also be that there's a real headache in your stomach and you think it's about to start. Do the waves come at intervals? If so, which ones? Do the heat test to see if you're really getting started: eg with a heating pad or in the bathtub: if the heat is good for you and relieves the stomach, it's just an exercise. If you don't like the heat at all and it's getting more intense and regular, then it's probably really starting.
12. A friend described the final sprint phase like this: I feel like I'm hitting a wall and I'm getting faster and faster and I can't do anything about it. I know this feeling of uncertainty and nervousness all too well. BUT: The wall we are racing towards is not solid, but permeable. We just don't know what's behind it. So we're not racing towards a stone wall, but towards a paper wall. We can't yet see how things will turn out with the baby. But it will go on and when we are through with it, and the baby as a baby and we as a mother are born, the new future is open to us and we are grateful that we have taken on and made it through these ten months of pregnancy.
