My Third Trimester Recap

Well, I can’t believe it. My third trimester came and went! Our son, Rowan Clarke Eversole, is 9 days old today. When we found out last winter that we were pregnant with a September 28th due date, fall felt so far away. Last week brought the first official day of fall so the season arrived! To say I was excited was an understatement! Was I nervous? Absolutely. I think it is impossible not to be. At the end of my third trimester, my excitement definitely outweighed my nervousness. I was just bursting at the seams to find out if we were having a little girl or a little boy and to meet the little love! Y’all were such a source of support, encouragement, and love throughout my pregnancy. I want each of you to know that I am grateful for you and appreciate every single message you sent me! Here goes, let’s dive into my third trimester recap.

P.S. Read my Second Trimester Recap, my First Trimester Recap, my Baby Registry Essentials List, and all my pregnancy related posts here.

Smocked Dress

My Third Trimester Recap

The first trimester went by painfully slowly for me as I really struggled with fear and anxiety around having another miscarriage and physically felt pretty horrible. The second trimester arrived and was a breath of fresh air, although this trimester definitely went by the slowest. I felt pretty great and still felt like I had a long way to go until Rowan’s due date. I think Covid and quarantine also made this trimester feel slower too. Then, the third trimester rolled around and time started flying by!

All of a sudden, there was so much I wanted to do pre-birth and I felt a massive surge to get everything done while also feeling my body start to slow down and get more tired. It was a lot of give and take but no matter how I felt, time blended and completely zoomed by.

At 33 weeks, when we found out for sure that Rowan was breech, my third trimester took on a new life of its own with trying to encourage him to flip. Also, as we crept closer and closer to my due date, Edwin and I started to get BEYOND excited to find out if our baby was a boy or a girl. Waiting to find out the baby’s gender was 100% one of the best decisions we made around our pregnancy! Edwin and I would both recommend it to anyone who thinks they can handle the wait.

Third Trimester Symptoms I Experienced

My third trimester symptoms were pretty on par with what is to be expected with the addition of things relating to our baby being breech. In the second trimester, I had so much energy! In the third trimester, I still felt like myself energy wise but at the end of the day I was much more tired. I really started to go to bed early. I was often asleep by or in bed by 10pm (I’m usually more of an 11pm person). Also, I had pretty horrible acid reflux every single day of my third trimester. Boy do I not miss that! In my third trimester, my back definitely hurt quite often too.

I bought this maternity belt that I wore on walks, which helped curb my back pain significantly! I had some swelling of my hands and feet in the third trimester too but it was mostly on really hot days when I spent a lot of time outside. Lastly, I definitely had shortness of breath, especially with stairs!

Second Trimester Pits and Peaks

Pits

Breech

Without a doubt, the biggest pit of my third trimester was the fact that our baby was breech. I’m going to share a whole post on what to do if your baby is breech + more about my experience because it kind of took over my third trimester. The breech is a pit because the baby’s position was extremely uncomfortable for me and because it changed our birth plan to be a route I never imagined or personally wanted. At the end of the day, Rowan was nestled inside me and was happy and healthy, which is what mattered. We are so lucky to live in a time when breech babies can come into this world in a way that is safe for baby and mom! That is really all that matters.

Giving Up The Peloton

Since Rowan was breech and I was actively trying to flip him, I was advised to stop riding our Peloton as the bike riding position wasn’t super conducive to getting Rowan to flip. I loved riding our Peloton while pregnant so I definitely missed it.

The Summer Heat

Being pregnant throughout the entire summer was no joke. I was HOT, haha! I went on walks early in the mornings to try to beat the heat and keep my swelling down. The swelling from the summer heat and humidity – oh my! However, giving birth at the end of the summer does have the major perk that I gave birth and immediately rolled into beautiful fall weather.

Peaks

Babymoon

We absolutely loved our babymoon to North Carolina. I shared a whole post on our babymoon for more! We drove to the Highlands/Cashiers area for a few nights and LOVED the relaxing time together. We explored, had yummy meals, swam in the pool, and more.

Nursery

Our nursery has been such a fun project! Olivia helped us design the most comforting, inviting, cozy, light, and airy nursery. I literally want to spend all of my time in the nursery just taking it in! Our nursery is gender neutral because we didn’t know the gender of our baby and because we are planning for this room to stay the nursery when we hopefully welcome more children. So, the nursery consists of lots of greens, white, tans, and a few splashes of blue. My mom has helped a ton with the nursery and spent a day with me putting it together and unpacking all of our diapers, clothing, swaddles, burp clothes, books, and toys. It has been so much fun to work on it together!

Childbirth Prep Class

I really loved our childbirth prep classes. My girlfriend Lindsey highly recommended the class series that we ended up doing. I agree with her wholeheartedly and would recommend it to any local Charleston expectant parents reading this. We worked with a wonderful lady, Kathy Markham of Birth Joy of Charleston. She came to our house for three different sessions that were broken down into different topics. The classes gave me a lot more confidence and were very eyeopening for Edwin. I thought they were fun and looked forward to them each of the three weeks!

Nesting

My oh my, nesting is real! It makes sense and I knew I’d be one to love nesting but it really is such a great and satisfying feeling. There’s nothing like the impending arrival of a baby to motivate you to get all those things done that have been sitting on your to-do list for forever! We did so many nesting projects in the 3rd trimester like landscaping, painting our gate, cleaning out our closets, making a bunch of trips to Goodwill, installing built-ins in the living room, having our handyman tackle a miscellaneous list (we use and love Rapid Repairs for anyone who lives in Charleston), and more. Of course, the nursery has been a big, wonderful nesting project too!

A Little Charleston Baby Shower

I was planning to do a baby shower in Charleston in August or September but ended up deciding against it due to Covid. My mom is planning to host a sip and see later on to make up for it! However, three of my girlfriends insisted that we still get together with the baby in mind. So, Kristin hosted my mom, my sister, me, and a handful of girls in her yard one Saturday afternoon and it was so lovely. I really felt so special and loved and was really happy Kristin, Sara, and Annika took the reigns and convinced me to gather and celebrate! It felt great to see some girlfriends one more time before Rowan arrived too!

Having Family Around For Our Birth

While no family members were allowed to visit us in the hospital due to Covid restrictions, we did have my family around leading up to and after Rowan’s arrival. My sister is in Charleston for just shy of a month for Rowan’s birth, which has been AMAZING! I wish she was always here. My brother lives in Charleston and my parents live in Charleston most of the time. They have all been a tremendous help both pre and post birth! I honestly don’t know how people have babies without family around. Edwin’s sister is coming to stay with us and help out this coming week and we are beyond excited to see her and introduce her to Rowan! We also can’t wait for Edwin’s parents to hopefully visit around the holidays! It will no doubt be our favorite holiday season yet!

Third Trimester Q&A

Did You Have Pregnancy Cravings In the Third Trimester?

Yes! I continued to crave fruit in my third trimester, just like in my first and second trimesters. However, in my third trimester, I picked up two new and very random for me cravings: chocolate chip cookies and Cheerios. I can tell you about every chocolate chip cookie in Charleston, ha!

What Exercise Did You Do In The Third Trimester?

I rode our Peloton bike in the third trimester until about 33 weeks when my doctor advised me to stop riding it in order to try to get our breech baby to flip. She said the bike position wasn’t conducive to the baby flipping. I was SAD to say goodbye to the bike because I was still feeling great riding it! I continued to do pilates twice a week through my 39th week of pregnancy. In addition to pilates, I walked about 5-6 days a week. I loved my pregnancy walks and was happy to have some low impact cardio going on!

How Much Weight Did You Gain In The Third Trimester?

In total, I gained 26 pounds. As I said in my second trimester recap post, I didn’t do anything in particular to manage my weight other than to keep my body moving and to make as many healthy decisions as I could. We don’t have a scale at our house so I never knew what I weighed until I had a doctor’s appointment. This helped me really not care about my weight gain because I wasn’t keeping a watchful eye on it. This is how I am in normal life so I didn’t make any changes for my pregnant life.

Could You Feel And Tell That Your Baby Was Breech?

100%! Rowan had a footling breech presentation so I felt his legs kicking me in my pelvis. You can probably imagine how uncomfortable that was, ha! When the baby would kick, my entire right bum cheek and whole right leg would go numb with shooting pain. Sometimes it was so bad I would have to grab on to something for support. The baby’s head was also pretty rammed up against my ribs and upper right belly. This made it even harder to sleep than it already is in the third trimester because I could hardly sleep on my right side. You could literally see the shape of a head sticking out of my belly at times. It was pretty wild. So, yes, I was very aware that the baby was breech.

What Bag Did You Get For Your Diaper Bag?

I went very straight forward with our diaper bag. I wanted something durable and classic as opposed to a bag from baby bag company. That was just my personal preference though! So, I went with the LL Bean Zip-Top Tote. I had it all packed pre-birth and have been super happy with my decision so far! I figured it is a bag that is bound to have crumbs in it and potentially get spilled on it so it was also important to me to pick an affordable bag. LL Bean is just the best! For more of my registry essentials, head to this post!

How Was Edwin Involved During Your Third Trimester?

Edwin was GREAT in the third trimester! He hasn’t been able to be that involved due to Covid-19 but in the third trimester, there were more opportunities for him to be involved with me and our baby. For starters, he assembled a million things from strollers to car seats to rockers! He also helped me with a few breech flipping positions at home because I couldn’t get in or out of the positions by myself. Edwin was also my absolute hero during our version. He was rock solid and physically and emotionally supported me so much. My doctor performed one other version the same day as ours and the husband in that room passed out. I was very grateful to Edwin that he kept it together and didn’t hit the ground!!

Edwin also did our pregnancy birth classes with me. It was fun to share that together! Lastly, Edwin came to the pediatrician interview appointments we made when we picked our pediatrician. I was so thankful that all the pediatricians we interviewed here in Charleston allowed both parents to come to the interviews (instead of limiting it to one as a Covid restriction) because it was a decision I really wanted to make together.

Did Edwin Get You A Push Present?

Yes and I’m over the moon about it! Edwin got me a locket from my most favorite jewelry destination in the world, Croghan’s here in Charleston. It is truly beautiful! Croghan’s Jewel Box kept it for us until after Rowan was born, so we could have the back hand engraved with our baby’s name and birthday. I cannot wait to wear it and cherish it forever!

Were You Ready!?

Yes! After we spent a full day at the hospital for our version (in an attempt to flip Rowan), we felt very ready and as prepared as we could be. I was ready to not be pregnant anymore too. I wouldn’t say that I’m a woman who loved being pregnant. But I also didn’t hate it. I will not lie and say that it was all emotionally and physically comfortable. However, I do feel incredibly grateful to have been able to get pregnant, stay pregnant, and carry our beautiful baby boy though. It is a gift I will never take for granted! In short, I was as ready as I think I could be leading up to my life changing forever.

Fourth Trimester Excitement and Plans

The fourth trimester is the 12 weeks after baby is born. It is a period of massive adjustment and learning for the baby outside of the womb and a huge change for mom with a beautiful baby, very little sleep, raging hormones + emotions, and so much more. Leading up to our birth, the two things I was most excited for were meeting our sweet baby and seeing Edwin become a dad. To put it shortly and sweetly, both have completely and utterly exceeded my expectations. Our little Rowan is the BEST thing that has ever happened to me and Edwin has literally transformed into super dad overnight.

I LOVE autumn so I’m incredibly excited to experience the season with our little love, Rowan, and to share the holidays with him. I really, really can’t wait for crisp fall neighborhood walks with him. Once my doctor clears me to start going on walks (hopefully next week), I can’t wait to get fresh air, get in some steps to start bouncing back from pregnancy, and to show Rowan the world and his little slice of it.

I’m not particularly excited for the lack of sleep and the uncontrollable emotions that go hand in hand with the fourth trimester – both of which I’m very much experiencing. In all honesty, both fourth trimester symptoms are beyond worth it and don’t feel that horrible because Rowan makes everything feel right.

Smocked Dress

Photography by Edwin Eversole