Third Trimester Reflection

Full disclosure – I started composing this post while I was pregnant and will complete my thoughts while my handsome little man rests.

I cannot believe I am already writing a blog post on the third trimester of my pregnancy. It is insane to think this season is coming to an end and the next chapter involves another tiny human life.

The third trimester of pregnancy did not go as quickly as the first two, but it still held a great deal of growth and development in many different areas.

When we began our third trimester, we knew it was getting down to the final moments of life with just my husband and I.

We would go through the typical third trimester items – finalizing the nursery, discussing our birth plan, selecting a pediatrician, frozen meal prepping, kick counting, attending our beautiful baby showers, and my husband reassuring me I am still beautiful as I continue to grow large and in charge. It’s easy to forget your husband still finds you attractive when you are uncomfortable and your body is expanding in ways you never imagined.

In addition to the typical third trimester activities, we also created a mini pre-baby bucket list of items for Trevor and I do before our due date in early February. This bucket list didn’t include anything extravagant, just little things we wanted to do before a third being enters into our life. A great deal of the items included going out to dinner, trying new recipes, and watching movies/shows we were interested in (it is Winter in Wisconsin for us so we needed some indoor activities).

This was a fun way to strengthen our marriage and just enjoy time as husband and wife.

We have heard many times from multiple different people how drastically life changes once a baby arrives, but keeping our marriage healthy and strong is something that will not change after baby Tanck arrives. Trevor and I have always had a team mentality, supporting one another in every area of life – and keeping our marriage alive after baby will look different, but we will not allow it to be thrown to the wayside.

We are firm believers that children are a massive part of one’s life, but demonstrating to our son what a sturdy marriage looks like is one life lesson we wish to pass on to him. Without our strong connection, he wouldn’t be here – our love story with our son started with our love story with one another, and that is a crucial piece we will not forget.

Trevor has a stunning statement he shares with me – he began saying this to me well before we knew we were pregnant. He states: “I want our children to look at our marriage and relationship and pray they find a love as deep as ours.”

Writing this brings me to tears as I know my husband will teach our son exactly what it means to be a man, father, leader, and child of God.

(Back to our third trimester journey before I use an entire box of tissues when constructing this post.)

In addition to our bucket list, we also started consciously analyzing pieces of our life and asked if they were baby safe.

More specifically, we checked our cleaning and hygiene products to reduce the toxins our son would be exposed to. I know we cannot eliminate all toxins, but it was our goal to keep this tiny human as safe as possible with things we can control. We also continued to downsize our physical items to reduce the amount of stress we would share with baby T.

Creating a safe, uplifting, positive, and inspirational space is very important to us as this little human will be a sponge, not only with everything we say and do, but also the environment and energy we expose him to.

(I will share in another post all of the baby safe products and items we decided on as they are great for anyone who is looking to reduce the amount of toxins in their life.)

I was fortunate enough not to have many extreme symptoms in relation to pregnancy and continued my yoga practice daily to move and nourish my body. Being a yoga instructor myself and having knowledgeable teachers at my home studio, I was able to modify and adjust postures to fit my needs. During the last six weeks of pregnancy, my yoga practice became exponentially different. I would make my way to my mat and become frustrated that I could no longer move how I wanted to or how I once did. I would spend many moments sitting in meditation trying to bring back appreciation for my practice, my son who was finishing developing in my womb, and the ability to move and breath – it truly didn’t matter what the physical expression looked like, what mattered most is the breath and love that came from the time spent on my mat.

The final aspect of my third trimester was reading the book The Fourth Trimester by Kimberly Ann Johnson. I was listening to a podcast with Kimberly and instantly felt drawn to her – the knowledge she held, her way of thinking, and her insight on healing after giving birth.

I am so thankful I came across this book at just the right time to consume and talk through it’s contents with Trevor. We were able to better prepare ourselves and our minds for what is to come after the birth of our first son.

If you, or anyone you know, is expecting a baby, has a baby, is a caregiver of someone with children, I would highly recommend this book – for women and men.

As I sit to reflect on the past nine months, I feel a sense of excitement and appreciation for life as we know it right now. Without predicting what my birth experience will be like, without allowing anxiety of the unknown to creep in, without anticipating anything that is coming in our near future – I am just breathing in these final moments with our son inside my womb, my husband (and dog) by my side, and the quiet pauses between time and space.

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Thank you so much for reading and being with me on this journey.