Crumb Kisses

Maternity Photos + 3rd Trimester Recap

I was in the middle of writing this post to give an update on my 3rd trimester and surprise surprise, our sweet babe was born two weeks early! George Oliver Knudsen made his arrival on May 19th at 4:54pm weighing 6 lbs 13 oz and 19 3/4 inches long. He is perfect and we are so so in love with him. Before I write my birth story I wanted to document the 3rd trimester and share our maternity photos! If you missed it, here is the my post on the first trimester and the second trimester!

3rd TRIMESTER: WEEKS 27 – 38 (George came 2 weeks early!)

The 3rd trimester seemed to fly by. Between baby showers, busy weeks at work, our babymoon in the Keys and prepping for the baby’s arrival, it went by lightning fast!

Milestones

  • Baby showers: My friends and family threw two amazing baby showers for me. One was for just the ladies and was your traditional baby shower with the cutest brunch bar and the other was a couples diaper shower for Thomas and I! We did a corn hole tournament and price of playing was a pack of pampers pure diapers! It was such a fun way to get everyone involved and now we have a closet stocked with diapers and wipes. If you are looking for a fun couples shower I would definitely recommend that!
  • Babymoon: Every year Thomas and I switch off surprising each other on the destination for an anniversary trip. Since this year was so close to our due date, he surprised me with a little babymoon for a week in the Keys! We stayed in Marathon at the most beautiful resort, Isla Bella. It was the perfect getaway to relax and enjoy our time together before becoming a family of three.
  • Appointments: during the 3rd trimester we got to see the baby one last time for a 34 week ultrasound. This is a routine ultrasound with my doctor, but I’ve found from several of my friends that this isn’t common to do an ultrasound in the 3rd trimester, but I’m happy we got to check him out one last time! Of course at the time we didn’t know he was a boy, so the ultrasound tech would have us look away at certain times. Since he was starting to be so squished in there and he always had his little hands in front of his face it was hard to get a good profile shot of his face. But we got little glimpses of his cute little nose and mouth and him sucking on his hands again!

Symptoms 

  • Spider/varicose veins is something that started developing in the 2nd trimester for me and by the 3rd trimester I really had to wear compression socks everyday or else the veins would be throbbing by the end of the day (since I’m writing this after birth, I can happily say that the varicose veins went away but a few spider veins still remain on my ankle and calf)
  • Swelling – mostly just in my feet and hands. I had to take my rings off pretty early on in the 3rd tri and writing this two weeks postpartum I still can’t get them on!
  • Peeing a crazy amount lol – At least 4 times at night.
  • An itchy belly! My skin was definitely stretching when it would get itchy like that, but I ended up not getting any stretch marks. I loved using an exfoliating scrub on my belly in the shower to soothe the itch and then rubbing down religiously with Honest belly butter and coconut oil in the morning and night.
  • Constipation – TMI but lets be real, pooping issues are THE WORST during pregnancy (and now I know that postpartum it’s just as bad). Pomegranate juice, flax seed meal are two things that seemed to help and always have Colace on hand as well, especially after giving birth.
  • I would get so full at dinner time! I wouldn’t even have to eat that much for my belly to feel so full! It makes sense since everything is pushed up and squished in there.
  • Heartburn/Acid reflux was my biggest symptom in the 3rd trimester – nightly it would wake me up and often it would spring up throughout the day. Liquid Mylanta helped the most, so I would definitely recommend that for anyone struggling as well.
  • Emotional: if you know me, you know I cry at the drop of a hat. I love a good cry on a Publix or Folgers commercial. So with that being said, you can imagine how I am when my hormones are raging. All happy emotions, but I would tear up at just the thought of seeing the baby for the first time.

Diet/Nutrition

My cravings didn’t really change in the last trimester – I still craved sweets and ice cream and all things carby. Although I had little treats here and there and definitely indulged at times – there were several things that I tried to incorporate into my diet everyday:

    • Cod liver oil – Sounds gross, but it’s not at all and it’s packed with great Omega-3s. I buy this orange flavored one by Nordic Naturals off of Amazon.
    • My ritual prenatals and a probiotic nightly
    • A big smoothie or oatmeal for breakfast with chia, hemp, and flax seeds- Not only was this easy on my stomach in the 1st trimester when I felt a little nauseous but in the the later weeks of pregnancy I liked packing as many super foods into my morning as possible.
    • Dates – Supposedly dates soften your cervix plus I love the sweetness they add to things, so I would eat a few of these a day usually in a smoothie!
    • Protein – I figured it was important to have as much protein as possible. We definitely ate more meat during my pregnancy then we normally would, and I would eat soft boiled eggs or cottage cheese as snacks throughout the day.

Cool things that happened 

  • In the later weeks, I really started being able to see the baby dance in my belly. I loved feeling and seeing him roll around in there.
  • It wasn’t until really the 3rd trimester that my belly became a little basketball. I loved my pregnant belly and I think it’s so incredible to watch our bodies transform and create life.
  • I could tell when I would move into bright light he would wiggle around more!
  • Colostrum – I had no idea that your colostrum came in before the baby arrived, but apparently it’s weeks and weeks beforehand! I squeezed one day and little liquid golden droplets appeared – SO COOL.

Nursery

I’m going to be doing a full nursery post once we have the last few pieces in, but I love what we put in there so far!

Now that we know he’s a boy I’ll be adding pops of blue around the room – adding pillows and bedding to the daybed, waiting on a George Oliver sign for above his dresser, getting a lamp and adding in more artwork! I might put a fun vintagey sea creature wallpaper around his closet – stay tuned!

Maternity Shoot  

Tiffany over at Shoeboxphotofilm took the most gorgeous maternity photos ever! If you are in the Volusia/Flagler county areas definitely reach out to her for family/maternity photos!

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