35 weeks and just 35 days to go.

I have so much to share with you today from symptoms to my prenatal fitness plan for the rest of pregnancy to a nursery sneak peek and more so let’s dive in.

35 WEEKS PREGNANCY UPDATE

Baby boy is the size of a pineapple which is PERFECT as pineapple has been my #1 pregnancy craving since the beginning! 🙂

• He’s somewhere between 17.2 and 18.7 inches and between 4.2 and 5.8 pounds.
• Testes have probably fully descended.
• Hearing is fully developed and baby responds best to high-pitched noises.
• Fingernails and toenails have likely grown to reach their tips.
• Kidneys are fully developed.

HOW I’M FEELING AT 35 WEEKS PREGNANT

Weight gain/body changes: I’ve gained about 24-25 pounds at this point. I feel like I hung around 15 forever but then once I hit close to 20 it’s been super steady of a pound or two a week ever since.

I just read on my Bump App that my uterus has grown 1,000 times bigger than its original size and I believe it! Baby boy is taking up a lot of room in my belly! I also just read that at its peak, I’ll be carrying about a quart of amniotic fluid in my womb and I feel that too!

No swelling of my hands or feet, for which I am grateful. My blood pressure is staying low, for which I am also very grateful. I’ve heard scary preeclampsia stories.

Symptoms: really trying not to complain but the struggle is getting real…

• Heartburn, luckily only intermittent and not all the time but it is terrible when it strikes. Everyone keeps telling me they feel like baby has dropped but I don’t believe it because I still have heartburn and feel his feet all up in my ribs on the regular!
• Low back pain. I tweaked my back a few weeks ago rolling over in bed. And then I re-tweaked it last week bending over to reach for soap in the shower. Oh pregnancy.
• Pelvic and vaginal pain, I often spend the first 60 seconds or so after standing up from a seated position hobbling around because it literally feels like my bones down low are splitting in two. My Mayo Clinic Guide to a Health Pregnancy book says, “vaginal pain late in pregnancy usually isn’t anything to be concerned about” so I guess it’s just one of those things.
• Body fatigue at the end of the day, especially in my legs. By the time I make it to the couch at night, my legs are so fatigued they ache. It’s the craziest thing. It’s not ache like sore muscles, just a general heaviness/ache.
• Lots of trips to the bathroom, some sudden. I occasionally feel like he’s head-butting me in the bladder and getting to the bathroom becomes an emergency because it is so uncomfortable!
• Lots of grunting to do things like sit up, bend over and roller over! I’m overall much slower at everything!
• I am emotionally all over the place.

(Scott Broome Photography)

Workouts/Prenatal Fitness Update: I wanted to spend some time on this update today. In the last week or so I feel like my body has been sending me clear signs that it’s time to slow down to prepare for birth and all that comes with bringing a new baby home.

My doctor told me that if I made it to 34 weeks I was in the clear to move however I wanted again (of course while listening to my body) so I thought last week that I’d try a FlyWheel class. I was missing that cardio burn and I had heard so many others share that they were able to spin up until their due date. To be honest, the class really didn’t feel great. I couldn’t get comfortable in the saddle, felt a lot of pressure down below and felt like every time I brought my knees up when I was in a seated position that they were jamming into my belly. I decided I won’t be doing that again. This is such a great reminder that when it comes to prenatal fitness, just because something works for one woman, it doesn’t mean it will work for you.

Everything that I’ve been reading and educating myself on about birth focuses on how important it is to be able to soften/relax your body and surrender into the labor/birth process.

I’ve also heard/read a lot of things about having a pelvic floor that is “too strong” for the baby to make its way out easily. A friend of mine who is a former Iron Man triathlete shared that this was something she really struggled with in her home birth. It seems like a good time to stop doing more intense things that require strong engagement of the pelvic floor like running, spinning, jumping, heavy lifting, etc.

When I logically think about this, coupled with what I learned in prenatal yoga teacher training about encouraging the motion of things down and out during the final weeks of pregnancy, it leads me to believe that now is the time to start focusing on activity that is gentler and more intuitive about moving things downward and softening the pelvic floor.

My primary focus is to do a ton of walking. Walking still feels better for my body than anything else and actually helps to make my back and pelvis feel better. It’s supposed to really help with getting baby into position and keeping your pelvis nice and even/stable.

I’m also going to try to practice a little more yoga but lean more to home practices that focus on slow diaphragmatic breathing, long holds, hip openers, shoulder openers, squats, etc. I’ll also be incorporating more meditation into my practice.

I’m teaching one strength class right now at the Y and it’s a low-impact, dumbbell and resistance band only class. I’m hoping/planning to teach that for a few more weeks but I’m going to go ahead and let my supervisor know that I’m ready to seek a replacement for maternity leave.

So that’s kind of where I am with prenatal fitness. It’s a little wild because for so long I felt pretty normal in my body working out while pregnant but these last few weeks have really shown me a different experience. I’d be lying if I said that it wasn’t mentally challenging to change my workouts and activity levels but I also 100% know that my body is asking me to and this is such a short and special time of life.

Food aversions/cravings: I want all the Easter candy! I have been loving Reese’s Eggs and I bought a bag of Peanut M&Ms yesterday that are quite delicious. I’m still loving grilled cheese and carb goodness but I’m also able to eat salads and veggies regularly too. Still have no interest in red meat or shellfish.

Nursery sneak peek: here’s a sneak peek at the nursery! I’m not going over the top with a theme but I kind of went with wild animals and adventure. I’m trying to keep everything super clean and neutral with a few pops of color. The last few things to do are to finish organizing the closet, mount some floating shelves on the walls, set up a diaper organizer/caddy and find an accent/side table for next to the glider.

I’ll give you a full nursery tour once it’s done!

Fun shares: 

• EVERYONE keeps telling me they think I’m going to have him early which in my mind cements the fact that I’ll be 41 weeks pregnant and ready for this baby to come out! Haha.
• I have an appointment next Tuesday for an ultrasound to check fluid levels, size and position as well as to have a group B strep swab and a cervical check to see if any action has happened yet. Definitely want to get the hospital bag packed before that appointment because my ultrasound tech has told me that they will send you straight to the hospital if you’re fluid is low. At my anatomy scan she told me they had sent three girls the week before!
• We’ve put together a few things like the Rock n’ Play, an infant lounging seat and the bassinet so it’s fun to have some baby things out around the house.
• Comments on the size of my belly range from “you’re so big and he’s dropped” to “you’re so small, I looked like that at XX weeks.”

QUESTIONS

Can you guys please recommend labor timing apps and helpful apps for breastfeeding and newborn care? 

How did your prenatal fitness change in the final weeks leading up to birth? 

What were your top symptoms late in pregnancy? 

Anything you wish you’d done to prepare for breastfeeding? I’m starting on The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding now.