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And so the final countdown begins. Time really does fly — even during pregnancy.
The third trimester, the final stretch, the just-around-the-corner-and-you're-almost-there period is finally upon me. Twenty-nine weeks and counting, so now what?
Well, aside from feeling eager, nervous, excited, psyched and scared all at once, there's the whole array of physical changes only a pregnant woman can attest to.
You see, the third trimester is clearly a redefining upgrade from the second trimester.
If the second trimester was that miraculous period where you start seeing the cute little baby bump, feeling the baby moving and all that other good stuff, consider the third trimester just the same, but on steroids.
The baby bump is no longer a "bump," but more of a basketball or watermelon. You don't have to secretly hope that people notice that you're pregnant. You go to a grocery store or any other public place and people automatically and quickly clear the way for you. Think of it as an invisible red carpet.
While the stomach is bulging on the outside, in the inside, the baby's movements become a lot more abrupt and aggressive. No need to guess anymore if that fluttering sensation was your little one. At this point, the baby is constantly moving. I repeat, constantly.
As for me, the twins are so non-stop active that I sometimes worry how they're going to be once they pop out.
Now these are more of the pleasant changes. Moving on to the not-so-pleasant changes, I may sound like a complainer, but here goes.
Stretch marks. Yes, the notorious and dreaded pregnancy stretch marks that I thought I luckily avoided have finally emerged.
I've invested so much time, money and effort into keeping my bulging belly as moist as possible with oil and cream, but at 28 weeks and three days, I've spotted the first sign of stretch marks in my lower stomach.
They say stretch marks are forever, so I had my moment of panic attack. But there's nothing I can do now but to prevent any more from appearing.
Worse than stretch marks are the nighttime leg cramps. I didn't even know what leg cramps were until I experienced it for the first time this past week. I woke up in the middle of the night screaming in utter pain and fear.
I did a quick Internet search and found out that leg cramps are very common in the third trimester due to changes in blood circulation. But eating one banana a day supposedly helps reduce the frequency, so I've been downing two bananas a day as a preventive measure. Fingers crossed.
Aside from leg cramps, there's the bathroom run every hour or less, the inability to bend down to pick up objects on the floor, the increased frequency of constantly bumping into things as a side effect of not realizing how big you've become, and the list goes on.
The third trimester doesn't sound too delightful, but there's one thing that makes up for all this.
The long-awaited babies are coming in just a few short weeks. What can beat that?
I'm not just trying to end this entry on a happy note. Really, that expectation alone beats any leg cramp or ugly stretch mark.
Perhaps I'm as optimistic as I am now because I'm only beginning my third trimester. Read on to see if I continue to keep this good spirit as I inch toward the finish line.
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