For those of you who haven't been on Facebook in the last 24 hours, Izzie B decided she couldn't wait for induction this Wednesday and decided she wanted to be born yesterday! A post with her birth story and pictures of her will be coming in the next few days as we settle in. The most important thing is that both mom and baby are healthy and hope to be home Monday. Since she wasn't supposed to come until Wednesday, I hadn't planned on writing about the third trimester until Tuesday with a final 39 week belly shot. Now that she's here, I have no choice but to do without a most recent belly pic and will talk about the third trimester now, before moving on to her birth story.
The third trimester can be the longest trimester as it starts as 27 weeks and if you go overdue, you can make it to 42 weeks. But on the other hand it can be the shortest if you have your baby early. Most find it to be the most uncomfortable trimester with the added aches and pains that come with carrying an ever growing heavier baby. During this trimester the baby puts on the most weight, growing from the size of a cauliflower (16.5 inches head to toe and 2.5lbs) to the size of a watermelon (ranging from 18-22 inches head to toe and between 6-9lbs) at birth. Towards the last few months, babies are gaining on average half a pound per week. Most women grow the most impatient in the final trimester as they're so ready to meet their babies!
I can say that the third trimester has been fairly easy for me this pregnancy. I had a much smaller belly than I did with Brady and Izzie never had the chance to drop, so she wasn't constantly in my pelvis. I had little to no trouble sleeping at night (with the occasional bathroom run) and no back pain. The third trimester also brought around several personal triumphs on my part. The biggest one has been when it comes to weight gain. I ended this pregnancy up only 32.5lbs, when I gained a total of 52lbs with Brady. I'm thrilled things were much more under control this time and that I'll be able to get to pre-pregnancy weight so much sooner than with Brady (which took a full 16 months). Another triumph, which is related to the lower weight gain is that a pair of maternity pajama pants that I had bought around 30 weeks with Brady that never fit, I was able to wear to the end this pregnancy and I still had tons of room in them. I was able to keep my wedding bands on much longer this time. With Brady, all of my rings were too tight by 29 weeks and it took a full nine months after he was born to get them back on. I always felt like people would think I was an unwed mother when I'd take him out. This time my wedding band lasted until 35 weeks, my engagement ring made it to 37 weeks, and my "place holder" engagement ring (the one Andy proposed with while we waited for mine to come in) made it all the way to delivery. You're not supposed to wear any jewelry to the hospital in case you need emergency surgery, so I didn't even realize I still had the ring on when we got there. The final triumph was that I walked away with ZERO new stretch marks! I still have plenty from my teen years of being overweight and from Brady's pregnancy, but adding no new ones, is amazing.
28 weeks (right before Christmas)
32 weeks
34 weeks
36 weeks
The reason there are pics for 32, 34, and 36 weeks (instead of just doing every four weeks like before) is because I can only fit three per page in Izzie's scrapbook and each page covers a trimester. In her scrapbook, I had intended to have 28, 34, and 39 weeks, but that won't work now. I took the 32 and 36 because those are when you start a new month of pregnancy. Above is the progression (from left to right) of 28 weeks, 32 weeks, and 36 weeks. There is some growth you can see, but I was still so small at the end that I would get dirty looks when parking in expectant mother spots.
I've really enjoyed comparing the belly pics around the same gestational age between Brady and Izzie. It's amazing how different they were, but I do have to take into account that they are different genders and I gained 20lbs more with Brady. Above is Brady at 33 weeks (on the left) and Izzie B at 34 weeks (on the right). It's crazy how much bigger I was with Brady. I still wonder where I was hiding Izzie.
This one is both kids at 36 weeks (Brady on the left and Izzie on the right). You can see the first signs of stretch marks with Brady and then with Izzie you can see those (and the ones that developed in the five weeks after that before he was born) faded.
The final compilation of all the belly pics that were taken over the entire pregnancy. I can't believe it's over, but I couldn't be more overjoyed with my new baby girl.
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