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The final stretch of being pregnant seems to last the longest. When I wrote this post originally, I was 36 weeks pregnant. After reviewing it, all the 6 signs still ring true for most pregnant mamas. These are the things that start to happen, to help you know you are totally over being pregnant. I think this is an important milestone in getting close to labor. Often times once the mama is over being pregnant (and close to the due date), the baby soon follows.
Maybe pregnancy has been difficult for you, so you were mentally and emotionally done sooner, but usually, these funny little signs mean it is really close to the end.
If you aren’t close to the end but have maybe gained too much weight, I highly recommend the Belly-Only Pregnancy program. It is a simple, fitness and nutrition program with recipe books to guide you on what to eat and how to work out. It might be just the motivation you need to finish your pregnancy feeling strong and healthy.
1. You Stop Dressing The Bump:
The cute maternity outfits, flowy dresses, and selfies just are not working. Your underwear is feeling off, pants just feel sticky and too tight, and all you want to do is wear loose t-shirts and sweats. All maternity shopping stops. What’s the point? You only have a few more weeks, you’re no longer a cute pregnant person, but a big ball waddling around, and you’re tired of caring. The looming thought of your water breaking anywhere, anytime also decreases the desire to wear nice pants. Eww. So, you start to pick a couple of favorite shirts and baggy pants to rotate through each day and pretend no one will notice that it seems you have no female clothes because the only clothes you’re now sporting are baby daddy.
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2. Everything is a contraction:
Searching and waiting for those “special” feelings to start and not stop becomes obsessive. Side ache walking through Costco? Totally the beginning of labor. Baby kicking around? Must be him moving down into position! Wait, was that a cramp I felt for .23 seconds?! Let’s see if another one comes! I know I start noticing and feeling everything as time gets closer. Wait, did I just go a little, or is my water breaking?!
I’ve had two different experiences with my labor. First, my water broke and contractions started a few hours later. The second, contractions started quickly, and my water broke just before the baby came. So now, I look for any sign that either is happening! Sadly, I’ve never gone into labor early, so I really don’t have much hope my feelings are early labor. A lot of moms do at this stage because you are hitting a wall and ready to move forward with your baby in your arms, not your belly.
3. Eating Everything and Nothing:
The baby is now taking up all the space. There is no room for anything. You’re headed to the bathroom every 1 minute because there’s no room on that end, and you’re eating very little every 7 minutes because your stomach has no room. I’m constantly putting a few bites of anything in, then getting full, then repeating. I really need to just camp out between the bathroom and the kitchen. Maybe put a mattress or something in the middle, so I can snack like a little mouse, lay down and rest while I see if there are any contractions coming, then get up for the toilet, and walk straight back to the kitchen to start again. At this point, it’s like my meals are 7 goldfish, a couple of gulps of water, and the crust of peanut butter and jelly sandwich, where I then have to lay down because I’m so full. Healthy and substantial 🙁 I was cooking healthy meals, enjoying big smoothies, and eating meals like a normal human being up to this point. Now, I just live in the kitchen on a full/empty roller-coaster ride.
4. Reading All The Birthing Stories:
I’ve been through two pregnancies and two births, and still, this time around I want to read or hear other’s stories. I think it’s a weird form of living vicariously through the stories because I wish my next birth story was starting. I especially like the ones where the baby unexpectedly arrives early and quickly. Just what I’m hoping for. I find myself passing the time at night in between rolling from side to side and going to the bathroom with these stories. I’d rather be in someone else’s reality than my own at this point. Birthing stories really are all so unique and individual, they actually make for great reading, and I recommend it! It’s simple to find the style of story you might like as well. If you’re interested in home birth, natural hospital birth, VBAC, twin birth, etc., it’s all available and shared. I go for more encouraging stories, which most are, and it gets you feeling strong for when your day does come!
5. Entering Zombie Land:
Sleep is gone. Even if my back isn’t hurting, or I find a comfortable position, I’m still awake all night. I swear I am half-sleeping or something. I go to the bathroom at least once, have a hard time falling asleep, to begin with, then find myself just awake…and I think, “what’s going on? Why am I awake?” Then I turn over and fall back asleep (maybe?) And then I’m awake again, and it’s still dark, I should still be sleeping, but I’m turning over again, even though I wasn’t that uncomfortable…then, morning comes, and I’m awake! I get up and have some coffee (yes I drink some while pregnant, you would too with my two little ones), and begin a zombie-like day where I think of all the things I want to do, then forget to do any of them. I get excited to accomplish everything, then I start one project, get tired, and let my mind wander into the black hole of space until before I know it, the day is over, I have to try to go to sleep again, and I never got to all the things I enthusiastically was going to do…but now I can’t even remember what they were?
6. You Can’t Imagine Getting Any Bigger:
It’s not possible. My stomach will not move any farther. My skin has no more stretch, my lungs can no longer breathe, and I can not walk upright with a larger belly. It’s just not physically possible to allow the baby to grow bigger for more weeks. Nope. No more…oh, but there is more room and there are more weeks. I am here, at this point. My belly feels so huge – swollen with veins and tight, that it can’t possibly grow more. The baby must come out or my skin will explode! This is definitely a sign you’re totally over it. It’s not the, “Oh look at my little basketball belly now!” Stage anymore. It’s the, “I’m an overfull water balloon, dangerously expanding more and more each day, when will it stop?!” Stage. And the time ticks and ticks, skin stretches and stretches and the baby grows and grows, and we are forced to accept that we aren’t done yet.
Unfortunately, even when mama is so OVER being pregnant, the baby isn’t. Baby keeps on cooking happily, while mama walks miles and miles to encourage any sort of labor. I highly encourage grabbing my app and program, The Postpartum Cure if you are close to baby. Many pregnant mamas have gotten in and started working through the breastfeeding diet and program to prepare to lose the baby weight and produce lots of breast milk.
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There are no other clean, super nutrient-dense protein powders that are specifically made for postpartum healing, nourishment, lactation, and weight loss. It will be out in May 2019, and there are limited quantities, so I highly recommend you jump on the pre-sale list. There are thousands of mamas waiting for this to launch, and I am so excited to finally have a product that helps mamas nourish themselves while also losing weight.
Related:
3 Tricks I Use To Lose The Baby Weight That Worked Three Times Now
The 5 Best Foods To Lose The Baby Weight and Pump Up Your Milk Supply
5 Comments
There was so much truth in this post! Loved it. It’s amazing the transformation we go through to grow and raise children.
Thank you! Its such a trip sometimes! There’s in the surface, the laughter and joking, yet so much depth and meaning to what we endure! Glad you liked it 🙂
I feel like I’m going to have nightmares as I just read this on my way to bed. Although I’m lucky to be able to sleep now! That final stretch is the absolute worse and you totally hit the nail on the head. Hands down, the most agonizing part in my opinion? Nighttime and the general discomfort. Back, ribs and clothes… I spent too many nights up crying from pure exhaustion and pain. I never want to be 8-9 months pregnant again!
Yes! The general discomfort wears on you all day and all night! The beautiful baby is worth is, but the last few weeks really challenge you to remember there is a baby coming!