Growing A Human 3.0 – My Third (and Last) Pregnancy

When I belatedly blogged our explorings of the Eyre Peninsula recently… I realised that the last time I had sat down to ‘put pen to paper’ and blog was to announce our pregnancy… in May. That was probably not the surprising part – I am not the blogger I once was, the times they be a’changing. I use this space and this voice differently to how I did two, five, ten years ago.

But… this space has always been, if nothing else, a place to document and squirrel away little snippets of information or photos, things which my sieve brain will forget over time. Blogging documents and journals for me in a way quick swiping and tapping of other social media channels can’t. I often refer back to blog posts or go searching the archives of She Sows Seeds for ‘that photo’. I knew that to have my third (and yes, last!) pregnancy undocumented here in this space would be a huge gaping hole… if for nobody else but myself.

Everybody says that every pregnancy is different… yes… and no. My pregnancies have been (blessedly) unremarkable. A boring pregnancy is the best kind, after all. Eleanor’s pregnancy I grew and grew and grew. I hardly felt pregnant though, six years younger than I am now, first time around the baby making traps and revelled in the whole experience. Harriet’s pregnancy was slightly different – I had low Papp-A and so was a lot smaller, unusual for a second pregnancy and made me feel slightly uneasy about the whole thing, I was used to growing huge bellies and chubby bubbas! I was of course also chasing a 12-18 month old around, so ‘felt’ the pregnancy a bit more. Nothing too much to complain about though! I felt fit and healthy and energetic throughout my second pregnancy also.

This third time around the traps… the first 12 weeks, as usual, were rough. Particularly with two small children to entertain/feed/clothe/keep alive. Life is busier with a kinder kid pre-schooler and Hurricane Harriet 2 year old. You try telling that to someone with a newborn, or a small toddler and a newborn. Swings and roundabouts and all that, but often the older the children get the busier/more tired/hectic life is… shifting goal posts and all that. So, a lot of couch parenting was done in the first trimester! I’m sure this is the case universally. I’m also sure it’s evolutionary trickery that we mostly forget about the exhaustion and the nausea. But it’s there.

I showed earlier in this pregnancy, like I did with Eleanor, and felt the same glowing ‘bloom’ as opposed to when I was early days pregnant with Harriet. So, no Papp-A issues here, a completely text book pregnancy really, meaning I didn’t see my doctor as often, opting instead to see a midwife (named Eleanor!) of a Wednesday evening – perfect, so the girls have really rarely come to any appointments this pregnancy. Harriet came with me to the 12 week scan… and had no idea what was going on! Pretty hard to make out that those weird shadows and jelly bean are your little brother or sister. I stupidly and briefly contemplated the girls coming to the 20 week scan, thank goodness they didn’t, I had forgotten just how long that takes with all the different measurements taken and monitoring. All was well though, carrying on my text book ‘boring’ pregnancy.

Throughout the second trimester though I was still struggling with low energy levels, and definitely felt ‘more pregnant’ than the calendar said… third pregnancies are no joke! As expected, my iron levels were seriously depleted, onto iron tablets I went which did indeed improve energy levels but took awhile to kick in. Thank goodness they did though – throughout the third trimester I have felt my usual ‘hardly’ even pregnant self like in Eleanor and Harriet’s pregnancies… as well as dead tired, sore, exhausted, and with regular evening Braxton Hicks which I never had with the girls!

Movements from the baby were felt relatively early, as expected with a third pregnancy, but it also seems every twinge and niggle is completely amplified too! Your body is very much like “Ah yes, this thing again, I get it, this ain’t my first rodeo!” It knows what to expect, and lets you know accordingly. So yes, I’ve been sorer and more tired and less energetic this pregnancy compared to my first or second times doing this… but no more than expected probably! At one point in my second trimester I had very low blood pressure, with some headaches and dizzy spells thrown in for good measure. Thankfully this seemed to subside, along with the low iron levels.

All along I have felt strongly that this baby is a girl… because I make girls. But also, this pregnancy is not remarkably different to my pregnancies which resulted in Eleanor and Harriet – I don’t know if that counts for anything or not though! I carry low. Very low. Always have, and always get comments on it. Yes, I carry low. No, I don’t think it’s a boy. I carried two girls this low too. It’s how I carry babies. My main modus operandi with the girl theory is also to mentally prepare Matt! If it’s a girl that would be fantastic – three of a kind, three girls, sisters, fabulous. And if it’s a boy – awesome! A little boy, brother, son. Also fabulous.

Considering how ‘extra’ pregnant at times I’ve felt than I actually am, I have thought throughout this pregnancy that I wouldn’t be making my due date. At 36 weeks I just felt very, very, very pregnant, I couldn’t imagine keeping this baby in for another four weeks! But then… I did. I go through growth phases it seems, I get and feel awfully huge one week, everyone comments on it (which I honestly don’t mind, I’m pretty hard to offend!) and then I seem to settle into my new shape and get comfortable again. Repeat and continue.

So, nobody is more surprised than me that I am here: overdue. Forty weeks and five days. Unchartered territory. I have never been overdue – Eleanor was born at 40+3 after I went into pre-labour on her due date, and Harriet came rocketing into the world on her due date after a few days of pre-labour twinges and pains. Overdue wasn’t on my radar… and maybe it should have been?! Everyone seems very sympathetic about the situation, but honestly I am not over being pregnant (yes, really). I’m in no immediate rush to have a baby… other than the unknown and unable to plan much (you can imagine how that’s going with Mr OCD planner/scheduler/organiser – ha!) And the inevitable, well-meaning-but-tedious questions about when I’m having this baby, haven’t you had that baby yet, how overdue are you, aren’t you meant to have baby by now, where’s the baby?!!! Yes. I am having a baby. At some point I will have a baby. Today is probably not that day, maybe not even tomorrow. But I will have a baby, and I’ll let you know when I do. Promise.

In the meantime, I’m soaking up not only the very last time I will have this oh-so-pregnant feeling (the karate kicks and insomnia and everything), but time with my ‘big’ girls also, just two, before things get hectic and goal posts shifted in everyone’s worlds again…