Make sure you’ve checked out my super simple first and second trimester checklists!
Third Trimester (weeks 28-40)
1. Kick counts!
This is the most important thing you can do in your third trimester, every day, twice a day.
By 28 weeks, your baby’s circadian rhythm will be well established. They will have regular times during the day that they’ll be highly active and other times where they’ll be sleeping.
Most likely, it’ll probably be nothing like your own sleep schedule, unfortunately.
Think about it: when you’re up and around, you’re lulling that baby right to sleep with the motion of your steps, just like you will in a few more weeks when your baby’s in your arms.
And, when you’re soundly sleeping, baby wakes up and is ready to stretch, squirm and move around in whatever space he/she has left!
With all that being said, start to notice during weeks 26 and 27 what kind of pattern your baby has, and pick two times a day when baby is usually active and when you have mind-space to concentrate.
All you’ll need is somewhere between 10 minutes and an hour, and your job is simple: count how many times your baby has a significant movement (kick, jab, spin, etc.)
Within that hour span (and most likely, much sooner), you’ll have counted 10 “kicks.” This is why it’s important to be tuned into your baby. Some babies consistently take 30 minutes to move 10 times, some take no more than 5 minutes.
If you find one day that your baby is off schedule or not following his or her normal pattern of movement, (ex: normally your baby takes 20 minutes to reach the 10 kicks, but today it was close to an hour) it’s best to give your provider a call and ask for their recommendations.
This website has tons of awesome information about why kick counts are so important.
It’s safe to say that thousands of babies of lives have been saved since pregnant women have been educated about how/why kick counts are important.
- At 36 weeks, start to eat 6-7 Medjool dates per day.
Dates can help make the oxcytocin in your system during birth more effective and have been a part of several studies that show women who do this in the weeks leading up to labor are less likely to need Pitocin or other labor inducing techniques.
Check with your provider if you’ve been diagnosed with GD or have diabetes as they are quite high in sugar.
- Drink 2-3 cups of red raspberry leaf tea per day.
This tea has been anecdotally reported to strengthen your uterine muscles and balance hormones during and after pregnancy.
This evidence-based research has not found a significant difference in drinking the tea, but many natural mamas swear by it!
4. Create a birth plan
No matter where you’re giving birth, you’ll want to spend some time writing down your preferences on a number of things that can/will happen during your delivery, birth, and the hours to follow afterward.
Let your birth plan be personal, but not lengthy. Definitely less than one page. Hopefully you’ll be able to share your birth plan with your provider before you enter the labor/delivery ward, but there will be multiple nurses and others who will meet you that day, and the last thing you want is to have to answer detailed questions about your preferences when you’re in the middle of breathing through contractions.
Some things to think about:
- Pain management techniques
- Hospital/Birth center protocols for different situations
- Wishes for C-Section, even if you ABSOLUTELY plan on not having one, babies sometimes have plans of their own. Think about how to make that situation the best for you
- Newborn care: Breastfeeding only? Formula okay? Wait for a bath until you get home? Pacifier? Sleeping in your room? A special swaddle or hat used?
- Postpartum Care: pain killers, relevant medical history, allergies, etc.
Birth is unpredictable, but you can be prepared for many different scenarios and act accordingly. We all hope to have understanding and accommodating providers, but that is not always the case.
If someone is doing something you do not approve of, at any point in your labor and birth, please be your own advocate. Make sure your birthing partner/team is also aware of your birthing preferences, so that they can speak up or ask you if they seem something odd.
Even before your baby is born, you are the person who has to be responsible for them for the rest of their lives. This is parenting, people! It’s big and scary and unknown, but you can trust yourself because YOU are the mom!
Don’t let your anxiety get the best of you. Do your evidence-based research (preferably not from mom’s groups on Facebook) until your heart’s content, and then make an informed decision.
This is also a great time to read/listen/watch others’ birth stories. Pick the pieces from their stories that resonate with you.
Here’s a few great resources to start you off:
https://www.mamanatural.com/birth-stories/
https://www.givingbirthnaturally.com/childbirth-video.html
Here’s my birth plan. Feel free to adjust and edit as needed!
5. Pack your bag!
This is where it’s best, as always, to stick with what you know about yourself. If you are a chronic over-packer or a woman who needs a lot of toiletry products when she goes away for the weekend, now is not the time to skimp.
Especially for a first time mom, birth is full of unknowns. You might think one thing is going to be your go-to for pain relief, and come to find out, you want something completely different in the moment.
For me, I expected to be most comfortable on the yoga ball, as I had spent a lot of my prior weeks leading up to labor rocking and bouncing at home.
But, because of my intense back labor, (you can read more about THAT in my birth story) sitting on the labor ball was not comforting to me at all. Instead, I spent most of my labor in the tub, even after having to get out of the tub after it had stalled my labor in the early stages.
If you’re interested in seeing what I’m packing in my birth bag for baby #2, it can be in your email box in seconds! Get your Birth Bag Packing Checklist!
6. Prep your house (and freezer) for baby
House Safety:
- Check batteries in smoke and carbon monoxide detectors
- Buy fire extinguisher and learn how to properly use it
- Toxic ingredients locked away
- Check house plants for toxicity
- Prepare pets for new baby
- Cover electrical outlets
- Cut or replace all drapery cords
Bulk buy at 34-36 weeks:
- Paper products—toilet paper, paper towel, paper plates
- Cleaning supplies—laundry/dishwasher detergent, soaps for hands and dishes, hand sanitizer
- Personal toiletries—whatever you and the family use in the shower
- Kitchen staples—pasta with sauces, tortillas, granola/protein bars, cereal, nut/seed butter, coffee/tea
Freezer Meals:
I overwhelmed myself with googling freezer meals, creating elaborate shopping lists and making brand new meals that I had no idea whether me or my husband would like them.
What I’ll do this time around is simple: whatever I’m making for dinner during the week, I’ll double (or triple) and freeze all the extra.
I’ll also focus on one handed foods (aka: avoid soups) so that I can eat and nurse at the same time. My husband will have his hands full feeding our first, so I won’t be able to rely on him to spoon feed me like last time!
Lastly, this is not a time to focus on low calorie or low carb meals.
Your body literally burns the same amount of calories giving birth as if you were to run a marathon. You need to replenish yourself.
Especially if you’re breastfeeding, you’re burning calories like crazy.
Also, some women lose enough blood during birth that they become anemic. If you can add iron-rich foods to your normal meals, please do!
7. Install your car seat and get it checked out by certified safety technician
Like every other baby gear item, there’s a million different choices, and one might not be right for another person.
Firstly, you’ll need to choose whether you’d like an infant “bucket” seat. You’ll have to replace with a toddler car seat in about a year (or less, depending on how big your baby is) as they are typically only safe up to 30 or 35 pounds.
These are, for most parents, seen as convenient, as you can take the whole seat (with baby still buckled) inside. Carrying one of these is no easy feat, especially when baby is not a squishy 7 lb newborn.
The other option is to buy a convertible car seat that is safe for a newborn. These seats can face backwards, forwards, and sometimes convert into a booster seat as the child grows older.
Candokiddo (the link above) is an excellent blog for new parents. It has tons of research and evidence based blogs about how to help newborns with sensory development in play, tummy time, best gear and toys, etc.
She’s an occupational therapist who has much experience with flat-headed baby syndrome and muscle tightness which can result from spending too much time in restrictive baby gear, like infant car seats.
Armed with this information and the added bonus of knowing we were going to be saving a few hundred bucks potentially by skipping the infant seat, we bought the Graco 4-Ever convertible seat.
<<Brielle, 4 days old, on the way to our newborn check up.
So far, the only complaint I have is it’s size. Even in our Honda CR-V (mid-sized SUV) we definitely won’t be able to ever fit 3 of these seats across the backseat.
With 20/20 hindsight vision, I’d have bought this seat, (Diono Radian 3XT), which is what we’re buying for baby #2. It is known to fit in many cars 3 across, and is even a somewhat local company, based out of Seattle.
When looking for a convertible car seat, try to get a seat that has a high rear-facing weight limit. The American Association of Pediatrics has just published research that states all children that are under the weight/height limits for rear-facing are significantly more safe in accidents. Rear facing car seats protect child’s neck, spine, and pelvis much more than forward facing seats.
Even though it wasn’t always convenient in the early days when Brie would fall asleep on a 20 minute car drive, she typically transferred well to sleeping in her carrier. We also just tried to schedule longer drives for when she’d be awake anyway or one of us would sit in the backseat and entertain her until we arrived.
8. Prep a baby first aid/toiletry kit
For when baby is sick:
- Rectal thermometer
- Infant Tylenol/acetametaphin
- Infant Ibuprofen
- Saline nasal drops
- Nasal aspirator/Bulb syringe
Every day use:
- Diaper cream
- Baby bath wash
- Baby Lotion
- Soft washcloths
- Nail clippers
- Baby hairbrush
9. Wash all baby clothes (and cloth diapers!) in detergent with no fragrance or bleach.
Despite what people may tell you, you don’t need an infant specific laundry detergent, but babies skin may react to some of the harsher chemicals.
One piece of advice I liked: sleep with your baby’s bassinet sheet and/or swaddle in your bed so that your scent rubs off on it.
At some point, you will want to set your baby down to sleep, and having your scent nearby will comfort him/her beyond belief!
10. Decide on a baby name. (If you want!)
This was soooo tough for us. Seriously.
I think it is for most people. So many names have different connotations for different people.
It gets especially hard when you include other people in on the mix. Best friends, your parents, in-laws, etc.
Everyone has an opinion. And then there’s family names that get passed down to new generations, and weird requests from relatives.
My own great-grandmother requested that all her great-grandchildren have a first name that starts with an “A.” Don’t ask me why. Her own name didn’t even start with an A. She got her wish met on 4/5 of the great grand-kids, but that’s a story for another day.
My own personal recommendation: keep the conversations around baby names light and fun.
You’ll probably be unlucky in avoiding the topic entirely, but you can always say, “We’re still talking about it. Some of the names we like are: Lauren, Becca, Riley, and Rae. We’re going to wait to announce our baby’s name until after he/she is born.”
This might prove tricky to keep secret from your own mother or best friend, so you do you when it comes to dropping the name, but here’s my own personal example of what not to do.
If there’s a name you’re really in love with, make sure you can stand up against people’s comments against it, whether serious or not.
I had mentioned a certain name to my family (who is known for being quite sarcastic and spicy to boot) that I was on the fence whether I liked for sure or not.
My dad’s first comment?
“Sounds like a French stripper. I’d re-think that.”
Well, let’s say I nixed that name off the list quite quickly. Couldn’t get that image out of my mind for my precious little baby girl.
All this to say, baby’s gonna need a name at some point. Even if it’s two weeks down the road!
There you have it!
You’re set to have a baby!
Well, hopefully at least you’re feeling a bit more prepared.
Experienced mamas: comment what would you add to the list!
New mamas: comment what questions do you still have and what are you most worried about.
Unbalanced 