Third trimester: the waiting game — Amy McKinnon Nutrition

The third trimester was the longest. It’s a game of getting bigger, slowing down and waiting – trying to be patient.

I surprisingly had great glucose control during the third trimester. I had to increase my insulin doses but never experienced severe insulin resistance.

I even managed one day of 99% in range.

Thankfully my diabetes didn’t impede on my experience of enjoying my last trimester being pregnant.

At Kasia and Alex’s socially distanced wedding

Our little baby was doing well too. Every ultrasound was great. She was growing well and we started having weekly non-stress tests to check the amniotic fluid level and baby’s movement.

The nurses always said everything was great and my OB was happy too.

I didn’t experience any Braxton Hicks contractions until the NST nurse told me when I was having one and then I realized that the cramps were not just muscle soreness but a practice contraction.

I stopped running around week 32. The pressure on my hips and joints was too much by this stage. Walking was a lot less pressure on the body and felt a lot more relaxing while I was still able to continue getting in daily movement.

I fully appreciate what the body can do during pregnancy. Before getting pregnant I had heard so many different stories about exercise during pregnancy – what you can do, can’t do etc.

Here is my experience with some popular exercise recommendations for pregnant women.

1 – don’t get your heart rate too high while pregnant– the further along I got in my pregnancy, the higher my heart rate was when I ran or did short bursts of exercise. I never tracked my heart rate or tried to keep it below a certain number and never had any issues

2 – Don’t run during pregnancy, it is dangerous – the amount of times I heard this from family and friends was a lot more than I expected. And to be honest, kind of annoying. My OB never once told me to stop running or exercising, she was completely fine with it as long as I felt good.

I wouldn’t recommend taking up running while pregnant if you haven’t done it before but I experienced no adverse effects running during most of my pregnancy.

3 – You won’t get enough protein on a vegan diet for pregnancy– this is another one I heard from people more than once. Protein needs are higher for a pregnant woman then someone who isn’t pregnant. I didn’t track my protein my whole pregnancy, I felt great, ate lots of fruit and vegetables and tofu! Tofu is one of my favorite foods and it helped keep my protein intake up during pregnancy. I think the focus on protein during pregnancy is unnecessary as long as people are eating a well-balanced healthy diet.

I also continued my pregnancy exercises to help get the baby to move further into my pelvis. My evenings consisted of squats, pelvic rocks, 10lb weights, Kegels and occasional stretching.

Our nights also included practicing labor positions we were learning in our Bradley Method (natural birth) virtual classes.

We would do labor practice sessions and read through a lot of content to learn about what to expect during labor – although nothing can prepare you!

I finished up at work at week 34. I was so happy to be off work. I could reduce my stress dramatically, focus on nesting and getting the house clean and ready for a newborn and I could enjoy my alone time (or time with Yuki) before our family would grow.

We actually thought I would go into labor and deliver our baby around Week 38. I thought I had less time than I did. As we got closer and closer to week 38 and minimal signs of labor starting I wasn’t sure on when she would arrive.

I also became more and more anxious as I wanted to go into labor naturally vs getting induced in the hospital.

I started at-home remedies including drinking raspberry leaf tea multiple times a day to help prepare for delivery, continuing to eat Medjool dates to shorten labor, taking evening primrose oil capsules vaginally to soften the cervix and continuing with my daily morning 3-mile walks and evening exercises – squats, pelvic rocks, weights for strength training, rolling on the birthing ball and a few others.

I don’t think the anxiety was helping me at all. I would occasionally lie down during the day and listen to a meditation and try and relax. I also would put cold ice packs on sensitive parts of my body and try to breathe through the discomfort to try and practice focusing on my breathing while uncomfortable – it was harder than I thought.

Coming into Week 39 I knew if I wanted to go into labor at home I had to ramp up my home remedies to induce labor.

I reached out to some also pregnant friends and Type 1 pregnancy Facebook groups for some recommendations.

I started acupuncture to induce labor which I was really excited about. The acupuncturist told me your body has to be ready for birth for it to help induce labor. That made complete sense. So I waited for as long as possible to start. I only did two sessions – the 2ndone was the night before I went to the hospital to give birth. For me it was completely worth it.

I also continued with other labor inducing exercises and drank this “special” drink called the MidWives Brew.

The MidWives Brew is a drink with apricot nectar (very hard to find in stores) and castor oil and a few other ingredients. It tastes horrible but definitely gives you cramps.

I drank the drink twice. Both times the same days I got acupuncture.

The 2nd time, the combination of the Midwives Brew drink and the acupuncture worked. My body was ready.

I went into labor…. And the story continues in my previous post on our birthing experience.

Overall, I was extremely lucky with my pregnancy. Not only with my great diabetes control and management (yes, it is a lot of work but I don’t dwell on it), but also with minimal morning sickness, feeling good and being able to run into the third trimester and being able to continue to eat the healthy foods I love.