I really thought that I’d get this blog posted up before the baby arrived; it was there and ready to go but I was too busy napping! Hey, better late than never, right?
This blog was me, on my due date and 40 weeks pregnant…
5/12/18
The third trimester has brought about so many changes: some which have been challenging and others that have been profoundly beautiful.
But nevertheless, here I am – 40 weeks pregnant and ready to give birth any day. I could literally just title this blog, Tired – because for real, that’s the best way I can describe my day to day right now. I could sleep for 12 hours straight, wake up and still be exhausted. JayCee is constantly joking with me, telling me that I’m so tired because I’m carrying a 13lb baby (naaa honey, that can’t run!)
I remember having an antenatal appointment where I was complaining to the midwife about how huge I was and that all my clothes no longer fit me, she agreed and told JayCee that he should probably just buy me a tent to wear (the cheek!). She then joked, that she’s not worried about how big I was getting because: ‘look at the size of JayCee, what do you expect when his dad looks like that? I’d only be worried if he was a skinny man and you were that big’.
Better believe, I was in tears of laughter for the rest of the day!
Sorry, sidetracking already – ok, as I was saying, I’ve definitely got that baby mama waddle down and I’m ready to pop, so grab yourselves a glass of red wine and get comfortable – here’s a recap of the last 3 months…
THE SYMPTOMS
If you’ve been reading my updates, you’ll know that I’ve been relatively lucky in that my second trimester (except the heatwave) was pretty easy-going.
Well, the third trimester has been a whole different story!
To be honest, except for falling on my ass whilst trying to shave my legs at 33 weeks (issa no), weeks 29-34 started off quite easy. I was still able to keep up with my training regime, which like I’ve said before, was amazing for my mental health and keeping me feeling empowered.
Things started to get progressively a little tougher after that; sleeping has become an absolute myth, commuting to and from work felt like the most exhausting thing in the world, I can no longer eat past 8pm without feeling like a baby hippo all night, I’ve got constant lower back pain, I’m continuously feeling like I’m going to burst at the seams and overall I’ve just been hella exhausted.
In these last few weeks of my pregnancy it’s gotten a little trickier too, I’ve developed carpal tunnel in both my hands which is not fun at all. It’s left my hands in excruciating pain, especially during the night – I panicked for a minute because I was like ‘omg how am I going to give birth when I’m so tired because my hands are keeping me awake all night’. Instead of trying to martyr through the next few days or weeks of my pregnancy, I bought some splints to wear which have been a godsend and have let me actually get some sleep (in-between needing to pee 5 times every night, of course). Oh, and my feet have sweellled now too and are looking real chunky. I can’t even get my sliders on!
As well as that, for the last 2 weeks (weeks 38-40) I’ve been getting mild period-like cramps, which have been slightly uncomfortable but nothing too unbearable. Apparently, that’s just our son wiggling further down into my pelvic area to get into position! It’s actually made breathing a little easier because he’s dropped down – I mean, obviously, he’s still kicking about and doing his thaaang but it’s taken the edge off slightly.
One thing that wasn’t the happiest about is that just after our baby shower, I got the dreaded stretch marks! Best believe, from the moment I found out I was pregnant, I’d been slapping on everything: bio oil, coconut oil, you name it. But I still got them and I was devastated! Though, to be honest, if it hadn’t of been for our pregnancy shoot just the week before, I would have found dealing with them so much worse. After sulking around for a few days, I realised that my body is incredible and is doing phenomenal thing in growing our son.
OUR PREGNANCY SHOOT
As a present for our baby shower, one of our amazing friends gifted us a pregnancy shoot to capture these precious memories of my growing bump.
On the day of the shoot, I was so excited but before we got going I was a little nervous to say the least! I wanted to showcase my bump in all its glory but that also meant stripping down (because best believe, I wasn’t about to go shopping for something I’d only ever wear once) – something which is so much easier said than done.
Any woman who has been pregnant, will know that your body is continuously evolving, growing and changing. Which means sometimes it’s difficult to keep up with feeling like Beyoncé amidst all of the changes your body is going through, both physically and mentally.
We started off the day with a cuppa and just getting comfortable. After a little while of sipping on ma tea, taking the first few initial pictures and listening to Jay-Z and Beyoncé’s ‘Everything is love’ album playing in the background, I definitely warmed up a bit and decided ‘F*** it’. I decided to just go with the flow, to embrace my new body and allow myself to be in the moment as these pictures would be something we could look back on forever.
In the end, I completely allowed myself to be fully immersed in the moment and it was truly one of the most empowering days of my entire pregnancy. I felt so beyond empowered by the strength and beauty of my body – my womanity. I felt charged with this intense goddess energy and was so overcome with this burning love and appreciation of how incredible my body is. I am able to grow life! In that moment I was so impressed with the intricacies of a woman, I was astounded by how our bodies are able to evolve: to grow a whole human and let’s not forget a brand new organ too! It enabled me to fully let go of all the insecurities I held about ‘getting big’ or my legs getting a little ‘chunkier’ because I was so in love with what my body was doing. To me, there is nothing in the world more beautiful.
OUR BABY SHOWER
The third trimester also meant it was time for our baby shower! Yassssssss!
As I was pretty busy moaning about being pregnant and trying to find a house in Leicester, my mum planned the whole thing for JayCee and I. My mum, along with my godparents (who kindly let us use their house for the day and were the most amazing hosts) went above and beyond in making it the best day ever.
I was a little rogue and wanted to have men at our shower too. I kind of hold the view that ‘why should men not be at baby showers?’ I mean he’s JayCee’s baby too, right? To be honest, I just wanted to make the most of getting to have all of our family and friends in one place to have one last little turn up before we moved to Leicester. We got super lucky and had a beautifully sunny and warm day – especially for mid October!
I honestly had so much fun; the drinks were flowing, the food was delish and everyone came with such positive vibes! My mum literally planned every single little detail and asked my friends to organise games for us all to play too! To name a few, we had, ‘who know’s mum best?’ (JayCee’s team didn’t win this one – I know, disgusting, right?), the price is right – baby edition, guess the chocolate in the shitty nappies, guess the size of mums bump and let’s not forget, pin the dummy on baby JayCee (which went down a treat!). Best believe, everyone’s competitive side well and truly came out to play and with the amount of shouting, I’m sure we must of pissed off the neighbours.
JayCee made sure the Grenadian Overproof Rum was well and truly polished off and as most people began to leave, out came the Courvoisier and Overproof Vodka – I didn’t even know Overproof Vodka was a thing! We ended up sitting in the garden; having endless drinks (I was sober, so trust me, they were endless – by 11pm I was so ready to go home!) with a few friends whilst putting the world to rights. Even though I was so knackered by this point, it was the perfect way to end such a beautiful day.
MOVING TO LEICESTER
If you’re pregnant and thinking about moving: don’t do it!
Ok, that’s dramatic but seriously if you’re heavily pregnant, it’s really not the best of times to be moving house unless it’s going to be really really beneficial! Let me tell you, packing up our flat at 36 weeks pregnant, was definitely not the one. I’d pack up one box and then need to sit down!
If you are moving, my advice would be to hire someone to dissemble, reassemble and move all your furniture. It was hands down the best money we’ve ever spent.
On top of our removal men, my family and JayCee, did everything to try and completely take the stress out of the situation for me. But, somehow I still managed to be super stressed and overwhelmed.
Even though it was so stressy, the whole move-in process only lasted a few days and since moving to Leicester, we’ve had so much support from my family that it’s definitely been without a shadow of a doubt, worth it. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss London but I know that this is only temporary and for right now, this is the best place for us to be!
We’ve only been living in Leicester for a few weeks, but they’ve already been jam-packed! From unpacking and getting our son’s nursery ready to meeting with my placenta encapsulation specialist and having my first home birth antenatal check ups; we’ve been busy!
We’re planning on having a home birth, so we’ve also been preparing and getting things ready for when I go into labour! I’d like to have a water birth (I’ve heard amazing things about how the water is great for natural pain relief) so we’ve got loads of towels on standby, tonnes of coconut water and of course, snacks!
I’ve just been taking it each day at a time, trying to get as much rest as possible and continuing to meditate and visualise the birth of our son. There’s so much more to come and we cannot wait to meet him!
2019 UPDATE
I’m absolutely delighted to announce our beautiful baby boy was born, peacefully and naturally at home. He is so precious and we’re falling more and more in love every day. For the first time in our lives, our hearts have suddenly started to live outside our bodies. It’s a feeling that we simply cannot put into words!
Watch this space for our birth story soon…
Love and Peace
– Jasmine Reinah xo
JOURNEY WITH JASMINE 