What to do in the Third Trimester
The first and second trimesters of pregnancy can be extremely busy. After you get that positive pregnancy test, the next nine months zoom by. Ultrasound confirmations, anatomy scans, gender confirmation, glucose testing; the list goes on and on. It seems like you constantly have a new test or scan to look forward to in those first two trimesters, but what about the third trimester?
Doctors Appointments
Tools that may be used at your visit.
If you don’t have a high-risk pregnancy, then you may not have too much of a difference in your appointments as you near your delivery date. High-risk pregnancies often have non-stress tests (NST) to monitor the baby’s well-being; they monitor the baby’s heart rate and movement for around 20-30 minutes. This ensures that the baby is healthy and getting enough oxygen.
Your appointments will end up becoming more frequent as well. You’ll move to having appointments every two weeks around 32 weeks or so, and then weekly appointments once you about 37 weeks. These frequent appointments can really liven up the wait to your delivery date, as you can definitely hit a lull in the third trimester. You’ll get to monitor how close you are to the big day, listen to your baby’s heartbeat, measure how big your tummy is getting, and get more information on the big day! If that doesn’t liven up the third trimester, I don’t know what will.
Prepare Your Home
Baby-proofing your home can ensure that baby can play safely.
Preparing your home is such a crucial thing to do in third trimester. Your home needs to be ready for the newest member of your family, and you definitely don’t want to be scrambling around to baby-proof your house while you have a newborn around. Here some important baby-proofing items:
- Outlet plugs
- Rubber ends for sharp table corners
- Baby gates to keep pets out of the baby’s room
- A safe place for baby to sleep
There are some other preparations you’ll need to make once the baby is up and moving around, and you may find it helpful to do those before the baby even comes home. If you’re a first time mom, you’ll definitely find that you lose a lot of time once the baby comes home. Making preparations in advance while you’re pregnant can really help you once your baby is home.
Pack Your Hospital Bag
The final step in preparing for the big day; the hospital bag!
Some of us are preemptive packers, and may have already packed our hospital bags before we even hit the third trimester. However, realistically, many moms wait until the third trimester. This is important to do early on, as you never really know when the big day will hit. You’ll definitely want to ensure that you’ll have all your necessary products and items with you once it’s delivery day, so make sure you get that bag packed! For an amazing hospital bag packing list, click here.
Make Arrangements
How will you get to the hospital when it’s delivery day? Who is going to drive you? Who will be in the delivery room? What will your baby’s name be? What is your birth plan? Do you want pain meds? These are only some of the arrangements that you’ll want to make while in the third trimester. You’ll want to decide where the baby will be sleeping, how you plan on doing feedings through the night, etc. There are a lot of things you’ll need to figure out before you hit delivery day, so be sure to make those arrangements.
Throw a Baby Shower
A fun and exciting baby shower!
Most moms have their baby shower in the third trimester, so that’s something really exciting to look forward to. You’ll want to make sure that your registry is filled with items that you want, so that you’ll be fully-stocked once the baby arrives. Having a day to kick back and celebrate the new arrival is always fun too. Need some fun ideas for your baby shower? Click here for some unique themes that you’ve never seen before.
If you’re in the first two trimesters, or have decided not to get a gender confirmation, then be sure to get an insightful gender prediction on our site! Get your prediction within only 24 hours!