Pregnancy Third Trimester: How I'm Preparing for Labor

The countdown to baby has officially begun! We are now in the home stretch of pregnancy which means that it will only be a matter of weeks (or less) until we meet our baby boy. One of the things I’ve found throughout the past 8 months is that pregnancy can be totally unpredictable, and this fact is only magnified as we inch closer to my due date.

Whether you have enjoyed every moment that pregnancy has to offer up until this point, or you’re simply wishing for it to be over, you should be proud of yourself and your body for making it this far.

As someone who struggled with infertility and pregnancy complications, there isn’t a day that goes by where I take this journey for granted. I even find myself thinking that I may miss this big ole’ belly once it’s gone. Feeling our son squirm around and kick inside me could possibly be my favorite thing I’ve experienced in my life. While I obviously can’t wait for him to be my little buddy in the outside world, selfishly I love this time where it’s still just the two of us.

Around the 30-week mark is when I think that it hit me that I would actually be delivering this baby soon. I distinctly remember waking Sam up one night not so long ago and saying, “I think labor is actually really going to hurt”. The look on his face, like I hadn’t thought of that thus far, was amusing to say the least.

It wasn’t that I hadn’t given labor any thought; I had been present at my niece’s birth many years ago (and at the business end - if you know what I mean), so I felt like I had a pretty good grasp on what to expect.

From listening to countless birth story podcasts, hearing friends’ and family’s experiences, and reading up on tons of resources online and in books, I know that my labor experience really isn’t up to me. If we’re being totally honest, no one can control their child’s birth. Of course, you can prepare as much as possible, but when it comes down to it, the end result truly depends on you and your baby.

So, instead of allowing my Type-A personality to obsess over every detail of my labor experience, I am focusing my efforts on the tasks and responsibilities that I can control beforehand. This includes everything from writing my birth plan to taking free online classes, preparing freezer meals for maternity leave, etc.

I have created a free printable checklist for the third trimester of pregnancy that I have been using over the past month to prepare for my due date (image below to download and print).

This can serve as a great reminder to check off the important tasks like packing your hospital bag, installing a car seat, and finding a pediatrician. It also includes fun items like making a DIY nurses’ basket, downloading a contraction timer app, and getting maternity photos done. In short, this list is everything I am doing to prepare for labor.

Additionally, I am sharing some of my favorite resources to go along with the list like my labor playlist on Spotify, the free Youtube videos I LOVED, and a few random things I’m doing to prepare (like eating 2-4 pitted dates per day).

Hopefully, this post will help put your mind at ease as you enter into the final stage of pregnancy, and direct your focus toward the things you can control in the weeks leading up to your due date!

In case you missed it: What to Wear for Maternity Photos

Checklist Resources:

• Labor playlist: Spotify (Let’s Have Dat Baby)

• DIY Nurses’ Basket: Full guide linked here

• Contraction app timer: Full Term (free for iPhone and Android)

• Baby Laundry Detergent: Dreft Stage 1 Newborn

• Pregnancy Podcasts: The Birth Hour, Pregnancy Confidential, Big Fat Positive, Pregnancy Podcast

• My Baby Registry: Linked here

• Parenting Books: Bringing up Bebe, Cribsheet

• Maternity Photos: What to Wear

Other things I’m doing to prepare for labor:

• Eating 2-4 Pitted dates per day in my smoothie or stuffed with a piece of dark chocolate and almond butter; eating dates is said to help ripen the cervix and shorten the duration of labor

• Purchased raspberry leaf tea, I’ll be drinking a cup per day starting at 37 weeks; drinking raspberry leaf tea is said to help strengthen the uterus and shorten the duration of labor

• Stretching/yoga, daily 30-45 minute walks outside

• Watching free Youtube videos about birthing and breastfeeding; my favorites linked here: part 1 (prenatal), part 2 (labor and birth), part 3 (postnatal)

Want more pregnancy-related posts? Check out Pregnancy Style: 5 Must-Have Maternity Staples, DIY Mama and Babe Denim Jackets, and Second Trimester: What I Eat in a Week.

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xo Anna Elizabeth