It seems like pregnant women are constantly complaining about the last few weeks of their pregnancies. Unless she delivers early, nearly every mommy will undoubtedly reach a point in pregnancy when she’s just over it. The discomforts, the exhaustion, the excitement, she’ll just want to hold that baby so bad she can’t stand it and she’ll do anything and everything to try to get him/her out of her body and into her arms. The waiting for baby can be exhausting and nerve-racking and the bigger baby gets, the more physically uncomfortable late pregnancy can become.
Life, while waiting for baby, is the worst for so many reasons:
It can feel like you’re growing uncontrollably
End of pregnancy often brings more rapid growth than any other part. You might notice your belly getting bigger even after you think it’s not possible and you may somehow still gain a ton of weight even if you don’t have an appetite. At some point, your belly button will probably pop and you might even outgrow your maternity clothes as your weight hits a number you’ve quite possibly never seen before.
Space will get tight
As the days tick by and you get bigger, so does baby except she can’t stretch out on the couch. Instead, she will stretch out as far she can in your tummy and it’s not always fun. And as baby takes up residency in your abdomen, all the bits that usually reside there have to find a new place to go and often the only spot left is up under your ribs, where there isn’t a lot of extra space nor is that region particularly accommodating of extra stuff. At some point you might start to feel baby pressing down on your pelvic floor as she engages for delivery. And it often feels like you’re walking around with a bowling ball in your lady parts or like the baby is going to fall right out of you (she won’t, unfortunately). But less room doesn’t mean baby gives up her daily yoga exercises. Instead, a bigger baby simply results in bigger movements which can startle you, catching you off guard and possibly even causing discomfort or pain depending on how/where baby lays until baby repositions again.
You will need to pee a lot
This may not be news, but what is, is the fact that baby moving can make you nearly pee your pants, that having a full bladder can cause baby to freak out and/or move into places where you don’t want him, that sometimes baby will lay so that you can’t go when you want/need to and that any/all of it can cause contractions (not always labor, though, unfortunately). Plus you can start to feel like you spend more time at night peeing than sleeping.
Sleep can become complicated
Aside from the constant peeing, you also might not be able to sleep because you’re uncomfortable and every inch of you back, ribs, and pelvis aches. You might not be able to get comfortable because that huge belly gets in the way and moving it around to get comfy takes a lot of work. You might not be able to sleep because you can’t stop thinking about everything you need to do before baby comes and can feel oddly exhausted yet energized and excited all at the same time. A lot of people claim this is to prepare you for life with a newborn and whether or not that is true, it can really suck!
You might begin to feel completely useless and helpless
Bending over, getting onto/off of the floor, sweeping, loading/unloading the dishwasher or dryer, getting on your older child’s level to talk to her, putting pants on, tying/buckling your shoes, getting in/out of a low car. Pretty much anything that involves getting near the floor can prove problematic. And any amount of exertion might not only make you immediately exhausted, it could also cause contractions that do nothing but irritate you.
The people can drive you crazy, all of them
Your other sweet children who play nicely and laugh uncontrollably; your dear friends who send a constant stream of well wishes; the cheerful clerks at stores who want to know what you’re having; your amazing husband and other family members who try to help in every way possible. And every one of them will have an opinion. It can seem like you aren’t able to go anywhere without someone asking you when you’re due and speculating on how much longer you’ll be waiting. People constantly point out if you’re carrying low or high and whether you’re huge or tiny. Plus well-meaning friends and family members who want to know how you’re feeling may begin to constantly hound you for updates. Any contractions yet? Are you ready? And sweet requests to be the first to know when labor happens.
The anticipation can be brutal
Waiting for baby can be quite an emotional ordeal too. Your mind might swirl with thoughts of all the things you still can’t have, and wondering if this contraction is the one. It can feel like you’re on a never ending countdown to who-knows-when and while you’re excited to meet your little one, you may have worries about being a good mommy. You might want your pregnancy to be over (like, now, please!) but also may have anxiety about giving birth. It’s all par for the course, embrace whatever feels you’re having and let it be.
Your schedule can become complicated
It’s hard to make plans when baby could be arriving any second and it’s hard to commit to anything because if baby comes, that will change everything. And though most people won’t hold it against you if you no-show due to being in the middle of pushing a small human out of your vagina, it can still feel rude to make plans you don’t think you’ll be able to keep.
It can feel like you have nothing better to do than plan, wait, contemplate and obsess
When all you’re doing with your time is sitting around, waiting for baby, your mind can run wild. You have time to obsess over every detail of what might happen, what could happen, when it might happen, when it could happen. Your mind can easily become a cluster of possibilities and what ifs. You dream of those moments a thousand times and set yourself up for what will surely be a letdown when the scenario you get is not actually anything like the thousand you’ve imagined. And as the days of waiting tick by, you might be left with constantly re-preparing for baby’s arrival and as life goes on without baby here, things that you’ve already cleaned get dirty and the prep work can feel never-ending!
Eventually you’ll probably just be done!
And it’s okay, that’s completely normal and natural, do whatever you want or need to do to get things going. Be excited. Be nervous. Be anxious. Be whatever you feel like being because you are about to experience one of the most magical moments in your life. No matter how many babies you have, the first time holding, seeing and feeling the amazing child that you’ve brought into the world is going to be one of the most miraculous things you will ever experience and it’s fine to want it to happen soon.
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