It’s the end of the line! You’re so pregnant, you feel like you’re in your fourth trimester. The baby is kicking and moving day and night, you’re at the doctor’s office every other day (or so it seems), and people feel the urge to comment on just HOW pregnant you really are. (Wow! You’re gonna pop any day now!) The following signs probably look pretty familiar to you at this point:
- You’ve decided that getting off the couch is a waste of your time. You’re not getting up without help — it’s too difficult. You wonder how expensive one of those automatic recliners are that you see in furniture stores.
- You find yourself singing lullabies All. The. Time. In the car, at work during conference calls (after you pressed the mute button, of course), while eating dinner, going shopping, and before you go to bed. You don’t know if it’s more to calm you down or the baby.
- You wander into your already-decorated, perfect-looking nursery at least 10 times a day, even though you don’t actually need anything in there yet. (At this point, it’s much better than stumbling in there at 2 a .m., 3 a.m., and 4 a.m. every night, which will happen soon. The nursery won’t hold quite as much charm at that point.)
- You forget most of what you have to do today. Pregnancy brain is REAL (and soon to be replaced by “mom brain”). Your notes say things like, "Obstetrician appointment at 10 a.m. Take a shower. Dry your hair. Don’t forget your lunch. Get in your car. Get out your keys. Turn the car ON with the keys. Drive to doctor’s office for your appointment." Then, at the doctor's office, you realize that you forgot your lunch and have no idea where your keys are. Wait, did I take the bus today? Is that why I can’t find my car?
- You’ve gone from happily answering strangers’ questions about your pregnancy to wanting everyone to just disappear. If you hear, “Do you think the baby will go past the due date?” one more time, you will scream. Or cry. Or both. You have no idea what this baby is up to, and you stay awake at night thinking about how to force yourself to go into labor so that you don’t have to be pregnant one second more.
- You think you’re having contractions ALL the time. Every Braxton-Hicks contraction becomes the real thing in your head, and you excitedly open your contraction timing app to start logging in results, before you realize that it’s yet another false alarm.
- You eyeball every baby you see. You wonder, will my baby be that small? That big? Have hair? Cry so much? Have such a squishy face? Smile at me? When will I get to meet my baby?
Good luck with those last few weeks! Your baby will be here very soon!
