The Third Trimester

Baby Girl Bell rolled into the third trimester without any difficulties. She seemed to be as active as ever. I wondered if she ever slept and thought that maybe she would trump the rest of the family and be one who can be energetic with very little sleep. I, on the other hand, was not getting enough rest. Late nights and 3 am potty calls had me pretty groggy and slow moving when the morning arrived. And for some reason afternoon naps still seemed to evade me. Some of the typical ailments associated with later pregnancy started to make their appearance. I had increasing cases of reflux, though thankfully heartburn was only an occasional visitor. I was getting mild headaches that lasted through the day and even woke me up at night. One of the worst factors was trying to sleep at night when I had restless leg symptoms. That's enough to drive anyone batty.

Baby Girl Bell's movements became more slow and purposeful and less like an all-out attack on a punching bag - though that still happened on occasion. Chris was able to get some great daddy-daughter time as he felt the smooth movements of feet and arms slide across my belly. We weren't very good at discerning what body parts they really were, but we would make our best guess as to whether the hard round bump was the rear or the front end.

With Baby Girl Bell getting bigger sitting became more difficult. She would get nestled up in my ribs and after sitting for a while those ribs would start to ache. If I was sitting for any long period of time I would do my best to find a reclining position so Baby Girl Bell could have some more room. On Sundays, by the end of sacrament meeting I was eager to get up and elongate the torso. In our ward it seemed like half of the women had just had babies or were about to. When I looked around at some of my sisters-in-gestation I would realize that this discomfort was only going to get worse. Strangely enough, I was more than happy to have such ailments if it meant that my baby was growing healthy and strong.

I was surprised that those intense food craving everyone talks about were pretty few and far between. Occasionally I would have a late night urge for a McDonald's cheeseburger and fries. Not anything fancy, just the simple cheap-o cheeseburger would hit the spot. Even with Chris' disgust for such restaurants he was very supportive and would drive me to get my food. I didn't want to be unhealthy and got frustrated at the need to eat at unusual times, so eating bad food and eating late at night would trigger my pregnancy emotions. I would get a little weepy as we went through the drive-thru, or if I had to eat something from the fridge at 11pm just before going to bed.

My next doctors appointment was right on the 29 week mark. With Chris working downstairs he was able to find a space in his schedule to come and join me for the visit. I was again meeting with Doctor Jocson since my original physician was not in at this time, though I couldn't tell the difference between the two since they were both tiny and asian. I was asked the usual questions about alcohol and smoking use, exercise habits, and any concerns. The only thing I was really worried about is the 5 to 6 hours of sleep I was getting at night instead of the 8 to 9 I felt like I needed. I was told not to worry and given a few suggestions, but that if it became a real problem to where I was a complete insomniac I should let her know. My weight was 158 lbs and my fundal height measured right on at 29cm. We dopplered the babies heart and found a rate of 145 beats per minute. Right in the middle of the desired range. Chris was proud to tell me I was the most benign pregnant woman with all the numbers being right where they should be. I was a textbook pregnant lady. I told him that it kind of felt like getting an A on a test when I measured where expected. A week before my appointment I had taken the required glucose tolerance test to check for gestational diabetes. I had to drink a liquid that looked and tasted like orange tic-tacs in a lightly carbonated beverage form. I had to drink 100 ounces in 5 minutes while someone watched. The drink itself wasn't as bad as others had made it out to be. The only struggle is that I was getting brain freeze because the juice was so cold and was worried about the 5 minute limit. I was able to guzzle the beverage and then went and hung out with Chris and the other fellows in their clinic while I waited out the hour before going back to get my blood tested. Knowing my history with low blood sugar I wasn't surprised when my serum glucose level was well below the desired level (79mg/dl).

One of the side effects of pregnancy is to have vivid and strange dreams. I had always been one to remember my dreams and they pretty much always seemed a little crazy to me. I did have one dream, though, that made me wake up with an increased heart rate which I think was brought on by Baby Girl Bell's constant activity. I dreamt that I could see Baby Girl Bell pushing and rolling around my abdomen and it was causing blood vessels to stick out with a lot of bruising. While studying my discolored tummy Baby Girl Bell decided to be 'born' by coming out the right side of my abdomen and into my arms. She had produced an open wound that kept me from breast feeding on the right side and I was wandering around a hospital trying to find a way get my right side fixed. In various instances my family was around but were busy doing different things and couldn't help. Amidst all this weirdness I remember looking at Baby Girl Bell in my arms and loving her so much despite the strange circumstances. When I woke up I felt a little distressed as it was one of those dreams that felt a little too real. After talking to a friend she told me that she had a lot of dreams about her babies trying to 'escape' and her trying to keep them in a little longer because they weren't ready to come out. It was good to know I wasn't the only one.

A few weeks after the start of the third trimester we were headed to Utah to celebrate Christmas.We were looking forward to the change of scenery and spending time with family. The past month had been brutal as far as sleep was concerned. I would wake up for a 3:30 potty break and not be able to go back to sleep - at all. I was hoping that different surroundings would mix things up a bit and reset the sleep mode settings in my body to get me a full nights rest. However, after having a great sleep the night before we were leaving for Utah and then sleeping well again after being in Utah I realized my midnight wakings had very little to do with pregnancy and a lot to do with the stress of Christmas demands and an overactive brain.

The flight to Utah is short, but quickly got uncomfortable. Prior to our travel day I could tell that Baby Girl Bell was lying horizontal. Most movements were felt on the right or the left side of the abdomen. On the day we were flying out she decided to turn to a vertical position which makes sitting for a long period unusually difficult. Our seats on the plane where at the very back, which meant our seats didn't recline and we were forced to sit upright. I was able to get up and walk for a bit in the middle of the flight to stretch out the stomach and give my back a rest, but the extra 35 minutes on the tarmac once we arrived made my body ache. We had a lot more sitting to do that evening with car rides to and from my parents house, dinner at a restaurant, and a play my mom had bought tickets for. During the first half of the production I could swear Baby Girl Bell was tap dancing on my ribs. Intermission couldn't have come fast enough. After that she seemed to find that she was a little cramped and changed position enough to make sitting more easy on my body.

We were in Utah for 10 days and really enjoyed the time there. Christmas as wonderful. I had told my mom all I wanted for Christmas was baby stuff since everything seemed to be pretty expensive, but she knew we would be getting plenty of supplies with the upcoming showers she was throwing. I felt bad that neither Chris nor I had bought anything specific for our Baby Girl Bell so I made a fabric flower headband to give as her Christmas gift. On Christmas day at the Sonntag party it was announced that Jessica and Ezra were also expecting a baby to be due in August. It was definitely baby season for the Sonntag clan.

My mother was so wonderful and threw me an open house baby shower held at her house. She invited a bunch of people from her neighborhood, some friends of mine from Mountain Green, my highschool girlfriends, and a couple other random people who are close to me. We had yummy fruit and some delicious cinnamon rolls for treats. I had fun chatting with those that came and was very excited about all of the baby paraphernalia we got. Chris and I still hadn't bought any of the basics as we wanted to wait and see what other people gave us. Also, we figured that some people would know what we needed more than we did.

Chris was able to take advantage of some fresh snow and go skiing up at Snowbasin. I took the pregnant lady route and stayed at home, visited with friends, or went snowshoeing. It was tough not being able to ski, but not that difficult considering that what was to come was worth more than any day on a ski hill.

On New Years Day my mom and Jan had organized another baby shower, this time with all the girls in the family. All of the girls on Chris' side were invited as well, but we knew that no one would be able to make it to Utah for the shower. Chris' mom had intentions on flying in for the party, but due to circumstances was unable to make the trip. The whole Bell clan pitched in and got us a gift card that would cover the cost of the glider/rocker we were planning to purchase (an item all mothers seemed to note as a necessity). The shower was held at the horse property since everyone was already coming up for the traditional four-wheeling and sledding day. It was great having everyone together and there were some fun games played. One game was a memory-type challenge. A tray full of baby paraphernalia was passed around and then taken out of the room. Then, everyone had to try and remember everything that was on the tray. I wasn't even close to getting them right. Aunt Susan prepared another game that was pretty hilarious. She melted different candy bars in the bottoms of diapers and then mashed them up so it looked like poop. Using feel, smell, touch and taste (if you dared) everyone had to guess which candy bar was in which diaper. The candy bar poop looked grossly realistic and it was funny to see people with their noses in the diapers examining so closely. Believe it or not I got most of them right. I think it is due to my currently incredible sense of smell. Another activity that Susan pioneered was a trivia game about kids and pregnancies within our own family. She ask a question and we would all talk about the answer until the person that fit that question the best was apparent. That person won the prize. It was interesting to see how the had gone on within my own family. We were given lots of presents with even more necessary baby gear. One of my favorite gifts was a sweater Susan gave me. It was one I had when I was younger and my mom had given to Heidi as a hand-me-down, and now Susan was giving it back. It was still in great condition and is a one of a kind item. Grandma Sonntag had crocheted a cute sweater and made a blanket and burp cloths. My mom knew I had a thing for pink elephants since my favorite blanket growing up had a pink elephant on it, and she had made a blanket with adorable fabric and lots of little pink elephants. Chris and I were beginning to feel a little more prepared for the coming of Baby Girl Bell thanks to family and friends.

Though Utah was fabulous and we love seeing family and friends, and appreciated the snow for Christmastime, we were glad to get back into a routine once returning to California. Thankfully I was sleeping much better with only the occasional insomnia. The restless legs started becoming a regular sensation each night. Chris was the best husband in the world and would massage and squeeze my legs any time I asked. It made falling asleep so much easier when I wasn't fighting my own legs. I felt like Baby Girl Bell was growing exponentially and that each week my stomach was noticeably larger. She was still a very active girl, which I enjoyed and was glad for the reassurance. Around week 31 I noticed a thin line, slightly darker than my skin originating at my protruding belly button and running directly up and down. I thought that I had missed out on the Linea Nigra, also typical of pregnant women, but more so in darker skinned people. Though only slightly noticeable in appearance I was sure that it was to become larger and more prominent - not that it made any difference to me. It was just another part of the whole process.

As is typical with the third trimester I had increasing Braxton Hicks contractions. However, around week 32 those contractions became more of a regular happening than an occasional occurrence. Especially when exercising and being more active the uterus would tighten up into a ball. Sometimes the contractions would last for minutes and I would have to sit completely still before my uterus would relax. Simple movements such as sitting, standing or bending over would trigger contractions. I wasn't too worried about preterm labor since the contractions didn't hurt and weren't regular. However, they did seem to be coming on more than what I had heard was typical. I wrote my doctor and email trying as best as possible to describe my concerns in 1000 words or less.

Dr. Wang,I know that Braxton Hicks contractions will be increasing at this time. I have some concerns about how frequently and long mine are happening. In doing things that require active movement, my uterus will tighten up into a ball and will stay that way for up to 2 min or so and then will continue to contract intermittently until I sit completely still. I have been exercising regularly and have previously had occasional contractions, some short and some longer, lasting minutes, while exercising. However, the contractions may have occurred sporadically during exercise and then ceased once exercise was done, but now it seems my uterus is hypersensitive and once it's had a contraction it will easily contract again, sometimes just walking will trigger it. They aren't painful, regular, or increasing. I'm not concerned about preterm labor, I want to know if such contractions are detrimental to the fetus, and if I can continue to be active or if I should stop when contractions start. Thx

The response I received was minimal and was told I should go to Labor and Delivery if I was concerned. I sort of figured that would be my answer for anything concerning lots of contractions.

For Paige Austin Bell, I have a message from Dr. Wang And her exact words are. Message Yes, Pt to come to triage labor and delivery for evaluation Have monitors for baby and to check contractions and can see if dilated Office not able to monitor baby nor contractions Please have her come to labor and delivery if she continues to have pain that comes and goes

Labor and delivery is kind of like the emergency room for pregnant women and wasn't too sure that going there was necessary. I still had two weeks until my next appointment so I thought I would wait and talk to my doctor then. Two weeks did seem like a long time to wait, though. I tried to minimize the Braxton Hick's as much as possible. I cut out the elliptical, which I had grown fond of, but was still able to ride my bike on the trainer and swim as long as I didn't go to hard. I knew that with Baby Girl Bell growing so much in the last few months the potential to gain a lot of weight was there. I wanted to try and be as active as possible to minimize the potential for the exponential pound packing typical of the last few months.

I was glad that I wasn't as unfortunate as some women and wasn't experiencing varicose veins, huge amounts of water retention, and lots of reflux and heartburn. Up to this point I had been able to avoid any stretch marks. Though the effectiveness of coconut butter is debatable, I was diligent in applying some cream to my belly daily figuring even if it didn't help it wouldn't hurt. Unfortunately I had heard that most women got their pregnancy battle scars in the last few weeks so I still had some time to go before I could consider myself safe.

With the holidays being well over and only a couple of months left I started devoting more of my time to getting things ready for Baby Girl Bell. I struggled feeling like I hadn't been a thoughtful mother-to-be by not putting much effort into preparing anything for our little girl's arrival. Even though a nursery wasn't in the picture I wanted to ready a few things that made me feel like I had fulfilled my nesting urge. As always, Chris was more than supportive as I came up with different projects. Even though he didn't understand why I wanted to paint the changing table black or move the furniture he was supportive and told me things looked great. Having a lot of spare time during the day I had been doing my best to keep busy and make the best use of my minutes. Early on I had spent a lot of time drawing and working on some small art projects with intentions for bigger things. As the holidays neared my focus had shifted at one point to making beaded necklaces and jewelry to give as gifts. A few other interests had crept in and out over the past few months as well. With Baby Girl Bell coming sooner rather than later I felt that whatever interests I took on should be in preparations for our little girl. It took a few tries, but was excited when I was able to pick up on crocheting. My first successful project was a little beanie that Baby Girl Bell would be able to wear when she was a few months old (depending on if she got Chris' head or my head).

Along with feeling the need to get things ready in time for Baby Girl Bell's arrival we figured we should start thinking a little more about what her name would be. I felt like it was such a huge responsibility. Chris and I had talked about it quite a bit when we were first pregnant, but not feeling like anything was clicking we put it at the back of our minds. We weren't too keen on any family names and Paige Jr was definitely out of the question. Family members had a few suggestions or would come up with ideas, but even less of those sounded like good ones to us. We had a small and very unsure list of names that we kept on the docket, but decided we needed to explore the name idea a little more. Each night Chris and I would look at babynames.com and cover one or two letters of the alphabet and write down any names that stuck out to either one of us. This way our list started to grow. We both figured it would be a decision made once Baby Girl Bell was born and we could actually see what she looked like.

Knowing that our lives were about to change drastically once Baby Girl Bell arrived, Chris and I planned a weekend getaway to celebrate our 'singleness' and the upcoming arrival of our new addition. With Chris' schedule still requiring a lot of his time, especially on weekends, we found the ideal opportunity to steal away to San Diego. I wanted to go to the temple since I knew it was going to be more difficult once we had to start finding babysitters. The San Diego temple was incredible. Baby Girl Bell must have enjoyed the session because she was moving the whole time. I was awed by the beauty of the building on the interior and exterior.

In the afternoon we went to Torrey Pines State Park. Paralleling the beach is a strip of protected wilderness that has a bunch of hiking and walking trails. Due to my cramping uterus I wasn't to keen on taking any hikes so we checked out some of the scenery and then relaxed on the beach. Just before the sun went down we headed to our hotel to check in and relax for a little bit. Being close to historic Old Town made it easy to grab some dinner and walk around the streets and check out some of the original and restored buildings. After our fun day I was more than pleased to get back to our room and take a load off. With all the cramping I felt like I had been doing sit ups all day and my body was sore. We did some online research to see what sort of guidelines there are for an overactive uterus. We did find a website for women with an Irritable Uterus. The information we found described an irritable uterus as "an uterus that contracts without causing any changes in cervix or labor" or "the phenomenon that prior to the onset of labor, the uterus can contract in a disorganized fashion". Some of the stories and other described symptoms seemed to fit my situation. Unfortunately there were no real instructions or definitive information telling me how to get the contractions to calm down.

The next day Chris and I had a lazy morning. We planned on going to the San Diego Zoo but were a little concerned about my contractions since walking seemed to make them happen more frequently. We decided to go to the zoo and just see how things went. Chris and I had a wonderful time seeing all of the animals and trying to get good pictures of the 'wildlife'. It made me think of how much fun it would be in the future to take Baby Girl Bell and how excited she would be.

Walking around the zoo wasn't as difficult as I expected. I rested when I could and walked slowly. We had water and treats close at hand. By the time we started our drive back to our apartment I was exhausted and could barely keep my eyes open. We were glad to have a chance to get away as a 'single' couple one last time.

Over the next week it seemed that my contractions were becoming more frequent and stronger at times, occasionally accompanied with some pain. Baby Girl Bell's constant movements reassured me that she was doing well, but I wasn't sure what all the contractions meant. Not wanting to become a total sludge I continued to be active, but taking more frequents rests to give the uterus a chance to settle. As I continued to convey to Chris how often and strong my contractions were he began to think that maybe something more was going on. Knowing that dehydration can cause contractions I had been hard on the fluids the past week without any changes. The next thought was the possibility of an unsymptomatic urinary tract infection, which has also been linked with premature labor. With my next doctors appointment being still a week away and Chris starting become concerned as well, at 33 1/2 weeks we took the plunge and spent part of our Saturday in Labor and Delivery. The only instances when I had been in the hospital were when I was working, visiting someone, or for my OB visits. Actually having them put a wrist band on me was a little strange. Chris and I knew that we were probably just paranoid first time parents-t0-be, but peace of mind was worth it.

I stripped down and got into a ratty old hospital gown missing one of the ties with a big hole in the side. The nurse strapped some monitors around my belly - one to measure contractions and another to measure Baby Girl Bell's heart rate. I was asked a bunch of questions so the doctor could gage exactly what my concerns were. I provided a urine sample that the nurse deliberated on sending for testing, but due to Chris' insistence was sent to the lab. The doctor did a test for fetal fibronectin (FFN) and checked my cervix. I was glad to know that there hadn't been any change in my cervix, meaning that Baby Girl Bell was happy to stay in the uterus for a while longer. The FFN would take an hour to be read so Chris and I cozied up for a short stay until the results came back. We pretty much just sat and stared at the monitoring strip as it came out. Chris was so proud of his baby girl when he saw the perfect strip readings come out. He said it was exactly what you would want to see when you are monitoring a baby. The most interesting part for me was seeing how often and how strong my contractions were. About every six to ten minutes I would get a contraction. Previously I had thought that being active and moving around is what would trigger the contractions, but after laying in the hospital for an hour not doing anything and seeing the regularity and frequency in which they occurred I was surprised to realize that although being active may have increased the frequency and intensity, the contractions were coming on their own. The strip also showed quite a bit of irritability (thus the irritable uterus) between contractions. Similar to atrial fibrillation where the right atrium of the heart is constantly quivering and then at times fires and produces a beat I thought of my uterus as having uterine fibrillation. To calm everything down the doctor wanted to give me a one time shot of terbutaline. Being unfamiliar with the drug and not wanting to take anything unnecessary I looked to Chris for his suggestion. Terbutaline is a drug that would relax the uterus, but only temporarily, and has the common side effect of making the heart race. I decided to go without the medication. The doctor said it was okay and was mostly for my own comfort anyway. I figured as long as I knew Baby Girl Bell was doing well then I could handle the contractions. With the FFN being negative Chris and I were immensely reassured. We considered our visit to L&D a trial run for the real event and took a moment to glance around at the delivery and postpartum rooms before leaving.