My Third and Final Trimester Diaries!!

Hey everyone….Happy Sunday and day 1989886276767 of lockdown!!!!

I think it’s about time we took a trip down memory lane…….

…….To that incredible time where Covid 19 didn’t exist.

A time where I was the size of an inflatable Malteaser.

A time where my only worry was whether we had enough chocolate buttons in the cupboard to get me through the night.

A time where every time I laughed a little bit of wee came out. (Oh wait that still happens).

A time where my face blew up to resemble a bowling ball.

And a time where my insides were being physically attacked from a little crazy munchkin inside me. 

Does that sound familiar to anyone currently going through this? Oh yes. You guessed right. Its FINALLY my third trimester diaries!!!

Oh wow! It has been SOOOO long since I have sat down to write my next diary entry for you guys and life could not be more different. Because of my darling Teddy popping out early I never got round to writing this blog before he arrived and turned my world turned upside down. And what with the gorgeous but exhausting newborn bubble stage and having to deal with adjusting to life with this pandemic, I just haven’t had the time to sit down and update you all properly- I’m so sorry!! Life has just been ridic and it’s truly insane to think how much has changed since my second trimester diaries.

But please forgive me. I’m back now and just have so much to tell you all! 

Soooo… how would I describe my third trimester?

Well.. looking back at December- February now is like looking back at an entirely different universe. A time where I was surrounded by family and friends. Feeling ridiculous excitement and out of control nerves. Experiencing humongous cravings and getting zero sleep. Doing endless planning and a serious serious dose of nesting. 

I can’t believe how much life has changed for all of us in the blink of an eye.

Those of you who have been with me for a long time will know that during my first and second trimester I was totally burning the candle at both ends. Working on studio shows across the country, constantly doing long haul journeys alone on the motorway, sometimes doing shifts from 6am till midnight all whilst my darling was growing inside me and zapping away every last bit of my energy. I was EXHAUSTED, and in severe pain from my back, but totally scared to admit it. I just wanted to prove to everyone that I could do it all and that I was still needed, but by the end of December I was absolutely burnt out and had totally admitted defeat. I’m not Super Woman, so why was I trying SO hard to prove that I was invincible? 

And that it is why for the majority of my third trimester I made the very sensible decision to be the ultimate lady of leisure. To spend those last few weeks before Teddy arrived brunching with my bessies, sorting my shit out and doing a whole load of Netflix and chilling. My body was screaming out for me to rest and recuperate  and you know what… I had absolutely zero regrets.

However I didn’t spent my entire January and February being a lazy bum.  I mean that would make a terribly boring Third Trimester Diaries wouldn’t it! So as well as devouring a whole load of fry ups and hanging out with my main man Harry Potter…there was a bunch of other fun things I got up too and wanted to update you all on. 

So c’mon guys… you all know the drill by now… grab a cuppa and some biccies and lets dive straight in……

THE THIRD TRIMESTER

WEEK 28- 33.

THE BABY MOON- SOHO FARMHOUSE

By the time I hit the Third Trimester it was the best and most special time of the year….Crimbo!!!! With my telly contract and time commuting back and forth from Pinewood Studios finally complete I found the holidays as the perfect excuse to slob out on the sofa, gobbling away everything in sight and slowly morphing into a real life green Quality Street triangle. I also turned 30 on Christmas Day and it was to my utter amazement that I was surprised by my hubby to a trip to my favourite place in England… Soho Farmhouse for a mega birthday/baby moon celebration. Yippeeeee!!!!

We went for three days in early January with my family and it was just the most magical and special time of my life. I always knew that this trip would mark the end of an era and would be my final holiday for a while, but little did I know that it would actually be my first and last trip of the entire year. 

I know right now times are really terrifying and it is a total mystery as to when it will be safe to travel again and when our beloved hospitality sector will open up. But if things do finally start changing for the better and slowly getting back to normal I urge anyone who is pregnant and wanting that one last magical and relaxing getaway before your little ones arrives to book yourself a stay at the farm yard of dreams. You totally, totally deserve it!! 

(And for those of you who haven’t read it, i’ve written a whole separate blog on how you can have the best baby moon ever at Soho Farmhouse right here. 

BABY YOGA

From the second I hit twelve weeks and announced that I was preggers, nearly every friend I had who was already a mummy demanded that I signed up to Baby Yoga IMMEDIATELY!

Now for those of you who don’t know me well.. let me start by telling you all that I am the total OPPOSITE of a gym bunny. The most exercise you will see me do is walking to the cupboard to get more chocolate buttons and I haven’t entered a gym since Tumbletots in 1991.

I’m also just not a very chilled and zen girl because everything I do in my life is at a million miles an hour.

Before Corona I was always rushing around trying to juggle tons of different things and projects at once, which I adored. My life was manic, fast paced but oh so fun, and I was always busy and on the move. So yoga and pilates and these slow chilled activities have just NEVER been for me. 

But everyone swore by it and said yoga would be fantastic for my bad back and to get me in the right frame of mind before labour. And with no TV work lined up in January my excuses were totally running out. So I finally bit the bullet and signed me and my sis up for a months worth of sessions. Eek.

Now I really do wish I could tell you that I ate a slice of humble pie and baby yoga was the BEST thing I ever did. But unfortunately that just was not the case.

Instead of feeling tranquil and relaxed, I spent the majority of the sessions trying to hold in my wee, and not being able to look my sister in the eye for the fear of hysterically laughing out loud whilst we were both in outrageous positions having to make loud grunting noises as if we were zoo animals. (Apparently this helps during pushing, who knew??) I’m sorry guys it just realllllllly wasn’t my cuppa tea. And if I’m being 10000% honest, there wasn’t one second of my time in the hell of labour that I thought back to that time in January where I spent sixty minutes of my life upside down in a dark room with flickering candles.

I do feel really awful writing this, because the last thing I want to do is knock anyones career or try and put people off attending these classes because this is just my personal honest opinion and I’m sure that 99% of pregnant woman out there do find it really helpful. Unfortunately I come into the 1% category of people who spent the hour of trying to getting in the zone, instead, thinking about what chocolate I was going to have when I got home and holding in that trapped wind for dear life. (We’ve all been there pregnant huns).

NCT

So with the baby moon and baby yoga ticked off the list, there was one more ‘essential’ pregnant activity that everyone insisted I just HAD to do before the baby arrived…NCT.

N C whatttt I hear you cry???!!??? 

Well let me explain…For around £360 you will get invited to a three day essential survival course on labour where seven couples who are all total strangers get plonked into a old and damp church hall together on a freezing cold Saturday morning in January where within ten minutes of awkward introductions are then forced to stare at posters of the inside of a women bits and change the dirty nappy from a rusty doll who has been smothered in marmite.

What a dream.

The truth of the matter is, I could have saved that £360, brought a few books on labour and done all of the research myself. 

However, what I DID gain from this course was meeting six of the most loveliest and kind new mummies, all from my area who were due around the same time as I was. And even though we sadly haven’t all been able to meet each others babies yet, there has not been a day that’s gone by since that freezing cold January weekend that our whatsapp group hasn’t been buzzing at all hours of the day, giving each other support, advice and just keeping each other sane. I hope they will be friends for life and that one day our babies will all be BFFE’s.

And that for me has been totally and utterly priceless.

WEEK 34- 37.

THE FINAL STRETCH- AND THE FINAL SYMPTOMS.

By week 34, month nine, in early February I resembled a walking and talking bowling ball. 

For the last eight months I had been quite lucky with my evolving bump. It was gigantic but neat and allllllllll out front. 

But that, to put it politely, fell to utter shit as I hit 34 weeks.

February 1st arrived and BOOM Sammy Summers exploded. Everything just seemed to stretch, and my face went double the size. I also apparently gained lip fillers for free and became an even more Essex version of myself.

“Are you sure you’re not having twins?’, Derek from Waitrose would ask me as I shuffled and waddled from aisle to aisle collecting chocolate. 

No hun, I’m just fat and pregnant. Thank you. NEXT.

“Oh wowwww your face has just CHANGED, you look different… your definitely having a girl” I would get on a daily basis. (We all know that is the polite way of people telling me I looked big!)

I was heavy, swollen, stretched to the max, in constant pain and OH SO OVER IT.

Every passing minute felt like an hour, the days become years. I hated every. single. one of my clothes and every. single. person who would text me saying, ‘Any news?’, ‘Wheres the baby?’. I DON’T KNOW BARBARA, WHY DON’T YOU TEXT THE BABY AND ASK THEM YOURSELF.

It was safe to say that I was officially DONE.

And as well as all the stunning symptoms I had been dealing with since September, a whole host of new ones came to say hiya too…….

The Third Trimester Symtoms.

1. Symptom One: Braxton Hicks– Google will tell us hormonal preggers girls to chillllllll out. Don’t panic. They are just a tight and painful sensation you will feel in your tummy that means your body is preparing for labour. No biggie. But for every girl in the UK dealing with a Braxton hick, every tiny, sharp pain from 34 weeks onwards will see them legging it out the house in dirty pjs, with their unpacked suitcase thrown across their shoulder, whilst screaming to their partner on the phone, ‘This is ittttttttt, get your bum home NOWWWWWW the babies coming!!!!!’. Only for the pain to then disappear ten seconds later.

Oh. Just me? Let’s move on then.

2) Symptom Two: Carpal Tunnel Syndrome– This sounds scarier than it is, but essentially means that those last few weeks your hands and feet will completely swell and you will have permanent pins and needles. It’s just SO much fun being pregnant isn’t it. 

Oh and note to all. Don’t be a Sammy Summers and get your wedding ring stuck on your throbbing swollen finger. It will go a cute shade of blue, and will nearly result in a trip to A and E. Take it off around week 30. You’re welcome.

3) Symptom Three: Heart Burn- Heart burn does not have a timer. It will come and pay you a visit at all hours of the day. 9am on the central line, sureeee. 3pm during an important work meeting, yippeeee. And my all time favourite, the classic 4am wakeup from hell, stunning. It will be such a huge part of your pregnancy life that you will also develop mild anxiety for 20 weeks that you are going to be giving birth to a were wolf. Which is now extremely weird looking back because Teddy is a full on egg head. 

4) Symptom Four: Lightening- Thunderbolt and lightning, very, very frightening me. 

Oh the lightening! How I do not miss you! Queen were not wrong when they said it was frightening!!!

So what exactly does lightening involve? Well to put it bluntly, you will get constant sharp pains down there and will now need the loo every five seconds instead of every ten seconds. Essentially this is the time period where the baby travels into the right position for labour which can happen any time around two to four weeks before the baby is ready. It’s at this point it totally hits you that, oh my god, there’s NO going back, I’ve actually got to push this gigantic ball out of me. SEND HELP!!!

5) Symptom Five: Stretch Marks- You will, like me, probably waste hundreds of pounds on stretch mark creams and oils, spend two hours applying it carefully over your sacred bump each night, and be super smug that you have smooth skin throughout pregnancy. Only to wake up on the morning of week 35 resembling the Frosties Tiger. Kl.

Just think, at least you got the Boots points. Every cloud and all that. 

MY BABY SHOWER- PIZZA PARTY.

Despite these silly symptoms my Third Trimester ended in the most incredible way I could ever wish for. By getting twenty five of my closest friends in the world together in their pyjamas (the last time I have seen them all, sob) for a night of devouring pizza and major gossiping. It was just what the doctor ordered and was the perfect way to see all of my friends for one last time before the world fell apart. You can read all about my baby shower of dreams here. It was truly magical. 

NURSERY

And last but not least, I did what every other pregnant woman across the entire world does in their third trimester…. A RIDICULOUS AMOUNT OF NESTING!!! OMG it’s honestly an actual thing guys!!!!

Teddy’s nursery was painted, the cot was set up and I spent around 34566432 hours folding and re-arranging the same ten pyjamas in his drawer. Sometimes I would just sit in his room, get myself into a cosy day dream and the next thing I knew three hours had passed. There was just something so magical and peaceful about the nursery and the anticipation, mystery and excitement about what was to come. 

And wow, it’s safe to say that after a relaxing and uneventful few weeks in February, I hit week 37 and BOOM….it ALL kicked off big time!!!……

….. But I’m sorry guys. You’re going to have to wait just that litttttttle bit longer to find out what happened next because I’m saving all the juicy and ever so slightly gory details for my birth blog.

Oh I know. I’m sorry. What a tease! 

But until then I just wanted to thank you all so much for continuing to read my blogs and support me, and I’m thinking of you all during this weird time and hoping you and your families are all safe and well!

I can’t wait to catch up again soon,

Loads of love

Sammy xxxxx

If you enjoyed this, please read some of my other pregnancy posts below.

The First Trimester Diaries!

The Second Trimester Diaries!

What I Have Found Surprising About Pregnancy!

How To Baby Moon at Soho Farmhouse!

My Baby Shower- The Pizza and PJ Party of Dreams!

MY THIRD TRIMESTER LOOK BOOK- ALL OUTFITS I WORE ARE LINKED BELOW!

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