Third Trimester Pregnancy: Self-Care

Transcript

“One of the ways that you can really take care of yourself in the third trimester or the latter part of your pregnancy is to make sure that you eat really healthy foods and that you stay very, very hydrated. So drink lots of water, make sure you get enough sleep and make sure you get enough rest. So being on your feet may create swelling or discomfort. It may even cause some contractions to start to happen. And so it’s really important to be able to get off your feet and to rest when you need to, when you’re resting, however, make sure that you’re not laying directly on your back. Make sure that you’re over to your left side a little bit, or that you’ve put a pillow wedge under your hip because the baby in the uterus is so big. It compresses the important blood vessels that are running down the back of the abdomen and are ultimately feeding the baby, the oxygen and nutrients that he or she needs.

So if you’re laying directly on your back, you can compress those vessels and then the baby won’t get the nutrients that it needs. So always be rolled over a little bit to the side. If you notice that you have swelling, which is really increasing, or it seems to be associated with other symptoms like headache or visual changes, or maybe you’re not having as much urine as you used to, or you’re having some numbness or tingling or any strange symptoms that go along with the swelling or discomfort, you definitely need to see your doctor because that can be an indication of an increase in blood pressure or something we call preeclampsia or a clamp SIA or gestational hypertension. And all of those things can contribute to the baby. Maybe not getting the nutrition that it needs. So some of the symptoms of hypertension or preeclampsia would be swelling, decrease in urine output, visual changes, severe headache, neurological symptoms, anything strange like that.

Absolutely make sure that you see your doctor right away. And if it’s something that is severe enough, that would be a very good reason to call nine one one and have an ambulance come and get you. Ultimately, those symptoms can progress to seizures and that’s called a clamp SIA, and that is a medical emergency. So if you’re having any of those symptoms on that continuum, or even increasing swelling, that seems to be out of control, then you need to be seeing your doctor to make sure you’re having your blood pressure monitored. And all of those other symptoms being taken into account that is absolutely one of the most important and most urgent medical emergencies that can occur in pregnancy normally into the third trimester. So if your blood pressure has been starting to climb or you’re having any of those symptoms, you absolutely need to make sure you’re being very closely monitored.”