Waiting will be the hardest part of the third trimester, but you have to admire Mother Nature’s ingenuity: No matter how anxious or worried you may have felt during your pregnancy about labor and delivery, your discomforts in the last weeks will make you willing to do almost anything just to get the baby out and off of your nerves (literally).
It’s important to keep perspective during the final weeks of your pregnancy. Some amount of worry is productive. In fact, researchers have found that women who worry more about birth actually have shorter labors! But it doesn’t help to drive yourself crazy with vague, unproductive worry, like mulling over other parents’ tales of scary birth ordeals, or watching so-called “reality” birth shows.
If something’s bugging you, even if it sounds silly (your butt hurts, or you’re worried that your baby will have extra toes), talk to your doctor or midwife or a childbirth educator. And, if you already know the hospital where you plan to deliver, you can also call the labor and delivery nurses or those in the postpartum unit with your questions about what happens during labor.