Pregnancy Third Trimester : the Waddle

Here is a hub about the time when I was pregnant with my first child. I have a very fond memory of this last trimester and I hope you enjoy this little waddly story.

I am at the last chapter of my pregnancy trilogy. “The third Trimester”. I had thought that the day my last trimester started I would wake up, ready to pop, with pains everywhere and swollen everything. How I was mislead! The third trimester to me is just a continuation of the second, minus the aches and pains I had to endure between the 18^th and 30^th week. To summarize it, my third trimester is really easy when I compare it to the horrible stories I have heard.

There is one thing, however, that is very typical in the third trimester Prego world, it is the walk or waddle.  It is a funny but difficult part of being pregnant.  Pregos have a very distinctive walk, called the waddle. According to my recent studies in the field, there are three different types of waddles.

First, the uncertain waddle, where the Prego gets up from bed, or from a chair, quite unsure on how gravity will affect the position of the baby. This results in a slow awkward movement where the Prego balances her body out while trying to gain some velocity. If the Prego is lucky, in a matter of seconds that uncertain waddle changes into a happy waddle, which could pass for a normal slow walk. If she is unlucky, then she has to suffer through the waddle until the baby gets into a better position.

The second type of waddle is the pressure waddle. This can happen at anytime, anywhere, but seems to strike particularly in a public area where there are no bathrooms. I might insist on the fact that a Prego can go to the bathroom, walk a few minutes and need to go again. That pressure waddle is faster paced than the uncertain waddle but the shift from one leg to the other makes the observer think that the Prego walks with straight legs. The pressure comes from the baby pressing heavily on the bladder, thus creating the impression, in the Prego's mind, of a water balloon about to explode. To know if it is a pressure waddle, just look at the Prego’s face. You do not want to mess up with a pressure waddler, especially when you work as a salesman in a furniture store. Just point toward the bathroom!!

The last waddle, by far the worst, is the evening waddle. Imagine what twelve hours of carrying a ten pound belly (baby plus all the fluid and extra stuff), can do to you. It results in a quite funny walk, where the Prego seems to be walking with a balloon between her legs. Add to this the swelling of hands and feet due to a great summer heat, and of course 90% of the time, after a 5 minutes walk, the pressure waddle naturally adds itself to the evening waddle. That is when the Prego finally gives up trying to stay fit, and goes to crash back home with her feet up and some ice cream on her tray (her belly). This waddle is really bad, especially when the Prego forgets to cover herself entirely in mosquito spray and those little suckers attack her.