The Fourth Trimester!
Not very long ago, and just when I thought pregnancy is about three trimesters, did I discover another one ‘The Fourth Trimester’. Not a lot of people talk about it, coz not a lot of people identify with it or rather do not get to sit, think or discuss this trimester; coz once the baby is out, the entire focus swiftly shifts from the mother to the baby.
The Fourth Trimester begins at the finish line of pregnancy which is not always planned and comes as a surprise to many of us. So, unlike the previous three trimesters, you rather slip into the fourth one without prepping your mind and knowing any exact dates of this final trimester which could practically last a semester or more.
The so-called “4th trimester” — that hazy period where you’re recovering from pregnancy and delivery while simultaneously learning how to be a mom as your baby adjusts to life outside the womb. It’s a time of change for the new mothers as much as for their babies. And as your body re-adjusts to no longer being pregnant, you’re learning and navigating the major life changes that come along with it.
As they say — “After all, it took you nine months to grow your baby. You can expect it to take at least that long for your body to go back to normal.”
While the baby grows physically outside the womb now, the mom of course other than expanding physically, also grows multiple folds as a mother and as a human being. Despite all the reading and gyaan on pregnancy, ‘What to expect When you’re expecting’ does not quite mention about what to expect in this trimester.
The mom’s WhatsApp group comes in very handy and helpful at this hour as we find women in the same boat and women who are up at any given hour literally.
While the three trimesters are most talked about in the pregnancy journey, I figured from my own experience and journey that this one needs the spotlight too. It is this one which is demanding, exhausting but profoundly satisfying and fulfilling all along the way. It is in this one that the baby has come out of your body but not from your mind, heart and soul. And the only perfume you want to wear in this trimester is ‘the baby smell’.
The baby blues aren’t much fun, they’re often quite temporary, and these foggy, whirlwind days won’t last forever. It’s important to know that its normal to not feel normal during this trimester. But lucky are those who get the same amount of pampering, love, care and understanding in their fourth trimester as they do during the first three trimesters of their pregnancy journey.
This experience will carry you through your journey as a mother.
Though your few-month-old baby is vastly different than her new-born self, and that she’s got a whole lot of growing and developing still to come, you have also emerged as a new person altogether, and there’s a whole lot of growing still to come!
And it’s true that mums carry their babies a lot longer than 9 months :)
With lots of love — Just another new mum!
March 27, 2024
