Photo by Emmy_Dollface

My first trimester I was amazed at my growing belly. It's funny...looking back at it  now it was so small! I had terrible morning sickness all day, but was still was thrilled to be carrying twins.

Second trimester had some ups and downs, but there was a point where I felt so great, so healthy, and pretty, sporting a cute bump.

Now I'm in my third trimester and hello heartburn, edema, carpal tunnel, and tons of crankiness. I'm almost ready to scream, Get these babies out of me!!

A lot of people don't talk about this, but some women have a bowel movement during labor.

I'm very open with my husband and I'm not the most modest person around, so it's not that I care about some poo coming out as I'm laboring, but what about the babies? I don't want them born into a stinky mess. What if it happens just before my twins make their arrival?

Am I totally overthinking this?

At 31 weeks, I'm starting to think about where I will be when it's time for my twins to be born. If I'm at work, I'm actually a short walk away from the hospital. If I'm at home, it's a drive over the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan and uptown, which could take anywhere from 10 to over 30 minutes depending on traffic.

Last week, one NYC woman had her baby in a taxi.

Photo by roxysmommy

I was talking to one of my friends the other day after I wrote the post on being loud during sex. She has two kids and mentioned how the sounds a woman makes during labor and delivery can sound orgasmic.

I immediately thought of the film The Business of Being Born -- lots of moaning and groaning during those births. Dare I say the women even looked so peaceful right when the baby was born? Very similar to orgasm.

OK pregnant mamas...let me just say I do not want to inflict fear in anyone, I'm pregnant too, with my first babies. Yeah twins. So fear...well I have a new fear every day. But I'm the kind of person who likes to talk about fear -- it helps me not fear so much.

Here's a fear I never thought of before though...until now.

I read about one CafeMom's birth story and her baby's face was cut during her c-section.

Vaginal birth after c-section (VBAC) is getting more and more common. My doula had one (part of her inspiration to become a doula) and my sister hopes to give birth vaginally after she had to have an emergency cesarean with her first child. But I just read a story about a mom who says her hospital has banned VBACs.

Joy Szabo lives in Page, Arizona, and her local hospital -- Page Hospital -- will not perform VBACs because of the higher risk of complications.

My doula alerted me of this video of an elephant birth. Warning: It's dramatic, graphic, and intensely amazing.

Photo by honeybee69

I'm a little late on this one, regretfully, but this week is National Midwifery Week -- October 4th through the 10th.

So what exactly is a midwife?

For some reason I was way too excited to go on the hospital tour. My hubs was too. But it was weird...when we got there and waited for it to start in a room full of others who were about to embark on the tour as well, everyone seemed cranky.

The guide was a sweetheart of a woman who also is one of the hospital's lactation consultants. One of the dads asked her what lactation meant.

But I was the annoying person who asked the most questions.

And I was also the only one who cried when we saw the babies in the nursery. They were so cute!

Photo by Lelandsmommy

You're nearing the end of your pregnancy journey. Congratulations! Though this time is magical, it can also be uncomfortable. It's hard to sit at certain angles and your baby has probably dropped so it feels like you've got a bowling ball wedged up there. But don't worry, you're almost there!

Here are some end-of-pregnancy links I love: