Your baby
When you are busy, your child is usually sleeping soundly, rocked by your movements. But just as you want to rest, the roles are reversed and your child becomes active. You feel the arms and legs pushing against your abdomen, and sometimes you get a sharp kick in the ribs. You can sometimes even see all that activity: your bump bulges out or moves busily from side to side.
If your child is lying head down, you can feel it pressing against your pelvic floor muscles. That can sometimes give you ligament pain, particularly after a busy day. Resting in good time and sitting or lying down stops the pain getting worse.
Talking about pain relief
Perhaps your midwife has already asked, or you have raised it yourself: pain relief during the birth. Do you want an entirely natural birth, or would you like something for the pain if it all becomes too much? What kinds of pain relief are there? If you want medical pain relief, you will have to give birth in hospital.
Where do you want to give birth?
One of the things that can occupy you until the end of your pregnancy is where you want to give birth. In the Netherlands you are free to choose, unless there is a medical reason or other special circumstances.
Even if you would like a home birth, things may turn out such that you give birth in hospital after all. Many hospitals hold information sessions on the maternity ward, which gives you an impression of what goes on there and what a delivery room looks like.
Third trimester
