As your pregnancy advances into its third trimester, your skin and ligaments continue to stretch to accommodate for your growing baby. At this point, fatigue sets in more quickly, making sleep harder than before.

At this point, most women begin experiencing the realities of parenthood for real. You will also likely begin attending regular antenatal appointments – typically every four weeks until 36 weeks, then every two weeks thereafter.

Traveler’s diarrhea

Traveler’s diarrhea risks increase exponentially when visiting countries with poor sanitation and water handling systems. Its cause can range from bacteria, parasites or viruses in food or water intake through ingestion to more life-threatening strains like cholera and giardiasis – two potentially life-threatening forms of traveler’s diarrhea that should be taken seriously when travelling abroad.

Traveler’s diarrhea can be avoided through proper food hygiene and diligent handwashing, drinking bottled water and avoiding potentially contaminated fruits and vegetables as well as using only boiled water to brush teeth or make ice. Oral rehydration fluids should also be given to children and adults suffering from traveler’s diarrhea to restore lost salts, minerals, and fluids.

Pregnant travelers should pack a medical kit that includes antinausea medications (antacids), acetaminophen, hemorrhoid cream and medicines to treat yeast vaginitis. Antibiotics considered safe during pregnancy such as Azithromycin are an effective treatment for traveler’s diarrhea; Misoprostol may cause it as a side effect and if one experiences it while traveling they should be monitored closely for signs of shock and premature labor.

Group B Strep

Pregnancy makes you susceptible to carrying bacteria called Group B Streptococcus (GBS). While healthy adults typically tolerate GBS without experiencing symptoms or becoming unwell, in newborns it can cause serious infections including meningitis and sepsis that require treatment immediately after birth.

GBS infections usually appear shortly after birth and must be treated immediately in hospital using antibiotics, particularly in premature babies and those born to mothers with preexisting health issues or older people.

Screening pregnant women and administering preventive antibiotics have greatly decreased early-onset neonatal infections caused by GBS; however, GBS remains one of the primary causes of morbidity and mortality in neonates. This webinar explores interprofessional team strategies that may aid evaluation and management of GBS infection in neonates.

Pelvic floor dysfunction

Pregnancy and childbirth can be transformative experiences for women’s bodies, yet can leave lasting damage on the pelvic floor muscles – those muscles responsible for supporting bladder, urethra, prostate (for males) or uterus/vagina (in females), anus and rectum as well as their surrounding ligaments and structures.

Hormonal changes during gestation cause these muscles to stretch and loosen as the abdomen expands, leading to urinary symptoms like involuntary urine leakage or bladder pain as well as increasing one’s risk for pelvic organ prolapse and fecal incontinence.

Other factors can also contribute to weakening these muscles, including smoking and chronic constipation, back surgery or spinal stenosis, or muscle tissue from other sources thinning out. Unfortunately, symptoms can often overlap; for instance incontinence or leakage during sex can often mimic prostatitis so it’s essential that women consult with their healthcare provider and get a referral for physical therapy services if this applies to them.

Weight gain

Your baby is growing, and so too are you! As it stretches your body to accommodate it, this may result in body aches, constipation and heartburn becoming increasingly likely. Be sure to eat small frequent meals to reduce gassiness on plane travel and drink plenty of water; additionally, avoid foods that expand during flight like broccoli and carbonated soda; these may lead to uncomfortable symptoms during air travel. For low-risk pregnancies air travel should usually be fine up until week 36 of your third trimester; full term deliveries typically occur between weeks 37-42

Fatigue

Fatigue is one of the most frequently occurring pregnancy symptoms. It results from metabolic changes occurring within a pregnant woman’s body that are necessary for creating a healthy baby; her fetus needs essential nutrients from her body which means less energy for other activities and hobbies. Fatigue may decrease or dissipate during the second trimester but often reappears during third.

Fatigue in the third trimester may be caused by increased body weight and difficulty sleeping comfortably, making breathing difficult and prompting frequent urination. At this stage of gestation, baby is pushing on abdominal wall which may exacerbate heartburn due to relaxing hormones affecting stomach valves, allowing stomach acid to travel into lungs more readily than before – sleeping on left side may help alleviate this symptom; for optimal restorative results choose a comfortable position and place a pillow between your legs for extra support.