It's the final countdown -- fast approaching single-digit weeks
It's the final countdown -- fast approaching single-digit weeks -- before you get to meet your baby and coo over those tiny fingers and toes. Unfortunately, tiny isn't the word that comes to mind these days.
The homestretch can be, well, a stretch. Itchy bellies, achy backs, swollen ankles, hemorrhoids -- you name the annoyance, and some expectant mom probably feels it.
The real remedy, of course, is childbirth. But since that option is still a bit premature, we asked an obstetrician, a midwife, and a family practitioner to share their best trade secrets for surviving the common aches and pains of the third trimester.
Our experts: Owen Montgomery, MD, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia; Stephanie Lowell, a certified nurse midwife in Phoenix, Ariz.; and. Bruce Bagley, MD, a family-practice physician in Latham, N.Y., and former president of the American Academy of Family Physicians.
Make sure to talk to your own provider about your discomforts, especially before trying any over-the-counter treatments. "These remedies are reasonable things that experienced practitioners have used for a long time, but your doctor or midwife may have a different feeling about it," says Montgomery.
