salty bake club

Third Trimester, Big Belly, Full Heart

• sara grace • Season 1 • Episode 28

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Here is where you get in touch. Work with me, share your experience or requests > this is how to reach me. Love, - Sara

Start with a cup of tea and a deep breath—this third-trimester check-in is equal parts cozy, candid, and quietly powerful. I’m celebrating maternity leave and sharing what’s shifting in real time: the way yin yoga’s surrender mirrors pregnancy, how boundaries protect limited energy, and why joy deserves space even when the calendar is full.

We explore the paradox of late pregnancy: confidence rising while skin gets thinner. I talk openly about people-pleasing, learning to say no, and finding a steadier rhythm under hormonal weather. There’s delight, too—like dreaming up baby costumes for café adventures, and the simple anticipation of finally seeing his little face. Along the way, I get practical about style, ditching most maternity wear for low-waist jeans sized up, soft knits, and pieces that still feel like me. We also dive into cravings and hormone health, including my shift from long-term vegetarian/vegan eating to reintroducing animal products with intention and good sourcing.

At the center is support. I share what it looks like to let help in without guilt: morning assists, dinner made with care, and a partner steady enough to hold space for the messy and the magical. Interdependence isn’t a step back; it’s a standard I hope we all claim—through strong partnerships or a real village. If you’re craving an honest, warm conversation about trusting the process, styling the bump, and raising the bar for how we care for mothers, you’ll feel at home here.

If this resonated, tap follow, share with a friend, and leave a quick review. And tell me: what’s the funniest baby costume I should try first?

SPEAKER_01:

Good frickin' Thursday Bay Club. Welcome back. This is another episode of The Salty Bay Club. I'm your host, Sarah Grace, and we have something to celebrate. This week I am officially on maternity leave. And even though it does feel a little bit like playing pretend when you're self-employed and going on something like maternity leave, but your girl is good at playing pretend and very, very good at romanticizing life. So we are gonna celebrate that. And with that, we're gonna have another pregnancy episode. I'm gonna update you on everything important, third trimester related, and answer some of your questions. Lean back, have a sip of tea, and let's get into it. Now for this week's episode, I am bringing on the Christmas cookies, and my favorite Christmas cookies are these vanilla kipfel. On the bad side is that I am not agreeing on how most of the people are doing it. And while I'm complaining about that, there's a lack of really good vanilla kipfel, I also feel like I have no business making them myself yet. I do know my place in the baking world, and it is my firm belief that Christmas cookie is a whole new level that belongs to the grannies and the Martha Stewarts. And even though I love baking, I'm not a Martha Stewart. All that to be said, I'm bringing you vanilla cookies while I am dressed completely in butter yellow with my favorite mug. And I'm hoping this will bring some sunshine into you in today's. Now the last couple of weeks have been quite a wild ride. Very much because I tried to cram as many to-dos as I could still do into a very, very tiny pocket of time so that I could actually go on my little pretend maternity leave. I made up a wild schedule for myself and I was crazy enough to execute it, which is rather cool, but I'm a little exhausted. I also taught the last yoga teacher training for this year. That was the past weekend, and it felt so good to be in my purpose, to stand in my power, to be there and connect with so many women doing yin yoga. It was just a magical space beyond means. I couldn't have been any more perfect with the accumulation of specific characters and people and energies in the room, and then also doing yin yoga as a last teacher training in December. And I thought it was quite magnificent how the magic of yin yoga. So, for all you people who have no idea what I'm talking about, this is a rather soft but also very confronting yoga where we work on the inner layers of the body more than the outer layers. Facial release techniques, trauma work, we work with emotions and we try to trigger those things that sit deeply inside of us in our yin layers. I found such a cool parallel of this style of yoga and pregnancy. Because in the end, it all, and I really mean all comes down to trusting into the unknown. There is so much going on and so little influence that you have. And just like in yin yoga, we do these subtle poses, we do some tweaks and twerks, and yes, there is some technique to it, but the biggest task is surrendering to it, surrendering to the posture. And oh my god, if that doesn't describe pregnancy. Especially now in the third trimester, there are so many things that I cannot change anymore. There's so many things that I have to get accustomed to that happen to and in and for my body, where I simply have to surrender. That partially is that my body and my mind has a new capacity to deal with stress, to deal with boundaries, to deal with outer influences. Whether that is grocery shopping or doing actual physical tasks, or that is the social norms, pressure, and stress from the outside, like trying to cater to other people's needs or expectations. I just had a really big moment a couple of days ago where I was completely worn off by the load of stress that I put on myself because I noticed that some people in my environment were getting upset, is not the right word, but disappointed with me because I am not able to give them enough space and time and overall attention. As I said in the last weeks, I crammed so many tasks into my days, and that was a conscious decision, right? I decided to work. I'm not saying I don't have agency in that, but I also all of a sudden felt very, very small and flipped back into my people-pleasing tendencies and was completely in a little hormonal meltdown where I felt the pressure that I put on myself of not catering to those people's expectations. And I also didn't communicate well enough. Like I didn't set boundaries. I didn't say, No, I'm not gonna meet you, no, I'm not gonna spend time with you in the next couple of weeks, no, I'm not gonna give into the weird and subtle little impulses that you text me in between the lines. But yeah, the way I'm dealing with these things has changed quite a bit. What's another new and funny situation that I'm straddling is that on the one hand, I have less fucks to give. I feel like there's a confidence that grows in a woman's body when there is a baby in my belly. I feel so feminine and I feel so connected to that deep and grounded, nurturing, wild power. But I just have less fucks to give. And I'm gonna talk a little bit more about that in relation to another question. But on the other hand, I also feel like I have a very thin skin. Like there's so many things that would usually not get to me that now do. So it's a funny paradox. And once again, I feel like I just have to surrender to it. Now let's bring on your questions. What are you most excited for when you meet him? Oh my god. There was a very similar question last time. To remind you all of my weirdness, told you that I'm really excited about smelling the baby's head, because I just think baby heads smell so good. And in addition to that, I will say I'm really excited to see him. To actually have a picture to this creature that I am carrying in my belly. Because once again, that ties back to the trusting in the unknown, and that pregnancy is such a big learning of being with and in the unknown. It's so freaking weird that I'm so deeply connected. Not even connected, that's the wrong word. I am one with this little being in my belly, and I'm having no idea how it looks. What a lesson of not having this attachment. Just note that our sense of sight is our most active sensory organ. Seriously, your visual system is basically a fire hose, and your awareness is this tiny teacup trying to sip from it. Whether you notice this or not, your eyes are transporting 10 million bits of information per second to your brain. All the while your brain consciously only transfers and processes 40 of them.

unknown:

I mean.

SPEAKER_01:

That being said, I also think that relates a lot to how we live life and how we want to see everything and attach to everything and grasp everything and try to paint a full picture out of everything while we literally cannot. I mean, life is so mystical. Life is such a big process of trusting in the unknown. And yet here we are trying to hustle to see everything. But I don't want to go a detour on that. I just can't wait to see him. His features, his little eyes, will he have hair yet? I think he's gonna have like a lot of hair and that he's rather chubby. I don't know if it's okay for parents to have preferences on their child's features. I don't know. Does that make me a bad mom? No, I don't think so. But also me and my partner, we were really cute babies. Not in the first couple of weeks. I don't know if I've shared that before, but I was really overdue. I mean, my mom's due date was the 17th of March, and I was born on the 11th of April. So I was in there for a very long time, and my face and my entire body was so smushed because I didn't have space anymore that I looked like an old man. I mean, I was not cute at all in those first couple of days. I looked scary. I was Benjamin Button. But as soon as I adjusted to this world, I started being really cute. But enough with the bragging of my own cuteness. Another thing that I'm really looking forward to is putting him in funny little costumes and putting him into public spaces so that his cuteness can light up the world. Now picture this: a baby dressed as a chicken sitting in a cafe, sipping on his little babicino, or a dinosaur running across the town fields. I hope you're actually picturing that. The wobble, the cuteness. No, I am totally 100% putting my baby in cute costumes and putting him in public spaces. I'm gonna be that mom. Oh, let's do a little community thing here. What is the funniest costume that you would put into a baby? Text me. I wanna know. I need all the ideas. I also see him as a little raspberry. Wouldn't that be so adorable? Okay, next question. What changed now that you're in your third trimester? Well, apart from the obvious, which apparently isn't all that obvious in my daily life. Wait, let me do a detour here. I so often am not aware of my belly. Wait, let me show you a profile. In profile, this is my full belly size.

unknown:

Oh god.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh my god, he's kicking. I don't know if you can see that. Okay, let me record this from above. Come on, Baba. Do it again.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh hey, sweetie.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh my god, wait. Okay, people, he's camera shy again. Back to the topic. You would think I'm so aware of my size by now that I have a good feeling for distances and maneuvering through life and space. I'm not. I'm not at all. Maybe you see this little wound here. I baked a cake for the birthday girl in our yin yin yoga teacher training last weekend, and as I pulled out the oven rack, I once again was not aware that there's such a big and round belly. And I pulled the oven rack onto my belly. Ah How does that even happen to me? And there might have been a situation or two where I opened a door and I just slightly hit him with the door. Uh, is that mom guilt? I don't know. So yeah, my belly is getting big. That's a big change. Okay, what else changed? I believe my style did. And I just previously got a really sweet compliment from a really beautiful woman. She complimented my outfits. I was like, yeah, thank you. See, that's a girl's girl. Compliment the pregnant woman, people. You do so much good with that. With that being said, I believe I got bolder in my outfit choices, and I tie that back to the fact that I don't have as many fucks to give as I did when I was younger or just not pregnant. I got a little bolder in my choices. I don't overthink what I'm gonna wear so much, and it was also quite a challenge to style the bum. And I do believe I got really good at styling the bum. I also have this belief that maternity wear is stupid, and it's not cute at all. You guys, there is not really cute maternity wear out there, and if you find something it is so expensive. And I also strongly reject the narrative that I cannot look cute while I am in the cutest physical phase of my life. Like it's not getting any cuter than that. So I should style the bum. It should be easy to look extremely gorgeous as a pregnant woman, but it does not for the current maternity wear marketplace. So I am fighting maternity wear, and I have not bought a single piece of it just yet. Oh, that's not true. I actually have uh black tights, like black tights that have space for the belly. Anyway, you wouldn't think that it's quite easy actually, and maybe the trends right now have my back because there is a lot of low waist things, and that's what you need. I just bought a pair of jeans that is three sizes up from my regular size that was really, really low waist, and it works. I've been wearing those jeans for the past three months successfully, and they look great. Plus, then there's all the knitwear, all the wide pants, all the sweats, obviously. Luckily, we are living in an age where sweatpants can look adorable and gorgeous and cool and even sexy. So, yeah, obviously it's an investment of buying a couple of pants that are some sizes up, but you would also put money on maternity wear, so So you might as well get yourself something cute that you may or may not be able to wear after your pregnancy as well. What else changed? My appetite changed a lot. I am craving meat so much more often than I did before. And just shortly before I started incorporating meat into my diet again, I had that deep longing and a big craving for over a year, and I did not engage in it for the period of a year because I wanted to test if it's just a craving or if it's something hormonal, something that my body really longs for. That being said, I was vegetarian since 2013. And two years of those, I was completely vegan. I loved that time, I loved being vegan, I was extremely healthy, my blood levels were excellent. But, y'all, there's a big truth, and you can go back to my episode that I have with my good friend and hormone expert, Pauline Goosens. He even says that for a regulated hormone cycle, long-term, you do need animal products. And that was also my experience. Like it extremely helped me to regulate my cycle. And now that I'm pregnant, there is this big notion of that I want, like really deeply want some substances like good red meat. Ah, there was this moment in my interview with Pauline where she said she asked a Buddhist monk about the right diet. He said, Well, if you want to be really, really spiritual, basically go vegan or vegetarian. If you want to be really, really healthy, eat what your body needs. And our bodies are so smart. Like they give us such good signals if we are trained to dissect and differentiate cravings and needs. So yeah, I've been craving meat a lot, and the third thing that changed is a goodie. Obviously, there are so many more things than these three, but these three are standing out for me. Fact number three, wait, let me get a cup of tea for that. Oh god, wait. Okay, getting up, that's a struggle. Another thing that changed, still do fire even yasa classes, but rolling out of bed in the morning, or literally just rolling to the side, that's a challenge. But back to my real point.

SPEAKER_00:

I'm so glad that I can tell you I'm extremely comfortable in being extremely codependent at the moment.

SPEAKER_01:

You heard right. And this goes out to all the first orders, all your women out there who think they have to hustle to prove something, to make it for themselves, to be that boss babe, to be that hardcore feminist, to prove to the world that you don't need anybody. Yeah, I get it. I was you. To some degree, I probably still am you. But I'm in such a safe and secure partnership that I don't have to prove shit to anybody. Not even to myself anymore. And pregnancy was a big learning on that because there's literally things that are so hard doing by myself, like rolling out of bed in the morning. Seriously, y'all. Picture that my partner every morning.

SPEAKER_00:

He like shoves me over so that I lay on my other side so I can maneuver my legs out of the bed, and I'm kind of get up like a beetle who just hit the jackpot. And you know what? I was brought up by a single mom, at least for most of my life, and I know that I could also do it on my own, but I don't have to.

SPEAKER_01:

And that's how it should be. That should be the standard, that should be the normal that we're all striving for. And if your backbone, if your support in that wild time of pregnancy is not a partner, then I pray to God that you have a village because it makes it so much easier. And why I also specifically said codependency, I got so comfortable in this space that I feel like I do depend on him now. There is so many things that he just so naturally does for me, and that goes from the tiny everyday support, like rolling me out of bed or cooking for me every night, to the big and major moments, like talking me through my fears and being an actual partner who sees me, who isn't thrown off by the changes, even though he's doing that for the first time as well. And let me tell you, my mood changes, my reactions, that has also changed in the third trimesters, have been more hormonally influenced, and I'm not that independent, badass girly that I was before. I'm sometimes a freaking mess. And sometimes I feel like I'm a teenager who's not able to deal with emotions quite very well when he says something in a weird tone. But he's actually steady for the two of us in this time that is hormonally quite a whirlwind and brings so many changes to my body, my mind, and my mind. Life. And once again, I'm saying all that because I think it's so important that this becomes our standard. This sort of man who's there for you, who's emotionally grounded and open and intelligent, who's devoted and showing up. That should be the norm. But it isn't just yet. So we have to share these men's stories. We have to keep talking about how it could be. And that's why I'm sharing this. It would be extremely interesting to hear that from his side. Do you think we should bring on my man? Is it time yet? Do you want to get to know him? Maybe we should bring him on the pod. Comment yes and a fire emoji. Ooh, that would be fun. Okay, but big club, that was it with my third trimester pregnancy update. I'm glad to have you all here. I'm your host, Sarah Grace. If you want to do this podcast any good, subscribe, comment, share it with the people you love. And as always, thank you. I love you.