Second trimester diary

I can’t quite believe I’ve now hit the third trimester of pregnancy.  Instead of counting the weeks up, Adam and I counting the weeks down until we meet out little person.

The second trimester is often described as the ‘golden period’ of pregnancy – where that first trimester sickness has abated, but the aches and pains of the third trimester haven’t quite taken hold.

For me personally, it was very much a trimester of two halves…

Morning sickness

For me, morning sickness did not fade away around week 12, as so many of the books and websites indicate.  In fact, as I entered my second trimester, my morning sickness -and yes, it typically hit hardest first thing of a morning – ramped up.  In my first trimester I found had constant almost all-day nausea, but then as I got closer to my second trimester I actually started vomiting, sometimes a few times before I’d even managed to get to work.  On days where I didn’t vomit, I often had quite violent retching attacks.  As a person who has never been a ‘vomiter’, even as a child, this was quite distressing.  I ended up on medication for my morning sickness up until about week 17 and when I made it through that first week without being ill, it felt like I’d really turned a corner.  I take my hat off to those with hyperemesis gravidarum and end up battling being ill throughout their entire pregnancy – you truly are superwomen!

The return of energy of appetite

Once my morning sickness faded I found my energy and hunger levels began to rise steadily.  I found I was having to nap throughout the day a lot less than I had been and where breakfast had been a struggle just weeks before, now it was my favourite meal of the day and I often had ‘early breakfast’ at home before work and then ‘second breakfast’ at about 9:30-10:30am at work.  Adam and I started eating more of the dishes we ate ‘pre baby’ and I found myself able to help with meal preparation again.   The smells that had previously made me feel queasy in the kitchen, I was able to cope with once again, and I know both Adam and my work colleagues were enthused to see me enjoying my food so much again too. I also relished that extra bout of stamina and feeling like I was able to help out a bit more around the house.  It was nice to know if Adam and I were catching up with friends of an evening, that I wouldn’t be yawning loudly at 7pm and looking for a way to get home to bed.  I must admit though, as the last week of my second trimester rolled around, I did notice that I was a lot more exhausted in the evenings.  Long days on my feet too, also left me achey and tired.

The ever-growing bump

I think my favourite part of the second trimester has been watching my bump grow and grow and grow! At 12 weeks, only Adam and my yoga instructor were able to spot the subtle changes that were happening around my mid-section and now I don’t think I could hide my pregnancy from anyone! I’ve been amazed at the way the body has been changing and adapting to the little life inside me. Those first flutters of movement felt surreal and now those regular kicks and punches are reassuring and welcome.  Baby seems to have a bit of wriggle around as I have my morning cup of tea, likes to give me sporadic bouts of movement throughout the day, and becomes quite active of an evening after dinner. The last fortnight or so, I’ve found I’ve been having to get up in the early hours of the morning to use the bathroom and once I’ve emptied my bladder baby enjoys the extra space and has a lovely roll around – often making it a little difficult for me get back to sleep!

Other observations

I’ve managed to avoid any stretch marks so far, but whether that’ll continue I’m not so sure. Adam’s convinced I can’t get any bigger,  but I know there’s still quite a lot of growing that needs to occur so those stretch marks might start to appear over the next few weeks.

The constipation and gas I experienced in the first trimester hasn’t really disappeared, much to my dismay.  Some days are better than others but I’ve got a feeling this is going to be something I’ll be affected by for the entire pregnancy.

On the upside, my fingernails seem to never stop growing, I’m sure my hair is a little thicker (I’m already bracing myself for the postpartum hair loss) and my skin is exceptionally clear.  I’m also generally ‘running warm’ and despite the numerous sub-zero starts this winter I haven’t found it difficult to cope with the weather at all.

So, here’s to trimester three!

Have a wonderful week. x