What To Expect - Second Trimester | My Experience
This trimester has been much better than the first for me and has really allowed me to bloom and enjoy my pregnancy. Of course everyones experiences are totally different, however here is an insight to might and what you may expect.
It was around 16 weeks that I really started to notice I started to bloom. My sickness had completely stopped, I was back to eating and drinking whatever I liked and my sense of smell had gone back to normal. My skin really started to flourish and clear up and I started to feel so much better. A lot of people will describe this as an energy boost in the second trimester, however I still felt just as tired, however I think as I was back to feeling myself and able to go about my normal daily tasks, it felt like a boost in energy. However, as I started to get bigger and heavier, I started to get more out of breath and tire a lot quicker than I normally would, this didn't start becoming a problem for me until about 25 weeks, closer to the beginning of the third trimester.
The biggest physical changes for me was my belly really started to grow and my 'round' belly started to really show. I would say it was around 18 weeks that my normal clothes became impossible to wear anymore and I had to start wearing baggy/maternity clothes all the time. Fortunately, I am currently having a 'belly only pregnancy', I have a really slim build and have always struggled to gain weight anyway. At the end of the second trimester I have gained a total of 1 and a half stone on top of my pre-pregnancy weight. The only noticeable weight change, other than my belly has been in my boobs, where I have gone up two cup sizes so far. This may not be much compared to other pregnancies, but with having such a slim frame, I have really noticed the difference! One thing I wasn't expecting and hadn't really been told about was leaky boobs! This doesn't normally happen until after 30 weeks, where you start producing colostrum (clear/yellow liquid), which is what your baby will have in the first 2-3 days after being born. For me this started to happen at around 19 weeks, which is perfectly normal and healthy and shows signs of a great milk supply, however it is not pleasant at all! When it first started to happen, I thought I kept dribbling or spilling my drink down myself. It would literally be a single drop or two. It wasn't until the patches became more like 5 drops and were directly covering my nipples that I realised the stains were coming from my boobs. Over the course of a week the patches really started to get big and show and my boobs were leaking everyday, I had to use thin sanitary towels in my top until I brought nursing pads, however when wearing a bra you couldn't notice any leaking. Over the weeks my boobs have leaked more and more. They leak around 3-4 times a day, I have to change my nursing pads twice a day and sometimes I will completely leak out through my pad, bra and top, to the point where it will look like I have spilt a mouthful of water down myself! I'm not sure how common this is, for it to be happening this much at this stage in pregnancy, however my midwife assured me it is a really healthy sign and that I'm going to have a great supply of milk straight away for my baby. Bonus!
My three most favourite things about this trimester was feeling the baby's movements, from small flutters in my belly, to now every movement she makes and strong kicks and even hiccups! This was something I though I was going to hate, as seeing videos of other women's bellies moving around gave me chills and reminded me of an alien. But experiencing this for myself and feeling the movements in my belly and with my hands, really made me connect to my baby and felt so magical. It was also a great time for my partner and gave him great bonding opportunities. It is great to feel her respond to our movement and voices now and feel her body parts touch your hand. Almost gives you the sense of holding them. Alongside feeling the baby, seeing the baby on scans was my second biggest highlight. It was crazy to see how much she had grown at our 20 week scan compared to our 12 week one. We even decided to pay for private 4D scans, which I highly recommend to anyone who really wants to connect and bond with their baby. It was so insane to actual see her face and body and see a 'real' baby on the screen. To see her tiny fingers and toes and facial features was an experience I will forever cherish and I love looking at the pictures. I chose to have mine with the BabyBond Clinic, which is where I also had my gender scan (my third highlight). Finding out our babies gender was a must for us, we couldn't wait to know if we would be having a boy or girl and paid for an early scan at 16 weeks. We had great fun revealing this to our parents and it was such an exciting moment!
I feel like I have written so much already so here is just a quick list of other things I experienced/done in the second trimester:
* 20 week appointment for check up and growth scan (usual would find out gender at this point)
* Flu and Whooping Cough Jabs
* Started to get harder to sleep and more uncomfortable the bigger I got and more baby moved
* Hormones started to make me more emotional at silly things
* Braxton Hicks Contractions, Cramping and Round Ligament Pain
* Hair and Nails became stronger
* Started all my baby shopping (and finished it too!)
* Planning my baby shower
* Home organisation for baby's arrival, Tidying and Cleaning (nesting)
* Water retention & Swelling
* Increase in appetite and thirst
It was around 16 weeks that I really started to notice I started to bloom. My sickness had completely stopped, I was back to eating and drinking whatever I liked and my sense of smell had gone back to normal. My skin really started to flourish and clear up and I started to feel so much better. A lot of people will describe this as an energy boost in the second trimester, however I still felt just as tired, however I think as I was back to feeling myself and able to go about my normal daily tasks, it felt like a boost in energy. However, as I started to get bigger and heavier, I started to get more out of breath and tire a lot quicker than I normally would, this didn't start becoming a problem for me until about 25 weeks, closer to the beginning of the third trimester.
The biggest physical changes for me was my belly really started to grow and my 'round' belly started to really show. I would say it was around 18 weeks that my normal clothes became impossible to wear anymore and I had to start wearing baggy/maternity clothes all the time. Fortunately, I am currently having a 'belly only pregnancy', I have a really slim build and have always struggled to gain weight anyway. At the end of the second trimester I have gained a total of 1 and a half stone on top of my pre-pregnancy weight. The only noticeable weight change, other than my belly has been in my boobs, where I have gone up two cup sizes so far. This may not be much compared to other pregnancies, but with having such a slim frame, I have really noticed the difference! One thing I wasn't expecting and hadn't really been told about was leaky boobs! This doesn't normally happen until after 30 weeks, where you start producing colostrum (clear/yellow liquid), which is what your baby will have in the first 2-3 days after being born. For me this started to happen at around 19 weeks, which is perfectly normal and healthy and shows signs of a great milk supply, however it is not pleasant at all! When it first started to happen, I thought I kept dribbling or spilling my drink down myself. It would literally be a single drop or two. It wasn't until the patches became more like 5 drops and were directly covering my nipples that I realised the stains were coming from my boobs. Over the course of a week the patches really started to get big and show and my boobs were leaking everyday, I had to use thin sanitary towels in my top until I brought nursing pads, however when wearing a bra you couldn't notice any leaking. Over the weeks my boobs have leaked more and more. They leak around 3-4 times a day, I have to change my nursing pads twice a day and sometimes I will completely leak out through my pad, bra and top, to the point where it will look like I have spilt a mouthful of water down myself! I'm not sure how common this is, for it to be happening this much at this stage in pregnancy, however my midwife assured me it is a really healthy sign and that I'm going to have a great supply of milk straight away for my baby. Bonus!
My three most favourite things about this trimester was feeling the baby's movements, from small flutters in my belly, to now every movement she makes and strong kicks and even hiccups! This was something I though I was going to hate, as seeing videos of other women's bellies moving around gave me chills and reminded me of an alien. But experiencing this for myself and feeling the movements in my belly and with my hands, really made me connect to my baby and felt so magical. It was also a great time for my partner and gave him great bonding opportunities. It is great to feel her respond to our movement and voices now and feel her body parts touch your hand. Almost gives you the sense of holding them. Alongside feeling the baby, seeing the baby on scans was my second biggest highlight. It was crazy to see how much she had grown at our 20 week scan compared to our 12 week one. We even decided to pay for private 4D scans, which I highly recommend to anyone who really wants to connect and bond with their baby. It was so insane to actual see her face and body and see a 'real' baby on the screen. To see her tiny fingers and toes and facial features was an experience I will forever cherish and I love looking at the pictures. I chose to have mine with the BabyBond Clinic, which is where I also had my gender scan (my third highlight). Finding out our babies gender was a must for us, we couldn't wait to know if we would be having a boy or girl and paid for an early scan at 16 weeks. We had great fun revealing this to our parents and it was such an exciting moment!
I feel like I have written so much already so here is just a quick list of other things I experienced/done in the second trimester:
* 20 week appointment for check up and growth scan (usual would find out gender at this point)
* Flu and Whooping Cough Jabs
* Started to get harder to sleep and more uncomfortable the bigger I got and more baby moved
* Hormones started to make me more emotional at silly things
* Braxton Hicks Contractions, Cramping and Round Ligament Pain
* Hair and Nails became stronger
* Started all my baby shopping (and finished it too!)
* Planning my baby shower
* Home organisation for baby's arrival, Tidying and Cleaning (nesting)
* Water retention & Swelling
* Increase in appetite and thirst
