When it comes to sharing my pregnancy journey, my goal has always been to be as real and as honest as I can be. This means including all of my favorite parts as well as the times that have been the most difficult. Check out my first trimester recap post here!
A lot has happened since I last shared a full post on my blog – we bought our first house, which has added a whole new level of stress to our lives. So my experience with the second trimester may be a bit skewed since I have been doing so much work to the house the past two months.
While I want to share the tough parts of pregnancy, I always, always, always want to emphasize how grateful I am to be in the position that I am in. I have support, job and financial stability, access to healthcare, and, as far as I know, a healthy pregnancy. I have cried everyday because I know that I am so, so lucky to be where I am today and very much look forward to meeting my daughter in a few short months!
The hardest parts
The second trimester has been a lot more difficult compared to the first trimester. I really didn’t have any pregnancy symptoms until the middle/end of the first trimester, so I think the second trimester has felt so long because I’ve still felt sick and exhausted the entire time.
Fatigue
This has been the most difficult part of my entire pregnancy. Around week 16, I started experiencing increased exhaustion. I was sleeping 12 plus hours per night multiple nights in a row, having so much difficulty getting out of bed and being so tired the entire time I was awake. I was due for lab work and I had a feeling my iron levels or H&H could have dropped. It turned out I was right and my H&H went from 13.6 and 41.1 to 11.6 and 33 in 11 weeks. Those numbers are really not unstable but I definitely felt it! I talked to my doctor to make sure it was okay to start supplementing with iron, which he agreed would be a good idea.
It did take several weeks for me to feel significantly better once I started the iron, but I was glad I was able to fix it.
Emotions
I have been SO emotional the second trimester. I don’t think I even cried once during the first trimester and now I cry everyday, sometimes multiple times per day. I’ve cried when I’m tired, when I’m upset, when I’m happy, and even when I don’t even know how I am feeling lol.
Nausea and vomiting
I am still throwing up at least 1-2x per week. I definitely think working night shift has contributed, but I still feel better on night shift than I did on day shift. I don’t usually get enough sleep with my work schedule and I don’t have a consistent sleep schedule either. I still have motion or car sickness occasionally. But I still haven’t taken any medications or anything because by the time I feel sick, I have already thrown up which always gives me relief. I’m just glad I don’t have nausea all day or hyperemesis and that I still have a good appetite and am gaining weight.
being uncomfortable
Moving around has become more difficult as you can imagine, lol. I cannot move like I used to – I can’t bend down as well and it’s just hard to get into a comfortable position sometimes. I feel like I need to sit down wherever I go! I also had the brilliant idea to paint our bedroom in the house as well as the kitchen cabinets, which ended up being a much larger project than I expected. I really wanted to have the bedroom painted before we put the new bed inside and have the kitchen cabinets done before moving all of our kitchen products in. I thought it would be an even bigger project later on if we waited until we fully moved or I was later on in my pregnancy. But both rooms ended up needing 3 coats of paint, taking way longer than I planned for, and so much more energy than I really had.
Sleeping has become much more difficult. When Ryan and I were still living at the apartment in our queen size mattress, I started getting super uncomfortable in the bed around week 23. I had been sleeping on a really firm mattress for years and it always so comfortable to me until I became really pregnant. Ryan had been wanting to upgrade to a king size mattress for years but I was never ready to give in until a few weeks ago. When we bought our house we decided it was the perfect time to get a king bed since we would finally have the space and I was desperate for a more comfortable place to sleep.
the sleep deprivation
Okay I KNOW this is going to get significantly worse when Baby is born but sleep has definitely become more difficult. I am lucky if I sleep more than 4 hours in between shifts, but I have just had a hard time going back to sleep once I have gotten up to pee.
My favorite parts
There is so much uncertainty during the first trimester – the rate of miscarriage is much higher, you may not know the gender yet, you’re probably not showing much, and for the fist couple weeks you probably don’t even know that you’re pregnant yet. The second trimester has made this pregnancy feel so much more real and tangible. It truly is the most magical thing I have experienced and although I have felt worse physically, I have also had my happiest pregnancy moments during the second trimester and I feel like I reached so many more pregnancy milestones!
Finding out the gender
One of my favorite parts of the second trimester was when I found out the gender. I would have been excited either way, but when I found out that I was having a daughter it all felt so much more real and really hit me. I think that’s when I started getting really emotional all the time! Telling Ryan was also a sweet experience as well, since I found out first! I feel like we are able to connect with her much better because of this.
being happier than I expected
Although my mood definitely fluctuates and I get stressed, most of the times I have cried have been for good reasons like finding out the gender and just thinking about the fact that I am going to be a mom. I truly have never been happier and I get more and more excited every day!
My baby bump
I LOVE having a bump. I already know I am going to miss it after I give birth, and I know my body will never look the same after this pregnancy so I am trying to appreciate it while I can! I love having her inside me and knowing it’s just the two of us for 9ish months.
deciding on her name
Ryan and I had a running list of girl names we both loved even before we found out the gender. Once we found out we were having a girl, we narrowed it down and then chose a middle name that flowed well. It feels so special to have a name that we both have been calling her already. We plan on waiting until she is born to share so that we have something special to share between just the two of us. It almost feels like when I was pregnant early on before we told anyone else – our little special secret!
listening to her heart beat more frequently
I did get to hear her heartbeat once during the first trimester at my first OB appointment. However that appointment wasn’t until after 11 weeks which was near the end of the first trimester. Since then I have been going to my OB once a month and he always listens for her heart rate then. I have also listened with the doppler a few times at work. It’s the best sound!
The Anatomy Scan
I had been looking forward to the anatomy scan ever since I got pregnant. However I was also slightly anxious because I knew I would find out more information and I didn’t want to hear any bad news. Luckily everything looked great! Just knowing that she is growing perfectly, as far as we know – has brought me so much relief. And I loved seeing her little body and hands move on the ultrasound! She was moving so much, the scan ended up taking close to 90 minutes but honestly I did not mind because it meant I got to spend more time watching her.
Feeling her move
When I was around 18-19 weeks, a lot of people started asking me if I had felt her move yet. I hadn’t at 18 weeks but from my research, I had read it was normal to not feel fetal movement for up to even 23 or 24 weeks for first pregnancies. The week I turned 19 weeks, for two nights I felt a very slight popping feeling in my lower abdomen – the best way I can describe it is that it felt like the pop rocks candy. I was not positive it was her, but I also wasn’t sure what else it could be. After having that feeling for two nights, I felt a stronger sensation and I knew it was her moving. It felt exactly how I would expect a baby moving around inside me to feel like. I don’t know how else to explain it! It was definitely a different feeling than the popping, this felt more like kicks and her moving in general. Initially I would feel her move occasionally when I was sitting down but felt her the most when I was laying down in bed with my hand on my belly. By the end of the second trimester I would feel her when I was standing up and would feel her kick all across my stomach. It is the best feeling!
What has helped me
our friends and family
I don’t even know how I would have gotten so much of the house stuff done without the help of so many of our friends and family members! Moving into our first house has been a ton of work, and being pregnant has made it more difficult. But having so many people help us has made a huge difference!
asking for help
As I have gotten older I have definitely gotten better about asking for help! I even asked strangers to hold doors open for me when I was moving a cartful of items our of our apartment building (the doors were super heavy) – I knew it probably would not be a burden on them but it would help me out tremendously. It truly is the little things that make the biggest difference. I have also asked my friends for help with the house and I was surprised at how willing and happy so many were to come help me at the house multiple times! I promise people want to help, but don’t always know how they can help or that you even need help. I don’t think there is any shame in asking for help and I would definitely recommend doing this.
a comfortable sleeping situation
For me this was a new bed and mattress. I can’t even explain how much of a difference a comfortable mattress has made during my pregnancy!
Talking to other moms or moms to be
I am not in the same stage of life as most of my friends are – I only have a few friends that have children or are pregnant, so pregnancy can definitely feel lonely if you are in a similar situation. Spending more time with my friends and family that do have kids has helped because they are more relatable and I feel like they have a better understanding of what I am going through. It has also been so great to just connect with other moms or pregnant women on Instagram through my DM’s!
bump updates
