My Second Trimester Recap

Meant to get this up right at the turn of the third trimester (so just over a week ago) but one week late isn’t too bad! I’m officially 29 weeks and 2 days as of today (that pic was snapped right before week 29, me & my bud adventuring in Lake Louise with his aunties!), meaning I have actually less than 11 weeks until baby is here which blows my mind.

One of my girlfriends asked recently if it’s felt like I’ve been pregnant forever, and really it’s kind of a yes and no situation but heavier on the no.

I mean technically, I definitely have been pregnant for awhile…I was 2 months in when COVID even became an issue here at home, which literally feels like forever ago. But the process itself has been (very luckily for me) a pretty easygoing one for the most part so I find the days if anything are actually flying by (leaving me a bit anxious in getting things ready, reading the books & doing the research I feel like I need to do, etc…time is running out!).

I wanted to just quickly recap what the second trimester has been like for me, though it will be a bit of a different recap than my first trimester one! While the first trimester was not only harder (all in all it was okay, but I definitely didn’t feel like I was operating at 100%), it was also marked by more distinct changes week to week than my second tri—honestly, my second trimester kind of feels like it was more or less the same week to week, just with a gradually growing belly! So mostly divvying this up by some FAQs and some other tidbits that I’ve expanded on from those FAQs—hope you guys love it, when I was earlier on in my pregnancy I loved reading these recaps so I knew what to look forward to or to anticipate!

When did I start feeling better (more energy, less nausea, etc)?

I had initially felt a shift at 12 weeks, then it kind of had an uptick in fatigue again for 2 weeks, then I’d say I shifted into feeling great around 15 weeks for good and that’s lasted since then! It was like I woke up one day and all that intense fatigue I’d experienced in my first trimester was a thing of the past. Nausea-wise, I think that dissipated around 12 weeks. So all in all, I’d say definitely from 15 weeks onwards, I felt great—honestly, basically feel normal, with the exception of some aches and pains here and there or the odd sleepless night when the baby was going through a growth spurt and demanding more food. I mean, obviously you’re pregnant so feeling totally “normal” is maybe a bit of a stretch, but all in all feel good!

Any new symptoms?

In a consistent lasting way, no, nothing actually! Most everything just improved from the first trimester, but there have been a couple little weird things that have cropped up, but fortunately they seem to have all been passing in nature. My abdominal pain was worse in the first trimester when I had a lot of cramping from just ligaments and muscles getting shifted around to make room for my uterus. I do get the occasional bout of bad pain (and there was one week in particular around week 26 or 27 when I had really bad pain in my oblique) but it’s almost always tied to having strained myself with exercise (which is a cue for me to maybe cut out x y z as far as my workouts) or because of dehydration or something along those lines.

One thing I’d say that’s been really irritating is the heat…I’m usually such a heat and sun lover, but it just doesn’t mix well with pregnancy, as any preggo certainly knows. I was just in the Rockies and while there (where the temperature hovers in the low 20 degrees max), I felt so much better and had so much more energy. As soon as the heat skyrockets, I get very, very cranky. I also have had a couple weird things crop up as a result of the heat (and consequently, dehydration or poor sleep) like this weird ocular migraine I had or those stabbing pains in my obliques I mentioned above, but all have happened just once or very rarely.

For the most part though, everything has improved (and continues to be good in these very early stages of my third trimester).

Sleep has been way better: trick is to just keep the room very cool! Also I got a body pillow pretty early on into my pregnancy which I’d really recommend because it takes some getting used to! I also have been so much better as far as digestion. I really listen to my cravings or aversions because so far, they haven’t steered me wrong, and that includes my digestion! Which leads me to…

Any cravings or aversions?

I crave peaches and cherries very specifically, along with sparkling water (which is a constant pre-pregnancy too). I started really craving them when I was turning the corner on my second trimester and I honestly think it’s because my body needed them specifically for digestion. I have no problems with constipation now, thankfully. That was the worst symptom other than fatigue through my first trimester, so not to get TMI but other than this little trip I did recently (travel generally messes up my system, particularly getaways that involve really early mornings), I’ve been like clockwork as far as my digestion goes. I also love a nice fresh salad—Cookie + Kate is always a go-to for recipes. So I’ve been really lucky that my cravings have all been on the healthier side, and they all seem geared towards keeping my hydration up, keeping things moving & getting good nutrients to bebe!

Aversion-wise, at the end of my second trimester I started really not being able to handle spicy foods, which I usually love. My entire pregnancy leading up to that it was fine, but all of a sudden it felt like my mouth was on fire and it all tasted just off, almost acid-like. I think it’s because as my stomach gets more and more crowded, I get periodic bouts of heartburn (this is more of a third tri thing, but it did happen right before I turned the corner on week 28). I think it’s just again my body’s intuitive intelligence being like…yeah, that’s not gonna help us. Other than that, meat! I wasn’t ever a big meat eater but I’d say other than a bit of red meat here and there (the one thing I haven’t stopped liking, which makes me think my body is making an allowance for it for iron purposes), I honestly gag at the texture of chicken, turkey, etc. Salmon I can tolerate in very small amounts but I prefer something like scallop, prawns, cod, etc. Maybe because salmon is a bit meatier in texture? I don’t know what the benefits of going without meat would be, but my blood work looks great as far as iron levels and the like and I feel totally fine, so might just continue to eat basically a flexitarian (but largely veggie) diet after pregnancy! This food diary is still very similar to what I’m eating now, though I’d say I’ve upped my intake a bit…I just listen to my body and eat when I start feeling a bit of hunger. I’m not at all concerned about weight gain or any of that, I feel like I will put on what I need to for the baby and that he’s giving me the cues I need, though so far it seems to have been really gradual which is nice!

When did I start feeling kicking?

Around 15-16 weeks is when I felt the first flutters, always at the beach which I think means he takes after his mama and is also an ocean baby—you definitely just have to trust those first sensations when you feel them because looking back now it was definitely baby and those feelings just intensified over the rest of the second trimester! So easy to doubt it and think it’s digestion instead.

My first hard kick was at 18 weeks, and since then he’s just gotten stronger and stronger! Sometimes the kicks actually hurt, which makes me very grateful I have an anterior placenta (meaning the placenta is positioned at the front of my stomach as opposed to closer to my spine where it usually goes, nothing wrong with it being anterior just sometimes means you don’t feel the kicks for awhile though that clearly wasn’t my experience) because he clearly is pumping iron in there and can deliver a really strong punch. I feel like I’d be in a lot of pain if I had a posterior placenta, the placenta is actually helping cushion his karate chops and kicks a bit I think! This is more a third trimester thing but I’m feeling a lot more of everything in addition to kicks at this point—the rolls, the stretches, the hiccups, etc. It’s so amazing. 100% my favourite part of pregnancy.

When did I “pop”?

I still don’t really know what popping means…I guess it means when did my belly look undeniably pregnant to anyone, even a stranger? Because my friends and family could obviously tell a difference for some time, but I’d say I felt like I looked pregnant properly around 26-27 weeks to just about anyone, particularly if I wore something more body-con or was sitting (when my belly seems to shift up right under my chest). That pic above is at 28 weeks, and definitely obvious there! Our servers at our favourite brunch spot were uncertain for some time because I’d cradle my belly but maybe just looked like I’d packed on some quarantine weight…I finally told one of them last Saturday just after 28 weeks and she was like “ah we weren’t sure but you kept holding your belly, ah we’re so excited for you!!!” and then assured me that if I went into labour at the restaurant, they’d put my go-to custom scramble on the menu and name it after the baby (so fingers crossed for that). I think now for sure no one would see me in public and at all question if I was pregnant, since I’ve entered the third trimester he’s definitely started growing faster! I think when you pop just depends on so many factors…I have a really long torso, this is my first pregnancy, my uterus is probably positioned a certain way, I came into the pregnancy at the strongest I’ve been (it was actually a goal and general concern of mine to be as strong as I could in my core and supporting muscles before conceiving because of my scoliosis, which so far has been okay from a back pain perspective!), etc so who knows but bebe is definitely taking up as much room as he can now and seems to be growing really well.

Any maternity clothes yet?

Just this Medela belly band for jeans or shorts that button up! I think despite the heat and wanting it to just cool down, it’s actually a blessing to be pregnant in the summer because you can get away with stretchy dresses, shorts, etc pretty much throughout. I’ve just been sizing up (or depending on the fit/stretch, just getting my usual size) in lots of stretchy basics and that’s been totally fine for me so far! I feel like once I’m in my last month of pregnancy (in October), Matt and I will kind of be going into lockdown to be extra safe for the baby’s arrival with COVID risk in mind, so I may not even get maternity jeans…might just live in leggings since no one’s going to be seeing much of me anyway so I don’t really care if I look like a bit of a slob (which is a bit sad but just want to be as safe as we can at that point). Definitely would be a different story if I was at this stage of my pregnancy in the winter though, I would’ve invested in maternity jeans and leggings for sure.

Have you still been working out?

Yes! I’ve been doing The Bump Method with Nikki from The Belle Method, and I’ve also just been doing a lot of my usual workout routines that my trainer put together for me pre-pregnancy and just adjusting slightly (taking pushups at an incline now instead of on the ground, etc). I’ve been walking around 10K steps a day, biking and swimming lots, etc. Been really lucky with fitness so far that I haven’t had to stop, though I definitely have very different stamina levels now. I have to pretty much always sit down at some point during my workouts to make sure my heart rate doesn’t get too high—sometimes it’s not even the exercise itself but just not having taken a breather, and I’ll just need a 2 minute break to bring everything down. Hills also kill me right now—I’m carrying my little bud really high, it feels like he’s nestled right under my boobs so my lungs are just so limited right now. I think my friends really saw that in action when we were climbing up the very short incline to the lookout for Moraine Lake earlier this week, I was dying. I have more about my pregnancy workout routine here though! Main thing I try to do is on days when I can’t sneak in a full workout or even a full walk (like the day my friends and I drove 9 hours to get to Lake Louise, blog post on that coming soon) I’ll just squeeze in some squats or lunges—a habit I’m sure I’ll need to do postpartum too while I’m juggling bebe!

Will you be sharing your registry?

Yes!!! The registry and just mapping out everything we need for baby has been actually a way bigger undertaking than I anticipated. I love shopping (such a basic statement to make, but I do!) so I thought it’d be a breeze. I mean, I have been shopping for baby a lot specifically when it comes to clothes, so clearly it hasn’t been difficult for me to stock up on some things for him. Matt finally had a sit-down talk with me after I got Harry Potter-themed burping bibs for the bebe to go with the swaddle and sleep sack my sister got for us, guess that’s considered an “unnecessary purchase” according to Matt. So while buying a gazillion cute little outfits for him has been easy (my dad got a sail boat so this kid also already has 3 nautical outfits I got for him for next summer, so maybe Matt was actually right to have a little chat with me), mapping out what we’ll really need for him (bottles, breast pumps, furniture, etc) has been a lot of work and I’ve really relied on both friends’ recommendations and blogs for that! 

Having said that, we’ve made some really great progress lately. Our apartment currently looks like a bomb’s gone off because we’ve had so many packages come in. We’re super happy because while we have a lot of purging to do of our place, we have a lot of the big basics either picked out or already in our place. We have our stroller (the Nuna MIXX), our carrier (the Ergobaby 360), our car seat (the Nuna Pipa), our bassinet (the HALO Swivel Bassinest) and lots of swaddles, blankets, one of those cute loungers, adorable little outfits (duh), toys, bath supplies, play mat, a feeding set complete with bottles, sanitizer etc. We’re also getting a car (gulp, I’m not the most confident driver but I guess I’ll have to learn to be) which as city dwellers feels a bit unnecessary, but since we’ll be driving to bebe’s grandparents all the time or just limited to local travel for the foreseeable future, we felt like it was high time! Think the Mazda CX-5 is our frontrunner right now, we’re doing test drives this weekend. So it’s been a lot but we’re making good traction and since we’re about to send out our baby shower invites soon, we’ll have the registry fully set and I’ll be sharing then! The main thing now is just clearing out all our stuff…I’m very sentimental with clothes especially so getting rid of pieces I really don’t wear anymore is going to be a big undertaking!

Have we settled on a name?

Ummmm…no. There’s one frontrunner for sure, that I in particular love. I think Matt likes it a lot too but he doesn’t seem to share my passion for it. We have no back-ups, and literally no other name that we even partially agree on. So we’ll see how that all goes!! But I have a very strong feeling about this name and just hope Matt comes around to matching my level of love for it. Obviously want to meet the little guy first before settling on it but I dunno, I just feel intuitively like it’s the right fit for him and I generally trust my instincts, plus even in utero I feel like I have a good inkling of what his little personality will be like already (I know he’s an active, cheeky little guy for sure).

Do I have a birth plan?

Kind of, but not really. I think I’d like to aim for an epidural, but if things were moving along really well I’d be open to doing it all natural. I’m just starting the hypnobirthing digital pack in the event that I end up going all-natural so that I have some good tools there, and have downloaded the app too. But regardless, I think that learning how to be as calm as possible and knowing how to breathe through it all will help regardless of what route I go, or if things take a turn and I have to do an emergency c-section or anything along those lines, it can only benefit me to know how to breathe through it. I’m just open to whatever happening happening and just doing everything I can to be prepared for any option! But long story short, I’d ideally like to aim for the epidural but to still feel the pressure of contractions—kind of the best of both worlds if I can achieve that!

I feel like that’s pretty much it! Let me know if you guys have any other questions—I’ll do a third tri recap too after baby is born (which is so crazy to think of, all happening in around 11 weeks!!!). Also, while like anyone else I don’t love judgey advice, I actually am always, always open to advice or recommendations so if you have it, please don’t hesitate, I’m all ears!