My Second Trimester Recap

They say the second trimester (weeks 14-26) is the best, and people talk about that “energy boost.” So, I kept waiting for the day a switch flipped and I felt more energized, but that never happened. Looking back and comparing the first and second trimesters, I definitely DID have more energy in the past three months than I had in the first three, but it came on gradually. And I was still tired a lot. Maybe just not as fatigued. I will say, though, that while the second trimester comes with it’s own set of pregnancy symptoms, it also comes with some amazing milestones! Like baby’s movements and heartbeat, finding out the gender, and a growing belly bump.

Symptoms

While I started to leave some unpleasant first trimester symptoms behind, I gained some new ones in the second! Nausea began to subside, although just when I would start to think I was over it, I would experience it on occasion. Slowly, but surely, the times it hit were fewer and far between, which was a welcome change!

And with less nausea, I felt hungrier! While energy needs do not increase in the first trimester, they do in the second! Women tend to need anywhere from 70-300 hundred extra calories each day. Hayden made fun of me because at one point I was making a lot of black bean brownies…and somehow they always disappeared before he got any – ha! But, hey, they’re healthy! Just one serving of black beans (1/2 cup) has 20% of the daily value of folate (a vital B vitamin) during pregnancy! A serving also contains most other vitamins and minerals, including iron, choline, zinc, magnesium, and potassium, which are all important during pregnancy as well. Magnesium and potassium are especially needed if you experience leg cramps, a common pregnancy symptom – thankfully not one I’ve experienced yet! Must be because I ate all those brownies. 😉

I did, however, suddenly start blowing my nose 1293486x each night. Okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but I did go through wayyy more tissues and deal with more congestion than ever before. This one surprised me as it’s not a commonly talked about symptom, but after chatting with many pregnant or previously pregnant women, most had experienced it too. It doesn’t seem like it should happen, but it’s yet another symptom that can be blamed on hormones!

Pregnancy brain, though, IS a commonly talked about symptom and rightfully so! I soon felt my memory failing me and had to start writing everything down and making a million reminders in my phone and put everything on my calendar – otherwise I’d totally forget about it! Literally any important thought or thing that I have to do, must be written down!

I got more steps in though. Most times I’d walk to a room in search of something specific, get distracted by something else, leave, and have to come back to get the thing I had intended to get in the first place! Luckily it’s been a lot of short-term memory issues and I’m still able to recall nutrition information and helpful tips when working with clients. Word-finding is just tough sometimes!

And ohhh the aches and pains – backaches, headaches, round ligament pain, etc. Thankfully, I had headaches for only a short period of time, backaches only start when I’ve been standing for long periods of time, and round ligament pain comes and goes as my belly stretches, but still, I will be glad when these symptoms disappear.

Cravings

Whipped cream. Sour patch kids. Salty foods. High calorie, yet healthy foods. Chocolate. Marinated steak. Juice. Fruit. Wine & beer (though I didn’t give into these ones!). Full fat dairy (cheese, yogurt – but I still didn’t eat a lot of it due to other symptoms dairy causes for me). Banana ice cream, which I did eat lot of! Looking at many of these cravings I could definitely pinpoint why they may have been happening. Cravings can often be a sign of nutrient needs. Chocolate and steak? Iron. Fruit and juice? Water, electrolytes, vitamin C. Full fat dairy? Calcium and fats. See what I mean?

What I’m wearing

Finally needed to buy maternity clothes! I put it off for as long as I could, but I couldn’t comfortably wear many of my clothes anymore. And for a few months, shopping for maternity clothes felt like a full-time job. I also needed to go bra shopping because for the first time in my life, I had graduated to a C cup, which is crazy considering I’d spent most of my life making jokes about not having boobs!

Emotions

My emotions were still a little wonky, but I at least had a lot less irritability in the second trimester. I still had crying spells sometimes, but otherwise felt more like myself, which was a nice change!

Exercise

Getting in regular movement has been much easier! I still tended to workout every other day, but was able to run and strength train. I was even able to run for 2-3 miles and at a faster pace compared to a slower, no more than 2 miles, pace in the first trimester and beginning of the second. This is one area I noticed having more energy when I look back and compare.

Milestones

The best part of the second trimester! With all the less fun symptoms, cravings, and still feeling tired much of the time, some pretty amazing things happen in the second trimester. At 15 weeks we were able to hear the baby’s heartbeat, which was a huge blessing. After having a miscarriage and not hearing a heartbeat, I was holding my breath for this baby. At about 18 weeks, I felt the first signs of baby’s movement, gas bubble feelings. Overtime those little bubble-like feelings have turned into strong kicks, rolls and punches. I finally feel like there’s a tiny human growing inside me, which is amazing and really strange all at the same time! At 19 weeks we had an anatomy ultrasound and found out we were having a boy! By week 20 or so, I finally started to look pregnant too, so much so I could wear a tighter shirt and people would know that I was expecting versus just wondering if I’d put on a little weight in my tummy – ha!

Towards the end of the second trimester my mom informed me that my baby shower was scheduled and I should probably get started on my registry – ahh! This was something I was excited about (I mean, how can you not be excited to look at tons of cute baby stuff?), but at the same time completely overwhelmed by! There is SO. MUCH. STUFF. And not only is there a lot of stuff, there’s a lot of options, which was the hardest part. For 2-3 weeks straight my top Google searches were things like “Best Travel System Strollers” “Best Pack n’ Plays” “Do I really need a changing mat” and the list goes on. But, finally, after spending many nights and lunch breaks researching, reading reviews, and truly considering which products would be best for us and our future baby, I’m feeling really confident in our choices. I just hope our baby likes them too!

Tell me, what was your second trimester like? Did you feel that “energy boost”? Are you still in your first trimester and wondering what’s to come? Let me know!