My Pregnancy: The Second Trimester

This trimester has felt long. What makes it feel even longer is the fact that no one can decide precisely when this one ends and the third begins! Seriously, my book and Bounty tells me week 26, NHS says 27 and other people say week 28 so I have given up guessing and am bringing this update to you around a time when I feel that I am getting bigger and things have definitely moved on.

 

So what’s different?

This trimester has been a welcome change from the first one. I have lost the sickness, gained the energy I so desperately needed and have been feeling really positive. I made the move back to my exercise classes and I feel much stronger this time around. It’s a shame that my worst time was during the summer holidays because it made it tricky looking after Jake each day but we got through it and now he’s back at pre-school we are both much happier- he gets the stimulation he needs and I get to potter around at home, work productively and can rest when I need to… not that that happens too much!

 

Food

So, the sickness has gone and I am back onto most foods that I had completely gone off but I cannot stomach potato of any kind, red meat, rice, anything spicy that may repeat and I still can’t drink tea! I miss the tea the most. Lemon is still ok but it isn’t hitting the spot as it was a few weeks ago.

 

 

This is my pregnancy alternative to tea. I’m completely off my favourite hot drink and I haven’t even got the taste for decaf this time around. I’ve missed having my morning brew and have discovered a new love for the zing of warm lemon first thing. It really wakes you up and it’s obviously very good for you.

A post shared by Emma Reed (@emmareed_writes) on Jul 22, 2017 at 1:45am PDT

I am basically living off chicken and veg most nights which would be great for my figure if I hadn’t developed a taste for sweet things again. I have gone from wanting only fruit as a snack to craving donuts and chocolate… oops.

The one thing I am looking forward to is getting my taste buds back to normal once this little guy arrives.

 

The Medical Side

Since my last trimester update I have tried to keep you informed on all the goings on because I wanted to bring the real side of pregnancy to the table and not sugar coat it as you often get in books. Our 20-week scan all went well and if you haven’t read it already we announced our gender reveal in a blog post. We wanted to find out just as we did with Jake because a.) I am impatient and waiting would just drive me mad and b.) we can prepare for the new arrival.

We have also had a consultant appointment who has given us the go-ahead to have a VBAC and our birth reflections which covered what happened during Jake’s birth to lead to the emergency c-section. We finally have answers and can finally put things to bed.

 

If you follow me on Facebook and Instagram you will know that the last couple of weeks have been a little worrying.

So, I have received my results and it turns out that I have Group B Strep. I had heard of this but didn’t really have a clear idea of what it was. It is a bacteria that often lives in the gut but is found in 1 in 5 pregnant women. I say 1 in 5 but in reality, this could be more, the NHS don’t actually test for this unless somebody goes in with symptoms- in my case bleeding and losing my mucus plug. So what does this mean? At the moment, nothing. They don’t actually treat you because it causes no harm but as soon as I go into labour I will have to go straight to hospital to have IV antibiotics started. This is because if the baby comes out naturally he could contract the bacteria and become very ill. I will also have to stay in and he will need to be observed for 12 hours after to ensure that he doesn’t show any symptoms. This has all come as a bit of a shock to me because even though I knew something was wrong I didn’t realise it would affect my labour and birth and possibly my baby. I am still hoping to have a very active labour and keeping my fingers crossed that it all goes smoothly. For more information, I have included a link to the NHS website.

So it is now time to rest and look after me…

It is so easy to think of ourselves as superwomen balancing work, home life, chores, errands, school runs and so on but I guess I have forgotten that the first time I did this I would come home from work and sleep on the sofa, eat dinner, rest in front of the TV and get a good nights’ sleep. Things are somewhat different now, aren’t they? And I need to be fighting fit if I want a natural birth with no complications.

 

Body Changes

The bump definitely feels bigger this time around and in the last couple of weeks I think it’s just exploded! I am suddenly waddling, I am slower when walking and bending over to pick up bloody toys is proving a difficult task… this boy likes to sit quite low a lot of the time which makes bending over near on impossible at times. You should see me trying to empty a trolley at a checkout!

My posture has also taken a battering and I’ve got so much pain in my neck and shoulders. I am having a massage soon to try and sort this out. Oh, and my left hip is giving me some pain and there is some definite crunching so I think the pelvis has softened much more than it did with Jake. Something I need to keep a close eye on.

So, I have gone from this:

To this:

To this:

To this:

 

And now:

 

I think he is going to be a big baby!

Pin for later: