2nd Trimester Update
This pregnancy is absolutely flying by! It still feels like we just announced our pregnancy, but there are only a few weeks left until little Benjamin will be here!
I have undergone a number of physical changes since entering the 2nd Trimester, my belly being the first! My belly ‘popped’ at about 16 weeks which was not surprising to me. I am quite short-waisted so the only space to grow for him was out. Now at the end of this trimester, there is no doubt that I am pregnant when seen from the front and side. I am very lucky that from behind, you would never know I am pregnant! With this growing belly however came itchiness. My stomach and breasts have been extremely irritated and itchy, with the only relief being a hot shower followed with coconut oil. I have gotten a few stretch marks on my breasts even with applying coconut oil and other cremes meant to prevent them, but I don’t mind them at all.
I had my 20 week anatomy scan and my OB did confirm that our little one is a boy, and measuring a week and a half ahead. They vaguely mentioned him being on the longer side of the scale than most growing babies his age and that I might look at being induced. At 20 weeks, baby is only supposed to weigh around 10 or so ounces, and our Ben was measuring at 13! Both his dad and I have long limbs, so it will not surprise me if our children will be the same way.
Some of my symptoms from the 1st Trimester have eased up a bit, like my stuffy nose, fatigue and migraines. I was given the OK by my OB to drink one cup of coffee a day, as we discovered my migraines were caused by lack of caffeine consumption. Pre-pregnancy, I was drinking 6+ cups of coffee daily and quit cold turkey as soon as I got that positive test at home. My body did not like this at all! I was going through caffeine withdrawals that would cause crippling migraines every other day. We decided to try one cup a day before medicating me and it has stopped the migraines completely.
I did finally have a boost of energy in my 2nd Trimester and it arrived at the perfect time. We were preparing for a move that would take us about a month and a half and man did I need that extra boost of energy! The move was quite difficult being 5 months pregnant at the start, but my husband’s schedule are complete opposites from mine and we did a lot of moving separately. Moving even just a single load took nearly half the day solo, with the oldest, ratchet elevator in my old apartment, loading, and driving 30 minutes to our new place. It felt like the biggest breath of fresh air when everything was moved and we got to sleep in the new place for the first time!
One symptom that has increased is my heartburn and indigestion. Oh my gosh, my heartburn is so bad every time I eat. I carry a full container of Tums with me everywhere I go. Even something as simple as a glass of lemonade will set off my heartburn. And bending over to pick anything up off the floor? Forget about it. Every time I bend over I nearly vomit. It’s no fun. The very first time I experienced heartburn this pregnancy I seriously thought I was dying. I woke up my husband in the wee hours in the morning and told him we needed to call and ambulance because my chest was on fire. After some light discussion, he told me it was simply heartburn.
A new set of unexpected symptoms came along in this Trimester as well. The first was what I thought was my anxiety coming back. I was having heart palpitations, horrible feelings of impending doom and panicky crying fits for no reason at all. It would come on out of nowhere, even when I was sitting, and was starting to worry me. I knew that there were some medications generally safe during pregnancy, but I was so nervous about taking that kind of risk. I talked with my OB about it and the first thing she asked me was what kind of Prenatal Vitamins I was taking. I was clueless on where she was going with the question, but I responded with an over-the-counter gummy vitamin (I stopped taking the pill-form because my congestion was preventing me from swallowing them). Turns out that the gummy vitamins have NO iron in them, and I had an iron deficiency, making me anemic. I was put on an iron supplement and my anxiety-like symptoms stopped after a few days.
The other newer symptom has been Braxton Hicks contractions. I have definitely been experiencing these ‘practice contractions’ for a little while now. At first they started out very mild and just an uncomfortable tightening of my entire belly. They’ve gotten a little painful towards these last few weeks, which I do plan on bringing up to my OB. I’ve heard they’re not supposed to be that painful, and these are a little more intense than they should be.
Well that is what my poor pregnant brain could remember of my 2nd Trimester! My memory seems to be on vacation because I can’t remember what I had for breakfast this morning… There are a few more pregnancy-related blog posts coming soon and then Benjamin will be here before we know it!
This is all for now my loves.
Tootles,
~ Izzy <3