The second trimester is often referred to as the honeymoon trimester. Now that I'm well into my third I can understand why. Whilst the first trimester was full of uncertainty, worry for whether or not the baby would make it, fatigue and nausea, by the second I was feeling much better. I had regained my energy, my sickness had generally dissipated and I had my overseas trip to enjoy. A significant part of the second trimester was also where I really began to see the changes in my body, my growing bump and later, noticing the little kicks and starting to feel a real connection of the little life that was growing inside of me.
Babymoon at Topas Ecolodge, Sapa with my 14 week bump.
Week 14
The second trimester starts at Week 14. Last year The Hubs and I had booked a holiday to visit Vietnam and Cambodia before we knew I was going to become pregnant. Thankfully the timing worked out well as they say that the second trimester is the best trimester to travel. It was lucky that my morning sickness was mostly over. For anyone who is looking to squeeze in a babymoon before baby arrives, try to plan it in the second trimester. It was reassuring to know that the baby was developing fine and that it was safe for me to continue with my holiday plans without too many concerns.
The first leg of our trip was focused on northern Vietnam, with short tours to Halong Bay and Sapa and Hanoi as a base. I’ll detail my trip in a separate post but being pregnant did require some considerations and adjustments.
I like to consider myself as pretty fit and self-sufficient and generally lift and carry my own things. Being pregnant meant I had to rely a lot more on The Hubs to handle my luggage and had to swap his carry-on bag with mine since his was lighter and easier to carry.
I obviously had to be a lot more cautious about what I ate. Vietnamese food is known for its fresh ingredients but being a developing country, I was weary of its water quality and the potential risks of food poisoning if washed in dirty water. When I told one of the cruise managers that I was pregnant he gave me the advice of boiling my water, even if it was bottled, and for some reason to avoid eating fresh pineapple. From that, I always made sure to boil all bottled water that we received. Also, for my birthday earlier in the year my sister actually got me a fancy water bottle that sterilised water with UV light, so that was just double protection. With all my precautions, I managed a trip to South East Asia without getting sick, which can be quite a feat on its own even without being pregnant!
Halong Bay and Sapa were fine since they are more regional locations, but waking up in Hanoi where motorbikes and scooters are the main mode of transport, the air pollution from the exhausts was pretty bad. I have a pretty low tolerance for smoke in general, so topped with a more sensitive nose, the air quality would make me gag at times. To counter this, I thought I’d embrace the Asian in me and wore a face mask when it got particularly bad.
Alcohol is ridiculously cheap but of course, I couldn’t enjoy a sneaky cocktail when on holiday. The Hubs was disappointed that he had to drink alone.
For our short tour in Sapa, we had booked a three day hiking and mountain biking tour. As I told them that I was pregnant to advise of my dietary requirements, the day before our trip I got a message recommending me against the biking portion as it may not be safe for pregnancy. So, they kindly made arrangements to switch the biking to more hiking. I am proud to say I managed to handle three continuous days of hiking. This equated to 63,729 steps or 43.14km of walking in the mountains. Not bad for being pregnant I’d say, but we were pretty over hiking by the end of it.
Hiking amongst the rice terraces in Sapa was manageable in the second trimester with my morning sickness subsiding.
Week 15
Week 15 was mainly spent in Siem Reap, Cambodia. The temperature jumped up dramatically from a pleasant mid-high 20 degrees in north Vietnam to an average of about 36-38 degrees celsius. I was told that going in April for Khmer New Year was going to be really hot and they weren’t kidding. The heat was taxing especially when there was very Iittle air conditioning, but I managed to handle it better than The Hubs who really struggled with the heat. The pollution wasn’t as bad here compared to the cites of Vietnam so I again just took similar dietary precautions and tried to keep cool.
Week 16
We finished our trip in southern Vietnam with The Hub’s family. The temperatures there was just as unforgiving as in Cambodia but at least there was a lot more air-con. They say that around Week 16 you may start to feel early signs of movement, which they call ‘flutters’ similar to feeling butterflies in your belly. I was conscious to be on the look out to feel when the baby would start kicking. I thought maybe I could have been feeling flutters but I really couldn’t be sure since I wasn’t really sure what to look out for. I can say though that over the weeks that we were away my bump was definitely a lot more noticeable.
“Seeing it grow and knowing that there was something in there, I found that I was a lot more protective of my belly and would subconsciously hold it for comfort. I guess it is my way of connecting with the baby.”
Week 17
It was back to work after three weeks of holiday. Unfortunately, feelings of nausea had resurfaced similar to what I experienced in the first trimester. I thought it was over but it could have been a result of transitioning from extremely hot to cold weather, jet lag and adjusting back to going back to work.
Week 18
In the early stages of pregnancy you only see the doctor once a month so the majority of the time it’s just you and the baby and hope that everything is progressing like it’s supposed to. The babymoon slotted in well in a time without needing any major tests. I had my doctors appointment scheduled for when I came back from my trip. A routine check consisted of a weight check, blood pressure check and a quick ultrasound to see the progress of the baby. It is always reassuring to see the ultrasound and know that he’s doing ok in there. This time I could notice little movements and it is just so heart warming to see. He had definitely done a bit of growing since the 12 week ultrasound. My belly button was now starting to feel stretched and less inward. I might turn into an outie soon.
Week 19
When you get pregnant, your immune system drops so that your body doesn’t reject your baby. This means you are more susceptible to getting sick. The government offers free flu vaccinations for those who are most vulnerable, pregnant women being one of them. So with the flu season coming up I got mine from my local GP. On your yellow health card it has the flu and whooping cough as recommended vaccines during pregnancy.
One of the most important scans you get done is the anatomy scan done between 18-20 weeks where the sonographer will do a detailed scan of your baby. They check its development and take measurements of its growth and its vital organs, as well as your anatomy especially with regards to the placenta. If you didn’t opt in to get the 12 week NIPT done where you can find out the sex of your baby via blood test, it is at this scan where you will be able to see if you have a little boy or little girl visually via the ultrasound.
3D ultrasound that we received during our anatomy scan. You can see that by the halfway mark, baby’s features are getting quite developed. Still looks a bit like an alien though so I prefer look at the 2D ultrasounds. :P From these pictures I am already predicting the kid will look like his Daddy.
I had mine scheduled in Week 19 on one of my accrued days off which I’m lucky to receive as part of my work benefits. I knew it was going to be a longer appointment, I thought maybe an hour or two. Turned out it took the whole day because the little guy refused to turn over to show his back, so they were not able to get measurements of his spine. At my first visit when I was told that they could not get a clear scan, they told me to go for a walk and have something sweet to see if that would get him to turn over. I came back after some dessert and a milkshake but it made no difference. They said it could take a few hours so I had the option of coming back to try again later or rebook for another day. I only get an ATO every fortnight so didn’t want to take more leave for another appointment. I went for a jog, did star jumps and kept coming back to try again but still no luck. After telling my mum, she suggested that I have a cold shower on just my belly to see if he would move away from the cold. And guess what, it worked! Fourth time lucky we managed to get him to show his back and everything looked good. After the scans were completed, the doctor went through the report calling him a cheeky monkey, but overall he looked fine and was described as textbook - which as reassuring as you could ask for.
Week 20
I was fine on the 7km hikes in the mountains at 14 weeks, but by week 20 I could start to feel the affects of baby at a 5km walk.
Week 20 is the halfway milestone. The bump was starting to feel more uncomfortable at this point. We had the Million Paws Walk hosted by the RSPCA that weekend where we walk our dogs on a 5km charity walk around Sydney Olympic Park. We have done it for the last 3 years now, but this time the 5km did take a bit out of me towards the end. My endurance had definitely been affected. That being said, I was still going to the gym for regular exercise. The flutters were feeling more prominent now and by 20 week 5 days I could say that they were definitely kicks. A friend of mine had said that she started to feel kicks around 23 weeks so I was feeling proud that the little guy was progressing well.
Having reached the half way point, it dawned on me that this major life changing event was really happening and I had yet to do anything to prepare for it. I started to freak out a little after realising how unprepared I was. Considering that I had allowed basically two years to plan my wedding which was only a one day event, I had now only had about four months left until the baby arrives and I really had not done much to prepare besides listening to pregnancy podcasts and reading the book “What to Expect When You're Expecting”. The feeling to 'nest' was starting to kick in.
On a separate note, this week was the first time I caught a tram where a lady offered me their seat because I was pregnant. I guess it meant that my bump was a lot more obvious now.
Week 21
I had another routine prenatal appointment this week where my doctor went through my anatomy scan results with me. One thing she did raise was that it was noted that my placenta was very close to the birth canal and could be at risk of placenta previa. She explained that if there wasn't at least a 2cm clearance I might need to have a C-section. When I had got my scan initially the other doctor had mentioned the close placement, however said that I had plenty of time and usually it would move as my belly grows. She wasn't concerned, so I didn't worry myself over it either. As a precaution, I was instructed to do another scan at 32 weeks to check up on it later.
Week 22
As the baby got bigger I could feel myself slowing down and getting more tired even when just going on walks. I was feeling the baby kicking a lot more regularly now. It was still a strange feeling and would startle me at times, but it is nice to know that he's in there doing well. Now that my bump was more obvious I had become a lot more accepting of it and not just feeling fat. Though, it was becoming quite depressing when all my clothes were getting too tight.
Unfortunately this week I felt ill, more so than morning sickness during my first trimester.
Week 23
My clothing situation was getting frustrating, so with EOFY stocktake sales happening, I went ahead and bought some pieces so that I could have something to wear outside of just cycling between my two pairs of pants that I had bought at the end of the first trimester. Since it was coming into winter, I couldn't just get by with maxi dresses, but it felt like such a waste spending money on clothes for a period that is so temporary. So, I checked out Facebook Marketplace to see if I could find any second-hand maternity clothes and managed to score two bags of winter and summer clothes for $50. Compare that to a $60 pair of fancy support tights that I got coaxed into buying online which kept appearing in my feeds.
This week I had felt ill once again. It seems as though I had been worse off during my second trimester in terms of keeping my food down but it could be attributed to me being less careful on what I ate.
Week 24
We had received news that The Hubs employment was only a contract position and was going to end at the end of the month. This was not good news and a difficult to pill to swallow. As much as I had planned to be able to take care of having a baby financially, this was something I could not control and definitely put a spanner in the works. Since I have always been the breadwinner and was soon to go onto maternity leave, we would have to rely on his income to support the family whilst I was off work. The loss of work and income would put us in a very difficult financial situation and with the baby coming into the picture, this could not come at a worse time.
With this change in situation I had to be a lot more conscious about what I wanted to purchase and how I was to spend in terms of buying things for the baby. Most of the funds I had saved up until this point was to pay off the obstetrician fees, but since that was required to be paid off by Week 20 all future Baby Savings would be dedicated to baby supplies. Unfortunately all the baby stuff really adds up. With only 10% of my pay allocated, it was going to be a gradual accumulation and I had to be smart about what I purchased. So in true project manager form, I, of course, created a spreadsheet of items I needed with estimated costs and priority. This also helped me plan for a registry for my baby shower versus things I would need to purchase myself.
I was so thankful that a friend of mine was kind enough to lend me some baby items that her son outgrew, as well as passed down a whole box of baby clothes that I could use. Let’s face it, babies grow way too fast and don’t care what they wear, and it is much more sustainable to go second-hand. Facebook Marketplace again has so much baby gear that people are looking to get rid of so I would highly recommend checking it out when looking starting off.
During this week we also did a bit of a photoshoot. The Hubs had somehow won a free studio photoshoot session a little while back so we thought we might as well use it for a maternity shoot. It needed to be booked in by a certain date so my bump isn’t as big a most maternity shoots taken in late pregnancy, but it was still nice to have this time of our life captured. Unfortunately, the freebie didn’t include a photo package and considering our financial situation we decided to only purchase three.
Week 25
I joined two other girl friends to attend a Babyology High Tea event, which is basically high tea hosted for mums and expecting mothers sponsored by various baby brands. Vendors are set up in the function room for you to check out and grab some free samples, there are prizes to be won and you also receive a nice goodie bag of things to try.
This week after learning about the struggles that some of my girl friends experienced when trying to breastfeed their babies, I became quite concerned that I wouldn’t be able to feed mine. I have read up on all the benefits of ‘breast is best’ but it doesn’t mean that it comes naturally. Women are placed with so much pressure on how to feed their babies, and as much as I have been told that you need to do what is best for you and your baby, and that whatever you do is right, I still want to try and make it work. I could be putting a lot of pressure on myself needlessly. To hopefully set myself up for success, I started reading books and listen to podcasts on breastfeeding.
My sister moved out this week so that we could use the extra room for the baby’s nursery. Even though we knew from the very beginning of her moving in with us was that eventually, we’ll need the room back when we had kids, it was a bit of an emotional feeling coming home to an empty room. Perhaps this is what ‘empty nest syndrome’ feels like for parents when their kids leave home, but I felt that it was also this moment where we were physically making room for a baby in our lives and it really hit me.
Week 26
I had another doctors appointment this week. Everything looked to be on track. The baby was still head down so if he stays that way I don’t have to worry about having a breeched baby and needing to spin him around. The optimal position to deliver a baby is head down, with it facing your back. Women with breech babies at term are generally advised to have a caesarean section. From the check up, I was advised that my placenta looked to have moved but I would still need to do the detailed scan at 32 weeks to be sure that I’m in the clear.
This week I was also required to do the blood glucose test which is a test to check on your risk of having gestational diabetes. This test takes a few hours and best to do first thing in the morning since you have to fast beforehand. When I first went in I had my blood drawn then was giving a bottle of glucose drink, which essentially tastes like drinking concentrated cordial syrup. I was then told to come back in an hour. It could make you feel woozy so it was suggested that I just go lie down in my car. After an hour I went back to do another test, then after another hour, I had to come back for another. Three vials isn’t as bad as the five that was taken for the NIPT test, but because it was staggered that was basically the morning gone. I guess they need samples so see how well your body copes with the glucose and whether or not it produces enough insulin over time.
Week 27
I had a visit to the doctors to see the results of the glucose test. Everything looked to be all good. The baby had definitely been a lot more active and it’s fun to see him move in the ultrasounds, but it also meant that it was difficult to take a good picture of him and measure him.
This week was the last week of the second trimester. I had still been going to the gym three times a week when I’m feeling up for it. The doctor said that I could continue as long as I can if I still have the energy and it will help me have an easier birth.
With the nursery room now available I had been doing a bit of cleaning of the walls and remaining furniture and started to put together some things for the baby. I decided to not bother painting the room and keep it pretty neutral as it may likely change when the kid gets older anyway.
Besides a few sickness incidences, the second trimester went by pretty smoothly and probably the period with the most change, not only seeing the physical changes but also mentally and emotionally. From the early feelings of relief that the baby made it past the first trimester, to the joys of sharing the news and excitement of our growing family, to later freaking out that “sh*t this was really happening” and now you need to figure out how to deal with a baby on the way. It really is a rollercoaster of a ride.
Two trimesters down, only one more to go!
