Happy Monday, I hope you are well! I’m currently two months away from my due date, I can’t believe how close we are to finally meeting our baby!

Today I thought I’d finally recap how my second trimester went down. It definitely had it's ups and downs but overall I’m grateful that we are all happy and healthy!

So to start where we left off, I had a second scan at 13 weeks, where I had some blood drawn to do the NT testing. A few weeks later we got the letter to say the baby is low risk for any genetic abnormalities. We also found out that I am R negative, which means I’ve needed an extra jab while pregnant and will need one when I give birth to reduce the chance of me having issues should I get pregnant again.

As week 14 came along I started to feel a bit better and able to do more. We actually took the week off work and got to see some friends and family as the COVID 19 restrictions in England started to lift. It was really great to be around people who were excited about the pregnancy and really helped to lift my mood.

As the weeks progressed I started to feel more like myself. I think I had the idea that I would get to the second trimester and would suddenly feel normal again. That wasn’t really the case, it was more gradual over several weeks. I would have days where I felt better and worse, back to back. It wasn’t until the end of week 16 where I consistently had more good days than bad. I also started to get more of my normal appetite back again, which was amazing!

As we started going out to see people, I started to experience travel sickness consistently for the first time in my adult life. It was slightly better if I drove, but even then I would get waves of nausea while driving, particularly if on country roads.

One of the most exciting things that happened around week 16 was getting to feel the baby move for the first time. It was definitely not like anyone had described it to me before. It felt like my internal muscles were involuntary twitching at random times of the day. It took me up to week 20 to really realise what I had been feeling was the baby moving, mainly as it was around that point where I would have the same feeling a couple times in a row, rather than it being very sporadic. So if you’re pregnant for the first time too and aren’t feeling the bubbling or fluttering movements it may just feel slightly different to you as it did for me!

Around week 17 my husband went back to work full time for the first time since I got pregnant, after being furloughed for 5 months. It was definitely a rough transition going from having the mental and physical support of him being around all the time, to going back to being alone for most of the day. Slowly we adjusted to what’s been our new normal but there defintely was a few weeks where I think we both struggled.

As we progressed into summer, the heat brought new experiences that I wasn’t expecting from pregnancy. The heat led to my feet swelling if I stood or sat for longer periods of time. So I would finish work and have to sit with my feet propped up to make them go back to normal. In some ways this forced me to spend time relaxing rather than doing and I got to read more which I’m aware may not happen for a while after baby is born. I realised during this time that I generally feel warmer than normal. This has meant that I can’t sit out in the sun as I usually did pre-pregnancy and I’ve become a lover of the shade.

Around the halfway mark in my pregnancy several things happened at once. My sister gave birth to her first child, visiting them made everything start to feel very real. Seeing her and the baby really solidified that this is happening and by Christmas we will have two babies at my parents house which is exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time.

The second thing to happen around this time was the COVID vaccine advice changed regarding pregnant people in the UK. Up until this point pregnant people were only recommended to get the vaccine if they had other underlying problems or were a high risk pregnancy. Otherwise the advice was that pregnant people shouldn’t get the vaccine until after giving birth. The change to the guidance to allow pregnant people to be offered the vaccine at the same time as their peers left me with the choice over what to do. I read as much as could about the vaccine and the small amount of data on outcomes, I talked to my midwife at the 20 week appointment and family that all work in the medical field I decided at the time to stick with my original plan of getting the vaccine after the baby got here. I was relatively low risk of catching COVID; I had been working from home for over a year, we switched to online food shopping, I reduced my contact with people and the few I did see was always outside, socially distanced and the COVID levels at the time were relatively low.

Unfortunately not everyone in my life agreed with my decision. It was frustrating to have other people’s opinions placed on me and being told the decision I had made for my child and I was wrong. It really left me feeling isolated and made me withdraw from friendships. When you’re basically isolating, pregnant and hormonal it can be a very lonely place.

I was very grateful for the family and friends that kept checking up on me through this time, it helped more than they will ever know.

Anyway, at 20 weeks we had our anatomy scan. I have to say going into it I was feeling nervous, I suppose everywhere online and in the books makes a big deal out of it and I just wanted everything to go well. We had the most amazing sonographer, she was so friendly and made my husband and I feel relaxed straight away. She was teaching the day we went which worked in our favor as she chatted through everything she was seeing on the screen and pointed out all the organs looking healthy.

My husband and I had decided we wanted to find out the sex of the baby before we went in, the sonographer asked if she could just tell us when she got a good view to which we said yes. We wanted to find out before anyone else and being there together was special enough for us. She pointed out what she was seeing on the ultrasound which was that we are having a little girl!

I’ve got to be honest my husband was less shocked than I was, he had been convinced we were going to have a girl. I on the other hand had been having regular dreams that the baby was a boy for weeks, and was fairly convinced going in that it was a boy, so it really surprised me.

We left the appointment and popped to the nearest shop to buy her first outfit together. Then headed to my parents to take pictures to send to family and friends. It was so great to see everyone’s reactions. Our family was really excited for us and the conversations we had with our parents that day are ones that I will cherish forever!

Over the next few weeks we started to make plans for our baby girl. She started to move alot and enough that my husband and dad got to feel her kick from the outside.

I started to feel exhausted again, I’m not sure if I was just trying to do a lot around the house after work or the heat was getting to me. I had started to experience pregnancy insomnia and then crashed in the middle of the day or after work to have a nap to try and catch up on sleep.

Otherwise it was a very happy time, I got back into cooking and baking. I was craving ice cream, chocolate and cookies so spent time perfecting my cookie recipes. All of which I’ll be sharing over the next few months!

About halfway through week 24 I woke up one night in a lot of pain low down in my pelvis. It was intense enough that I woke my husband up as I couldn’t move and just had to try to breathe through it. After about 30mins it went away and we fell back to sleep. When I woke up the next morning I was not in pain so I brushed it off as a weird pregnancy thing.

Unfortunately the pain came back in the evening, not to where I couldn't move again but it worried me enough that I called the out of hours midwife number. The midwife was lovely on the phone and told me she thought I was probably experiencing SPD also know as pelvic girdle pain (PGP). She explained if I came in there wasn’t much they could do for me and recommended I took some paracetamol but to call if it got worse.

A few days later unfortunately it did and I started to experience intense pain where I couldn’t move again. Then when it eased off slightly I was experiencing persistent dull back pain. I've had back pain on and off since puberty due to having hyper extension in my lower back. Luckily it's been managed very well, so I’ve had very little pain over the last 10 years so I tried every position and physio stretch I could think of to try and reduce the pain.

It was definitely an interesting few days as both my husband and mum took turns taking care of me, from moving me off the toilet to surrounding me with snacks and drinks to make sure I had everything I could need.

My mum even organised for me to see a private Physiotherapist, as the request through the NHS didn’t seem to be progressing quickly. I’ve been doing Physiotherapy for about 6 weeks now and it really seems to be helping with the pain. I’ve not had a huge flare up in weeks and feel so much more confident exercising again. Unfortunately I still get pain in my hips when I sleep so I don’t sleep very well but overall I'm feeling a lot better and happier too!

So back to week 25, after several days of pain I woke up feeling really good one day. It was amazing to not be in pain and I was really enjoying the day until I realised the babys movements had dropped and I couldn’t really feel her.

I contacted the midwifes and ended up in hospital to be monitored. Luckily everything was OK and I found out that she had just switched positions so her movements were a lot softer. I felt a bit stupid about going in but the midwives were amazing at putting me at ease and were fairly firm in their message that should it happen again to call and been seen sooner rather than later.

The next few weeks seemed to fly by. I felt the most energetic I have all pregnancy and started on projects in the house. One of my favourite activities thought my second trimester was to go and float in my parents pool. I would definitely recommend swimming or floating to any pregnant person, it’s such a great feeling being weightless.

I’ve really enjoyed the last five weeks or so. I’ve started to accept my changing body more and I’ve found getting to feel her move more and more has really helped with that.

If you’ve been pregnant I'd love to hear how your second trimester went? Did you have any of the same symptoms I did or were there others?

I hope you have a great week and I'll talk to you again soon!

Julia xx