Welcome to the second trimester – weeks 12-14 to be precise!
It’s been a pretty uneventful transition….which is probably a good thing. The first twelve weeks seem to drag on to eternity and you put some much emphasis on reaching 12 weeks that you almost expect something amazing to happen when you can finally get there. Of course, having a 12 week scan is up there as one of the best milestones of pregnancy but I sort of hoped I’d suddenly spring back into action. I’ve not been myself since finding out I’m pregnant. I feel like I’ve been here in body but not really in mind. I feel like I’m watching my family get on with their lives and I’m stood on the periphery watching, waiting to join in.
Don’t get me wrong, I feel a million times better then I did during the first trimester – I shall never miss struggling down the stairs at 6:30am to try and force myself to drink a glass of ginger ale, but I just don’t feel 100%. I guess I won’t, I’m pregnant. There is a lemon sized person inside my uterus. My uterus that is now the size of a large coconut and sticks up above my pubic bone. When I first thought about it I thought that seemed rather small compared to this huge bump I appear to have acquired over the last few weeks but then I read that, at first, the bump is basically your stomach and everything else in there being pushed up and out.
The on going symptom I seem to have carried over from the first trimester is headaches. Really bad bloody headaches. I’ve never had anything like it, pounding, at the front of my head every time I move/bend over. Paracetamol don’t touch them (as I think they’re hormonal) and they can last for days. Usually, for me, a good nights sleep will sort out pretty much any headache. But not pregnancy ones. Nope, they’re in for the long haul. Put up and shut up.
My boobs are massive (for me – I’m never going to be a Pam An) but they’re still sore. I really don’t remember them being this sore for so long previously. Do all pregnancy symptoms get worse the more pregnancies you have? When I’m lying on my side at night it feels like the one I’m lying on is just like one big bruise! I was talking to my sister the other day, she’s been breastfeeding her little one and she was describing how, when she’s overdue to feed it feels like someone is twisting her nipples!! What is it with all the nipple stuff in pregnancy?! I only ever gave my kids one breast feed each after birth and then moved to formula (please don’t judge), but this time I intend to continue for as long as I can so I shall look forward to the nipple twisting sensation.
Since the beginning of week 13 I have noticed quite an increase in the aches in my lower back, my pelvis and generally down there. The pain is all coming flooding back to me each day. It’s like seeing an old friend, or perhaps one of those friends you’d rather avoid – you know the ones you pretend you haven’t seen in the supermarket at the next checkout.
With regards to movement, little sprout has had a few kicks and punches. Nothing I have felt with my hand from the outside but as I sit and work during the day, she seems most active around 11am, I feel weird vibration type movements in my belly and it makes me smile. No matter how crappy my day has been until that point, I soon forgot about it all when I remember that little person inside me. it still baffles me how I can grow a whole, healthy human inside me.
During the coming weeks I have a consultants appointment to check my Thyroxine requirements and I also have my 16 week midwife appointment albeit I will be 16.5wks by the time it rolls around. I’ve kind of got my heart set on hearing the baby’s heartbeat at the 16 week appointment….do they still do that? I’ve seen a lot of ladies posting online saying that it’s not offered any more!?
Finally, a lovely lady called Amy made my week this week. Amy emailed me and told me she’s pregnant for the first time and that reading my blog has helped her and that she is looking forward to reading along with me. I know a lot of people read my blog, I can see from the statistics and I’ve been told by my husband that people I never would have expected to read it do, but never do these people approach me directly to tell me how much they enjoy what I have written. I don’t write my blog for other people, I write it to keep a record of my pregnancy, I write it as I like to work online and enjoy social media and I write it as a hobby because I enjoy writing. To know other people out there enjoy it too just makes me happy!
Read weeks 10-12 update here.
Read weeks 8-10 update here.
Read weeks 6-8 update here.
Read weeks 4-6 update here.
14 weeks with bubba number 3!
