A week shy of the half way mark! And I finally feel fully pregnant, physically and emotionally. It always takes a bit of time to sink in, doesn’t it?
I have enjoyed the last six weeks. For me the second trimester was very enjoyable in my first pregnancy as well, but I think both times it didn’t hurt to have the summer holidays coinciding with these weeks when I generally just feel much better. After a busy June, July was quiet at work and gave me a chance to relax a bit. Our two-week holiday in August was action packed but oh so welcomed! (See my previous post.)
I hate to be the Negative Nancy but I must admit that I had forgotten how taxing pregnancy can be, even when you’re in the midst of the best part of it! Currently I feel like I’m doing three jobs 1. my actual investment banking job 2. my mum job to our toddler Maia and 3. being pregnant. I know this is the reality for many mums but wow, it’s a lot. I hate the saying “pregnancy is not an illness” although I kind of agree, but I’d at least revise it to “pregnancy is a lovely but challenging physical and mental condition”. I do love it but it is hard work on top of everything… Everything just feels a little harder and more exhausting. It’s harder to find a good sleeping position and sitting position at work, the bump gets in the way now and I get lower back pain easily if I sleep on a mattress too soft or carry Maia too much. At least I don’t have that awful nausea from the first trimester. I’m still bizarrely sensitive to smells. For example I can smell my own shoes when wearing them!! And I swear my feet are NOT smelly! I can also smell a wet nappy from five feet away and I had always thought baby wee doesn’t even smell like anything, haha. Ugh, never knew this world has so many smells in it. Thankfully I haven’t gone off any “nice smells” so I can still wear perfume and haven’t had to change shampoo or anything…
All that is still pretty minor but it does add to the strain I’m already under from the demands of my professional and domestic life. But there are many positives too. To remind myself of them, I’ve listed some below:
- Feeling little baby kicks and flips in the tummy (although still quite light, I need to tune in for them)
- My adorable round little bump which is finally big enough to wear cute maternity wear
- Feeling of excitement about this new little person who we are going to meet (and who we can take home and call our own!)
- Feeling of purpose and creating something beautiful. Not a day of my life is wasted now because every day is an important day for my baby’s development
- When I travel for work I have one of my babies with me at all times even if I do have to leave one at home 🙏
Same picture again below with a comparison to my first pregnancy. Not exactly the same weeks but you’ll get the idea! Personally I absolutely love these progress and comparison pictures. It’s just so fascinating to see how quickly the body changes. Especially in this second pregnancy as you can see. I don’t know how much weight I have gained because my scales have been out of battery since early pregnancy, but I don’t really care either. In this pregnancy I’ve invested in buying more comfortable but cute maternity wear, and a few stylish pieces for work. I’ve found that it makes me feel much better about the way I look and to look and feel more professional, even if it is just for a few months. Last time I didn’t want to spend the money and ended up wearing leggings to work (and feeling untidy and unprofessional) and although I’m sure that will happen again at some point, I won’t cave in just yet!
Last Saturday was my 16-week midwife appointment at the hospital, 2.5 weeks late because we were away on holiday. I was quite nervous going in because when I booked it, they said it’d be a group appointment. What does that even mean?? A bunch of pregnant ladies lying on paper sheets next to each other?? I was worried it’d just be a general group chat session and that no one would check my baby at all! ☹️Just the day before I had read heart breaking news that a mum I’m connected to through Instagram had lost her twins at 15-weeks and naturally I had spent the following night panicking about our baby. I wouldn’t have had to worry though, the appointment was fine and baby is doing well. 🙏 The midwife saw each lady individually and the group appointment just referred to a tour of the birthing centre after the appointments. I didn’t attend because since I already gave birth there once, I felt like I knew the drill. At least the logistics.
My appointment went well and most importantly I heard the baby’s heartbeat! We had no trouble finding it with the Fetal Doppler. My baby is still quite low in the pelvis, which probably explains why it feels quite uncomfortable. I feel like I’ve got a hard mango-size ball in my lower abdomen putting pressure on everything down there (oh the joys). The midwife took my blood pressure and urine sample and we had a quick chat about the glucose challenge test , but because I didn’t really have any concerns or questions (apart from “how will I survive my tiring life!”, which I didn’t dare to ask), I was out pretty quickly.
Interestingly I won’t see the midwife now for another ten weeks. Having had a healthy pregnancy and birth just 21-months ago I suppose puts me in very low risk-category. I will however have two ultra sound scans before the midwife appointment at 28-weeks. Next one is in 12 days (but who’s counting!) and apparently there will be one after that to monitor the baby’s growth. I can’t wait for this scan! I’m not losing sleep over it, but I do think about it and pray everything is well with our baby. I feel like I’ve got such limited time to even think about him or her. Not that my thoughts would make any difference… Is it crazy to feel like I’m neglecting my baby already because I’m too busy with other stuff??!!
xoxoxo,
Sini