How is it time for another bump update already?! The first 12 weeks up until our scan seemed like the longest time ever and now we are past that point the weeks are flying by! As I am writing this we are close to the 17 week mark (so well into the second trimester) and not only has the time disappeared, but I feel as though a lot has changed too. If you haven’t caught up on my first trimester overview you can catch up with that here.
Morning Sickness & Exhaustion
I am very pleased to tell you that at the moment the morning sickness (also known as all day and night, every single second of the day sickness/nausea) has well and truly gone on her way! I have felt so much better in myself over the past few weeks and I have found my motivation again – well most days anyway!
The tiredness has also changed. In my first trimester there were days where I felt like I had been hit by a bus and I just could not bring myself to do anything. Whereas now, I just get days where I feel like I need an afternoon nap or like I have done a bit too much. It’s definitely more manageable. Although I have to point out, that it has been hard to tell what is pregnancy related and what’s related to my chronic illness. Back in February this year I was diagnosed and since then I have been learning a lot about my illness and how it presents itself. When I found out I was pregnant I had no idea what was going on. In the past few weeks I have learnt to recognise symptoms that I can relate to and things that are ‘normal’ for me. My rule is if I can recognise it then it’s likely to be related to that, but If it’s completely new it’s likely to be pregnancy related and that’s how I try to separate the two and manage them separately.
New Things I Have Tried
If pregnancy isn’t the time to try lots of new things then I don’t know when is. I had heard so many people recommend pregnancy yoga that I wanted to try it out! So after a little bit of research, I found somewhere that is less than 10 minutes from my house that offers the class once a week. I contacted them and signed myself up, before I could talk myself out of it. I am not going to lie the first night I went, I felt a little bit out of my comfort zone. I mentioned on Instagram that I had no idea why as I am very used to talking to complete strangers and I have been to fitness classes before. The only thing I could put it down to was that it was specifically pregnancy related and everything is just all very new (and overwhelming) to me still. Needless to say, I put my big girl pants on and took myself down there! It was one of the best decisions I made that week. Everyone was really friendly and I felt so much better afterwards. So much so that I even got a really good nights sleep!
Food & Eating
One of the best things I can tell you is that the food aversions have basically gone too. I can eat normal things again and I am not living off ready salted crisps and plain digestives anymore! I have been really trying to focus on recipes that help me increase my fruit and veg intake and just choosing better options in general. Although, I will tell you that I am ALWAYS hungry; like I could just eat all day long! I am normally a very hungry person and everyone knows me as someone who is always eating something, but this is just a whole new level of hungriness.
Pregnancy Hormones
You will be happy to hear that the pregnancy hormones and raging emotions have settled down quite a bit too – no crying in the Tesco car park in the past few weeks. Don’t get too excited though because they haven’t completely disappeared. At the moment, it feels as though they are just simmering away under the surface like a troll under the bridge and then I might just explode for 10 minutes, lose my sh*t completely and then all is right with the world again!
Overall the first part of my second trimester has been so much better than I expected. When I felt so rough during the first trimester I was worried that I would feel rubbish for weeks on end, but I am so happy to be feeling better. Don’t get me wrong I am still a little nervous, overwhelmed and still can’t quite believe this is all happening, but I am trying to enjoy the rollercoaster that is pregnancy!