I still can’t believe I’m in my third trimester and have checked my second trimester off the list (I’m currently 32 weeks pregnant). Looking back at these photos from when I was in my second trimester at 24 week, I really can’t believe how much my belly has grown since then! My second trimester was definitely better than my first trimester in so many ways. At times, it seemed to fly by while other times it felt like it moved at a snail’s pace. I think the snail’s pace feeling came from the nature of living in a Covid-19 world. As I know many people have felt this way about this year. Such is 2020!
To top off my second trimester, we shared on here and on Instagram that we were pregnant in my final week of the second trimester. Which was so fun and really brought on a whole new level of excitement for our little one on the way! All in all, I really cherished the second trimester! In my second trimester recap below, I’m sharing the symptoms I experienced, my pits and peaks, what we had/have planned for the third trimester, and a little second trimester Q&A.
My Second Trimester Recap
The second trimester was leaps and bounds better than the first trimester for me! I went through all the steps that women go through in this trimester. From having my belly pop to having my anatomy scan to completing my glucose screening to researching pediatricians. One milestone we didn’t experience in the second trimester was finding out the gender of our baby. Since the first time I ever thought about having a baby, I always knew I’d wait to find out the gender of my babies until birth. It’s really my personality. And, luckily for me, Edwin didn’t put up much of a fight about it. So, we’re anxiously waiting to learn our baby’s gender at birth! To say we are excited to find out is an understatement!
Life sped up at the beginning of the second trimester as I got my energy back and then promptly started to slow down at the end of the second trimester as I started to grow and get tired again. (Nothing like the extreme exhaustion of the first trimester though!) We had a spectacularly beautiful spring and early summer in Charleston. And I got outside and walked a ton throughout my second trimester! In the second trimester, I felt like a cloud was lifted from me as it became clear that I wasn’t going to miscarry again. And I really started to enjoy this pregnancy. Spending so much time outside in nature only helped!
Second Trimester Symptoms I Experienced
Like clockwork, when my second trimester hit, I got SO much energy back! It was an extremely welcome change! In the first trimester, I was truly exhausted and could barely stay awake to 9pm. So I really relished in having some energy back. I still experienced the horrible hormonal headaches that I explained in my first trimester recap up until about 16 weeks so those didn’t quite go away when my first trimester ended but, thankfully, they didn’t stick around throughout my second trimester!
Except for my hormonal headaches lasting through around 16 weeks, I had a period from the end of my first trimester to around 20 weeks where I felt very much like my regular self and not my pregnant self… I had lots of energy, wasn’t showing, and overall it didn’t really feel like I was pregnant. Of course, I was happily pregnant but it felt wonderful to physically feel so normal! However, as I got closer and closer to 20 weeks, I did start to get acid reflux. Which became an everyday thing a bit before 20 weeks and has stuck around since. I pretty much have acid reflux all day everyday now. Which is not pleasant at all but not the end of the world either.
At around 23 weeks, I started to get back pain that has since gotten worse. I don’t love this symptom but try to remind myself that it is because my baby and belly are growing!
Second Trimester Pits and Peaks
Pits
Covid-19
Covid-19 continued to be a huge pit throughout my second trimester. (As it still is now in my third trimester and was in my first trimester.) At the end of the day, we are so happy, relieved, and blessed to have our health. And to have not had Covid-19 while pregnant but it still affects everything. As everyone does, we make so many decisions around Covid-19. And having to do so while being pregnant is an extra layer on top of it. It causes us a lot of stress with what to believe. What precautions to take seriously, what to avoid, what to take with a grain of salt, etc.
Edwin and I make decisions based on this pregnancy and Covid as a team. And we rely heavily on what my doctor advises and what she okays. I imagine we will continue to do this based on our pediatrician’s advice. In addition, in the second trimester, Covid-19 caused us to cancel a baby shower (as well as another one in the third trimester), cancel our babymoon (we’ve since booked a different babymoon that we can drive to and that will be a better fit with our current world), and inhibited Edwin from attending doctor appointments.
I realize these things aren’t the end of the world but they are upsetting nonetheless.
Like so many others, Covid-19 has also put a financial burden on this pregnancy as Edwin’s work was completely shut down for months. Not being able to work leading up to the financial responsibility of bringing a baby into this world is anything but ideal. Thankfully, as my third trimester hit, Edwins industry reopened a bit and Edwin has been able to get back to work. Lastly, living in a Covid world just brings out the Covid blues. We wish we were out and about soaking up our last months just the two of us but that really isn’t possible.
Back Pain
I’d say that at around 23 weeks, I started feeling lower back pain. For me, I feel it more in my back than my hips but I know it is all connected. As I’ve grown, it has gotten steadily worse and now by every afternoon, my back is barking at me. This is honestly true no matter what… whether I sit a lot, exercise, or go on walks, the back pain is there. As I said above, I try to think about the positive that it means that the baby and I are both growing at a healthy rate and this is something my body hasn’t experienced before.
Acid Reflux
Oh the joys of acid reflux! I have never had acid reflux before in my life other than maybe once a year while hungover so this has been really new for me. It started a bit before I hit 20 weeks and has stuck around ever since. I really have it everyday but some days are worse than others so I do pay attention to food or other triggers so I can try to avoid the bad days. Sometimes, it wakes me up out of my sleep, which is never fun. However, if this is one of the worst things I can say about this pregnancy, then I feel very fortunate.
Peaks
Feeling Baby Kicks
I felt our baby’s first kicks the day I hit 20 weeks. I had just sat down in our kitchen to eat a late lunch and Edwin had just stepped outside to play fetch with our dogs. Thanks so my late lunch, I was really hungry, which is what I think got the baby going with his/her kicks. Before I took my first bite, I felt what undoubtedly was kicks. I had heard that the kicks almost feel like butterfly wings in your stomach. This literally felt like a little leg kicking me from the inside out. I now feel like there are so many different types of kicks… kicks that feel like kicks, flutters, butterfly wings, and squirms.
The kicks kept coming and it was one of my happiest moments of this pregnancy. I called Edwin’s name and he came inside to see tears rolling down my cheeks and me exclaiming that I felt our baby. It was another special moment I hope to never forget! After feeling our first baby in my body in the absolute worst way (i.e. by miscarrying it) it was the biggest relief to now feel this baby in the best possible way (i.e. alive and kicking!).
Anatomy Scan
Due to Covid-19, Edwin wasn’t allowed in for our anatomy scan. It was definitely a huge bummer. He hasn’t been to an appointment since our 8th week appointment (he was to of town for work for our 10 week appt and by our 12 week appt husbands/partners were no longer allowed in due to Covid). I had hoped that exceptions were being made for anatomy scans but that wasn’t the case. I only know one girl whose doctor has allowed her husband in for their anatomy scan (in another state) but all over the country, my girlfriends are going to them without their husbands due to regulations.
Not having Edwin there was the downside but the anatomy scan itself was definitely a peak! We were so fortunate to have everything come back positively from our anatomy scan and to see a happy, healthy, on-the-move baby. It was such a relief to see our healthy baby and a joy to see him/her so big and so developed. Our baby is one on the move in the womb so I’m excited to see if this translate to life outside of me!
Telling Our Friends Our Happy News
We told our parents and siblings we were pregnant after our positive 8 week appointment and then told our extended families after our positive 12 week appointment. We shared with a few friends during this time but, in general, we didn’t start opening up and telling friends our happy news until the second trimester. It was wonderful to share our happiness with the people we love so much! It gave us a whole new level of appreciation for how fantastic our friends our!
Sharing Our Pregnancy on Rhyme & Reason and Instagram
It was a really wonderful experience to share our pregnancy joy with y’all on the blog and on Instagram! I’ve previously shared our miscarriage story and why we decided to wait quite a while before sharing our news of this healthy pregnancy. If I was doing it all over again, I’d still wait just as long to share. However, that doesn’t mean that it wasn’t an absolute peak when we did share! The support I felt from y’all around our pregnancy and miscarriage was truly astounding! I’m so lucky to have such thoughtful and encouraging readers like you. It has really been a pleasure sharing this experience on my blog and Instagram.
Registering
I registered in the second trimester! I was adamant about not registering in the first trimester until I knew I was in the clear of having another miscarriage. So, a few weeks into the second trimester, my mom and I spent two afternoons researching everything, reading reviews, referencing my friends’ baby registries, and picking out everything for baby Eversole. I admit, I was anxious about registering because I knew I had a lot of researching to do but the moment I sat down to do it, I was completely into it! Doing it with my mom was really fun too as she is so excited to become a first time grandmother!
It is always great to have the wisdom of a seasoned mom around for things like this. When I registered, my mom and I were both shocked at the lack of gender neutral things. Even things like baby carriers mostly come in blacks, blues, or pinks. I really wanted lots of green items because I love green and think of it as a beautiful gender neutral color. We were so surprised by the lack of options for clothing, toys, and gear, that isn’t blue or pink. Alas, registering was definitely a joyful experience that got me all the more excited! P.S. I’ll be writing a post on our baby registry so stay tuned!
More Energy
Just as everyone says will happen, I got my energy back in the second trimester! In the first trimester, it felt like I had every shred of physical, emotional, and mental energy zapped out of me but that all changed when I hit the second trimester. It was a godsend! Having a pep in my step made me feel so much better on all fronts. As I neared the end of my second trimester, I definitely started to get tried again by the evenings (now it’s by the afternoons, ha!) but it all felt like a natural progression.
Starting to Show
I really didn’t start to show until 20 weeks. If I wore a swimsuit, I looked differently but I wasn’t bumping per se. At 20 weeks, everything changed for me physically as I popped almost overnight! From 20 weeks, I started to rapidly grow and by 24 weeks, when the photos in this post were taken, I had a full on bump. I was definitely excited to start bumping and excited to start seeing my body grow and physically change!
Second Trimester Q&A
Did You Find Out The Gender Of Your Baby?
We didn’t! I mentioned this a bit above we I’ve truly always known that I would wait until birth to find out the gender of my babies. Edwin would have found out but he knew how important it was to me to wait so he really didn’t put up a fight on this topic. Now that we’ve waited, he is totally onboard with waiting and we love playing the guessing game about the gender. Neither one of us has an absolute gut feeling. In fact, we both keep going back and forth about what gender we think this little one is. Just last night, Edwin told me that he changed his mind again and it back to thinking it’s a boy (for the past month or so, he has thought girl). I have had only one dream where the baby was a specific gender so I not having crazy premonitions.
Do You Have Names Picked Out?
We do! We have a full name picked out for a girl and a full name picked out for a boy. Both are family names! Neither one of us are really people who waver too much so we’ve stuck to our names and won’t be changing them. I think both are so beautiful!
Did You Have Pregnancy Cravings In the Second Trimester?
Yes! In the first trimester, I craved fruit and both brown and white rice. In the second trimester, my craving for rice subsided but I still craved every single type of fruit throughout my second trimester (berries, stone fruits, melons, tropical fruits, and citrus). And in particular, I crave fruit that is cold. I would be shocked if this baby wasn’t a fruit lover!
What Did You Register For?
Lots of fun and necessary things! I am planning to write a whole blog post on our baby registry so stay tuned! This is actually giving me motivation to sit down and write this post.
What Exercise Did You Do In The Second Trimester?
In the second trimester, I walked a ton! I also rode our peloton bike because I had so much energy. In addition, I did pilates twice a week. For the majority of my second trimester, my pilates was done at home via FaceTime with my instructor because the studio was closed due to covid. So, it wasn’t pilates on the reformer but it was still a lot of strength training etc.
How Much Weight Did You Gain In The Second Trimester?
In the second trimester, I gained 13 pounds. I haven’t done anything in particular to manage my weight gain other than to generally make healthy decisions, which is what I did pre-pregnancy too. In general, I listen to my body, exercise, eat pretty healthy, and try to get enough sleep.
Third Trimester Excitement and Plans
Some of these items have already happened but, when the second trimester ended, we were very much looking forward to the home stretch of this pregnancy with the ultimate peak of meeting our baby at the end! Along the way in the third trimester, I was very excited for baby showers (that have since become one baby shower, a very special one at that!). Still to come but planned for my third trimester are setting up our nursery, interviewing pediatricians, at-home childbirth + postpartum preparation classes, packing our hospital bag, making a birth plan of sorts, and more!
Photography by Edwin Eversole
