Pregnancy - second trimester (week 13 - week 28)

Now that I’ve reached the third trimester of pregnancy I thought I’d share my experiences of the second trimester like did when I talked about the first trimester of this pregnancy.

Emotions

As I got my head around the fact that we would be having another baby the overwhelming emotion I felt during the second trimester was joy and excitement. As my bump grew and I started to feel baby move inside of me the pregnancy felt ‘more real’ than ever. Not only did I feel excitement at welcoming a new baby into our family but also a feeling of gratefulness that I have managed to conceive again even though I suffer from PCOS which impacted on my fertility when trying to conceive H.

Whilst the overriding emotions I have felt have been happiness and excitement, as I suffer from type 2 diabetes there has also been a shadow of worry that it will not negatively impact on baby too much. I hope with all of my heart that baby will be healthy.

Thankfully - well I know Lee is thankful - my emotions have been stable and I’ve not been on a rollercoaster of emotions, swinging from happy one moment to angry to sad. I’ve been positive and feeling very good emotionally. Yet when I watch a sad film or read a news article of sad events especially to do with babies and young children, I struggle not to become a blubbering mess!

Aches and pains

As I suffer from Fibromylagia I live with aches and pains on a daily basis. During the second trimester I have had a few flare-ups and have felt in a lot of pain.

Pregnancy wise I have had mild round ligament pain as my womb has expanded and have learnt to listen to my body and rest as I have noticed I get the odd mild pain on the side of my bump when I have been doing too much and rushing around.

As the pregnancy has progressed I have had mild back pain which has worsened over time. Towards the last couple of weeks of the second trimester the pain has become terrible with pain in my lower back, hips and creaky joints as I walk up the stairs! Thankfully my midwife arranged for a support belt for me which is easing the pain and I have been referred for physio.

Sleep

Thanks to my growing bump and back/hip pain during the last few weeks of the second trimester I found it really hard to get comfortable to sleep. As such sleep has been a little poor and I am still struggling to have a good night’s sleep not helped by the fact that I’ve started waking need a pee during the night.

My hot water bottle has been helping to ease my aching back and I’ve been using pillows galore to support me as I sleep on my side. As it is getting harder and harder to find comfort in bed (not helped by the fact that my mattress is 15 years old!) I have been looking at getting a pregnancy support pillow but there are so many different ones out there I haven’t got a clue which would be best. During my other pregnancies I had a long, huge pillow that I no longer have and found it useless and lacking in support. Ideally it would be good to get a pillow that I could later use for breastfeeding. As I am desperate for a good night’s sleep and support for my aching body, my mission this week is to pick up a pregnancy support pillow.

Scans

When I was 20 weeks pregnant I had the anomaly ultrasound scan. Due to baby being in an awkward position they could not do all of their checks so I had to have another scan 2 weeks later where thankfully they completed all checks and did not found anything untoward. 

As I am diabetic I have to have growth scans in the third trimester to keep an eye on the baby to see if they are growing well.

Diabetes

As I am a type 2 diabetic I have to closely monitor my blood sugars and regularly see the diabetic team at my local hospital. I’ve continued to test my blood sugars 4 times a day, take Metformin plus slow release insulin at night to help keep my morning fasting sugars in check. Much to my delight the diabetic team are very happy with my blood sugars and at the minute there is no cause for concern. 

During the end of the second trimester they did a HBA1C blood test to check my overall blood sugar levels over the past 3 months which came back at 33mmol/mol which is fantastic as ideally they’d want it under 48.

Now that I have moved into the third trimester and the weeks are flying by as I count down to welcoming our new arrival I hope to achieve the following to have a healthy pregnancy and birth plus get ready for baby - 

* Continue to monitor and keep my blood sugars in check

* Have a 4D scan with Welcome to the Womb in Swansea so that the kids can bond with baby and I can be reassured about the wellbeing of my growing baby

* Buy a pregnancy/breastfeeding pillow to help me get a better night’s sleep. Do you have any recommendations for a good, supportive pillow?

* Get baby clothes and cloth nappies out of storage and washed ready for baby’s arrival

* Pack hospital bags

* Set up the Chicco Next2Me Magic cot

* Look for a new pram or travel system as only have baby car seat from when H was a baby

* Have a cast of bump done as always wanted to do one but never have

Plus enjoy the last trimester of pregnancy, cherishing my bump which I love and the feeling of baby move inside of me!