Baby Number 2 – Trimester One VS Trimester Two

I haven’t been doing weekly pregnancy updates on the blog. So I’ve decided to do a comparison post between trimester 1 and trimester 2 so far.

If you want me to share weekly/fortnightly updates, then I think I’ll start at 20 weeks after we’ve found out the sex. Maybe by then I’ll be a bit more excited about writing about my journey!

Trimester 1

Symptoms in my first trimester begun very, very early. I suffered with severe bloating before my period was even due/late. I remember moaning to my mother-in-law about looking 5 months pregnant! At this stage we had only been trying to get pregnant for a couple of weeks so it didn’t even cross my mind I could be pregnant. I also didn’t suffer with this when I was pregnant with Lamb so it wasn’t something I was looking out for.

On the 13th September I realised my period was a week late… I’m pretty bad with dates! So I didn’t really need to do a test to know I was pregnant.

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting many symptoms in the early weeks, I didn’t have any with Lamb. Yep, I’m one of those annoying women who don’t suffer with sickness during pregnancy!

However, once I reached 9 weeks the nausea kicked in. Constant sicky feeling, constant hunger, constant cough like I was going to throw up. Did I actually throw up though? Nope, not once. I don’t know what’s worse. Hanging your head over the toilet and letting it all out, or walking around gipping at everything and anything.

I found a solution though. Food. I basically had to eat every 2 hours otherwise the gipping would return. I also craved junk, and living a 2 minute drive from McDonalds was dangerous. But hey, you do what you can to feel normal!

After a couple of weeks the nausea subsided and trimester 1 was beginning to feel easy again. Until the migraines and exhaustion kicked in. Damn. I thought I’d got away with it!

I knew I would be extra tired this pregnancy. I have a toddler to run around after, I have an underachieve thyroid, and well, I’m pregnant! But the exhaustion was worse than I expected.

Oh, and I had a cold most of the first trimester. Colds are so much worse when you’re pregnant. You just can’t get rid of it!

Trimester 2

As I creeped into trimester 2 the nausea returned. I had about a week of feeling sick again.

At this point I started to really hate being pregnant. I felt so poorly, worse than I did in the first trimester. I was even sick on a couple of occasions. Not in the morning though. Just before bed. I read a couple of pregnancy forums and it turns out it’s quite common for morning sickness to start in trimester 2. Luckily mine only lasted a week.

At my 16 week consultation the exhaustion was explained. My thyroid had been working overdrive and my medication needed increasing immediately. I had my bloods taken at my 8 week booking in appointment. No one called me in the 8 weeks between my bloods being taken and my 16 week consultation. Thanks guys. I could of avoided weeks of falling asleep on the sofa, being so tired I felt drugged, if they had just told me sooner.

I’m 18 weeks today and generally feeling much better. I’m still tired, but now it’s more like pregnancy tired, not drugged tired.

One huge difference between trimester 1 and trimester 2 is my hunger. I ate non stop for the first 12 weeks, now I don’t want anything. I’m constantly full up.

I’ve lost all meal motivation and rarely have the energy to cook. I’m nibbling on crisps and cheese and biscuits. I feel bad because I want to be healthy for the baby, but I’m eating what I can and when I can. Most days I don’t even have dinner. This baby is already taking up all of the space near my stomach!

Did I mention my cold has come back? Yep, that’s around 3 months of blowing my nose. Attractive.

One final symptom of trimester 2 is breathlessness. Boy am I breathless. I have been for quite a while now. Walking up the stairs, having a conversation, anything makes me out of breath. The worst thing is rushing Lamb to the toilet. He’s fully potty trained in the day now (yippee!) but is going through a phase of waiting until the last minute before telling me he needs to go, and I’m trying not to have the potty around anymore. So I have to run upstairs with him, which is proving challenging and I basically need a little rest by the time I reach the bathroom!

I dont remember feeling out of breath when I was pregnant with Lamb until I was really showing. I’ve got a little bump now but it’s not huge yet. Things certainly creep up on you earlier with your second pregnancy.

Overall this pregnancy has been ok. No major symptoms, just what I’ve mentioned. I know it could be a lot worse.

I’m not sharing many photos of myself, purely because this baby is draining all of the beauty out of me. I have dry skin, spots, bags under my eyes. I feel so ugh I’m barely wearing make up. I really feel like I’m carrying a girl this time. She needs all the good stuff to come out looking like a princess. Or if it’s a boy, I’ll end up with another angelic beauty like Lamb.

You only have to look at Liza from Glambeautys (who is pregnant with her second boy) to know why I think I’m carrying a girl, but remember, I have no idea what the gender is yet, it’s just a theory.

😉

Ax