HerBaby: Bronwen’s Second Trimester

Posted on 25 August, 2015

Welcome to my second trimester!

This trimester certainly felt MUCH longer than the first!!! I guess there were a few weeks there in the first trimester where we didn’t know we were pregnant, but I definitely think there’s more to it than that. There was a quiet period where we didn’t have any scans or appointments and life just ticked along pretty much as usual…except without wine, or manic gym sessions, or late nights, or soft cheese.

Maybe I have adjusted more than I realise?

HOW WE BROKE THE NEWS

Aside from those we managed to see on our ‘Announcement Tour’ we announced our pregnancy on social media via both Facebook and my Instagram account. In our family we have a joke that a picture has to have a hundred likes to be considered “viral” – last check our Facebook baby announcement had 407 likes and 131 comments – safe to say we were completely astounded and feel incredibly blessed by the support network we have around us!

Image courtesy of https://instagram.com/bronwenstead/

THE TRUTH ABOUT THE SECOND TRIMESTER

I wont lie – I normally LOVE my red wine. As I don’t drink soft drink, and rarely drink fruit juices etc, I feel a bit left out at social events or dinner parties at the moment.

I have, however, taken non-alcoholic wine along to a few dinner parties just so I feel part of it which has been nice! My food cravings have calmed down and I am back to eating fairly closely to how I always have – lots of fresh fruit and veggies, nuts and proteins.

The craving I continue to have quite strongly is for anything citrus and I still have a strong aversion to raw meat, to the point that I can’t go into the kitchen when Andrew is cooking and if he is late home I am fairly useless in helping to prepare dinner!

I can’t go anywhere near the butchers at the markets – I turn fairly grey and feel like I am going to pass out! Craziness.

We (I) definitely overloaded ourselves for a window during this trimester. In a single fortnight we:

• Travelled to Queensland to support my Wings clients at a bodybuilding show;
• I started a new job
• Andrew had knee surgery;
• Moved from our apartment to a house;
• Had my birthday, on the same night as I
• Exhibited my Wings at my first ever FASHFEST.

While this was all incredible, the reality was being super stressed and functioning on limited sleep and it definitely brought the nausea back with a vengeance.

Looking back now I’m not at all sure how I got through it, but I know I wouldn’t have been able to achieve even half of it without the help I received from friends and family. Andrew and I have a family motto “Steads don’t quit” and he had to remind me of this several times!!!

After that fortnight I promised my family and friends I would not push myself that hard again throughout this pregnancy and 10 weeks on I am proud to say I have kept that promise. Some days I want to do little else but sleep – and there seems to be no end to how much I can nap.

Image courtesy of https://instagram.com/bronwenstead/

ALL THINGS PHYSICAL

At 16 weeks, literally overnight, I went from looking like I may had just eaten a big pasta dinner to officially having ‘popped’. Weird! The belly is crazy – it looks different day to day – and even the differences in morning to evening can be quite dramatic!

There was a two week window around weeks 21-22 that I felt horrible. I didn’t feel myself at all, my hormones where everywhere, a guy at the gym made a joke that I was just getting fat and I felt a complete misery.

This was definitely a low point, however, through owning the struggle and sharing it with my network, the support I received was incredible and I am truly grateful for the people in my world – you all helped me to work through this. I am now feeling good, while life has definitely changed I feel back to myself, just with a basketball shoved up my dress!

Despite doing all of my weights training with my PT, I managed to re-aggravate a prior groin tendon injury which meant for a while it hurt too much to go for a walk, let alone train at the gym. I am hoping to be able to start some swimming soon and am otherwise resting.

I promised to share all with you guys, so here goes: firstly – my boobs are huge. Thankfully they don’t hurt quite like they did in the beginning, but I have to tell you it was a bit of a shock one day when I discovered that if I pressed on them that fluid came out. ERMAGAWD.

Frantically googling later it turns out this is quite normal and is called colostrum, and for some women it can be so heavy that they have to wear nipple pads/shields! While I am sure I have heard of it before, it hadn’t been raised with me that this could happen so I admit I was pretty stunned at the time! Luckily we don’t have a leaking situation (yet).

FASHION AND PREGNANCY

At the start of this trimester – with my expanding waist line – I was finding less and less of my normal wardrobe fit! And now I am very limited! Though I do have a few dresses and loose blouses from my original wardrobe that I can still wear. Thankfully all my winter coats are ok – although nothing does up over the belly.

As I am finding many things don’t fit right now I’m packing them away – trying to get dressed each day with a wardrobe I can only wear bits of was driving me crazy!

I have been very surprised at how limited the maternity fashion options are in Canberra (if you have any tips please let me know in the comments!) I purchased a few items online on ASOS Maternity, and discovered that Susanne’s, Jeans West and Target have maternity collections. I’ve been fairly conservative with what I’ve purchased as I figure this is for a short window if time, but am so utterly bored of what I have.

Image courtesy of https://instagram.com/bronwenstead/

ALL THINGS MEDICAL

We have been super lucky to get a spot in the CaTCH program at the Canberra Hospital. We have our designated midwife who I have all my appointments with, I have her mobile and can shoot her questions as they arise – an interesting debate was establishing when the third trimester ends! Google it!

I came up with 5 different answers all from different Australian health websites, varying between 24 and 28 weeks! My midwife advised 28 weeks so that is what I am going with! We have visited the rooms at the Birthing Centre at The Canberra Hospital and I was beyond impressed – they were nicer than some hotels I have stayed at!!!!

After we had our 20 week scan we had a review with a doctor at the hospital. Even though the results from our scan had not detected any abnormalities, they referred me to cardiology and I will later get hooked up to a Holter Monitor for 24 hours.

Due to my autoimmune condition we will also probably have another scan at around 33 weeks just to ensure bub is developing on target, which I am actually really happy about because I love the scans so much.

We also had our Blood Glucose testing. This is testing for Gestational Diabetes, and involves having a base line blood test, drinking a glucose drink (mine was no where near as bad as I think some others are – was like drinking cordial with only half the recommended water) and then two more blood tests at one and two hours afterwards.

This was more boring than anything as I had forgotten to take a book but entertained myself people watching. I was surprised and upset when the results came back higher than average (although not in the diabetic range).

My midwife told me not to panic, and the next step is we will measure bub at my next appointment – if he appears bigger than average I will likely go off to repeat the test. Checking in with my nutrition coach, Kyle from Nutrivolve was a further relief; he told me that people who are quite active who suddenly become inactive (as I have from the groin injury) can be quite insulin sensitive.

While I admit I do feel frustrated at all of these little issues I am working hard on maintaining a positive mindset and distract myself by focusing in on our babies movements which reminds me of how much I have to be grateful for.