The funny thing about reaching the milestone of completing the first trimester is that you are immediately counting down to complete the second. If the goal (in my mind) of the first trimester was to get past the point of most miscarriages, then the goal of the second trimester was to get to the point of viability.
How I felt
After week 15, my energy came back and I felt so much more normal…internally at least. It wasn’t until closer to 18 weeks that I felt like I looked pregnant instead of just fluffy which is when I feel like I was able to enjoy it a bit more…as much as one can enjoy gaining weight and losing control of their body while not being able to eat and drink the things they want…lol. I was able to slowly pick my workouts back up and added a lot more (light) weightlifting as well as other forms of cardio. I never found a convenient place to do pre-natal yoga though which was a huge disappointment. My go-to exercises were squats & lunges for lower body & lat pull-downs and rows for upper body. My skin finally started to level back out which certainly brought back some confidence.
What I ate
I still never craved anything but I did allow myself to have a few more “cheats” than before I was pregnant. I burned myself out on yogurt in the first trimester so most of the second was oatmeal or english muffins for breakfast. I still had to eat a tablespoon of peanut butter first thing in the morning to keep from feeling nauseous, but otherwise it was smooth sailing.
There aren’t many food options where I work so I ended up eating a lot of the chicken power bowls from Taco Bell…far more than I care to admit. I took prenatals, iron, fish oil, and biotin still as well. I never got sick but a couple times I thought I felt a scratchy throat I took 1/2 of an Emergen-C. I read you shouldn’t have too much vitamin C while pregnant so I was more careful about it.
What I wore
Right around 18 weeks is when it went from burger-bump to baby-bump and I started to wear tighter clothes again. I felt that tighter shirts and dresses made it obvious that it was baby not just fluff. I have to be honest, since I have always been in shape, the idea of people seeing me and thinking I was gaining weight not baby made me really uncomfortable. I stocked up on tight v-neck maternity t-shirts in several colors that I wore with jeans or leggings & kimono tops.
Kimono tops are another thing I stocked up on. I remember reading from some Kardashian years ago about how your arms gain weight during pregnancy and while I worked out a lot, I still liked the idea of covering my upper arms a bit more. Flowy kimono tops were perfect for that while still showing the bump.
I really went all out with tight dresses early on which was actually really fun. I was able to wear almost entirely non-maternity clothes, I just sized up when needed. When we were in Vegas a craps dealer accurately guessed I was 4-5 months pregnant which I don’t think would have happened in a dress that hid more. I didn’t start wearing flowy dresses until late second-trimester when the bump was clearly defined in anything I wore.
All about Skin
Whether it was because of my updated skincare regimen with Oasis products (thanks to my aesthetician friend) or just the leveling of hormones, my skin went back to normal, thank god. I went back to not wearing makeup to work and never deviated from my face wash/serum combo again.
I was also able to get facials which I highly recommend. They are so relaxing and really made me feel pampered and refreshed. Make sure you go to someone who specializes in pre-natal care because there are so many rules about what you can/can’t have on your skin and you don’t want to damage your skin when it is at heightened sensitivity already.
Our Babymoon at Sandals
The first thing I planned after finding out I was pregnant was the babymoon. Seriously, we found out in July and had this booked in August. We had been looking for an excuse to stay at another Sandals Resort ever since our honeymoon and I new this was the perfect opportunity. Some people question staying at an all-inclusive when you can’t drink alcohol but if you have ever been to a Sandals, you know it is far more than just “free” booze.
Sandals Royal Barbados has almost 20 different restaurants that you can dine at, most of which of seated, themed restaurants with menus built by top chefs. We had almost every type of cuisine and still didn’t get to eat at all the places on property!
Our babymoon was perfect but it probably deserves its own post so standby for that in the future! I can’t express enough how worth it is to take a babymoon if you have the ability, it was so relaxing and enjoyable to take our mind off of baby prep and just focus on ourselves.
How We Prepared
Much like the baby name, I knew what I wanted to do for the nursery before we were even trying to have a baby. Seriously, I had a private Pinterest board with all of the adorable Star Wars nursery items. That meant when it came time to prepare, I already had a solid idea of what I wanted. We started to build the nursery in November (4-5 months pregnant) with the crib and slowly added more furniture as we went along and realized we needed certain pieces. By starting earlier, we didn’t feel rushed in decisions we made and I was able to help with things, like re-painting the dresser I thrifted (wearing a mask of course). If you have the room, I definitely recommend starting on the nursery earlier than not.
We also started getting into the baby book reading. I read The Positive Birth Book which really helped me mentally prepare for labor and build my “birth plan.” It really made childbirth and labor seem much less scary than the media portrays it and I have recommended this book to all of my friends. We read Good Dog, Happy Baby to learn how to start preparing the pups for a new addition. While the book had some common sense parts to it, it also helped us adjust certain habits at home to work with the dogs.
Our Baby Registry
I intend on doing a whole post on what we did, should have, and shouldn’t have registered for but what we did do is create multiple baby registries. We had Buy Buy Baby, Babylist, Target, Pottery Barn, and Amazon. Even if you don’t share all of your registries, I recommend creating them at any store you want to buy things at because almost all of them have 15% completion discounts starting 8 weeks prior to due-date. Add those pieces you want and buy them yourself at that discounted price! Babylist is a great registry because you can pull in and combine all of your registries into one easily accessible place for your friends and family.
Even if you don’t want people buying you things and you don’t want to have a baby shower, I recommend doing a registry because 1. it creates a virtual checklist for you of items you may need and 2. people are going to buy you stuff whether you want them to or not, so wouldn’t you rather give them options you won’t have to return later?
Second Trimester Essentials
- T-shirt dresses & Kimono Tops for everyday wear
- This Body Pillow to keep me on my side
- Full panel maternity leggings
- Glycolic Acid face wash & serum
- Lotion to keep my skin hydrated
Thank you so much for reading about my second trimester. Stay tuned for more pregnancy blog posts including our registry, babymoon, maternity and bump friendly outfit ideas and the third trimester. Also, feel free to comment below with any questions that I didn’t address.
Xx
Kali
