My Learnings from Pregnancy- Trimester 2

Typed from hand written notes on April, 2018

Pregnant women might wait impatiently for Trimester 2 so they could get some much needed relief from nausea. Mine just rolled in nicely. I didn't even know when it was week 12-13. A part of me is scared is that I might have to compensate/pay for this comfort in later months. Who knows! I’m not going to stress for many months for a day or two of pain in the end. We can deal with that later when the time comes.

I hardly told a soul about my pregnancy in first trimester. As second trimester rolled on, we told our parents (on their 32^nd wedding anniversary, March 2018) and just a handful of friends + my manager at work. My body wasn’t showing so that helped. Telling your parents is such an anxious and exciting moment. Husband, who never has any anxiety symptoms, shared the feeling of butterflies in stomach, losing your shit (literally) and sweating in hands & armpits. All the signs I’m well aware of, they often strike me before anxious happenings. I’m such a pro at recognizing them now. I truly respect and acknowledge them too. No shame in accepting something our bodies have been designed to do naturally (fight or flight mode!). Parents were elated

Husband had stumbled across a small clip from his favorite Japanese cartoon series ‘Naruto’, while watching it. It’s when Naruto’s mom & dad find out they are pregnant and are in disbelief. They are the cutest, hugging and telling each other “Am I going to be father?" "Am I going to be a mother?". I’m not sure when exactly he came across this clip but husband tells me it was a good few month’s before we conceived. When he saw it, he decided we’ll use it one day, if and when that time came. Of course I didn’t know all this. How blessed were we to be actually recording that clip from series and sending it to our near and dear ones. We sent it with no caption and no hints. Let them decipher it. Some guessed, some didn’t. My mum’s reaction “FINALLY”. MIL was jumping and dancing in joy! It was a beautiful moment.

If there’s one thing I’ve noticed in 2^nd Trimester, it’s the surge in Energy and Productivity. I’m a procrastinator, but somehow, my mind went into overdrive in these weeks. I finished a lot of tasks and juggled multiple hats- training at work, house chores, exercising, studying, assignments, blogging, cooking and gardening. All was done. I found my mental energy and focus at its best. I suspect it has something to do with a fact that in 5 months from now, I wouldn’t be able to do so many tasks in one go. So, I tried to finish off commitments as and when they came.

Rujuta Diwekar's book 'Pregnancy Notes' had a very interesting analogy that stuck with me. Pregnancy multiplies everything. If you’ve been a happy person pre-pregnancy, you’ll find yourself happier for no reason during pregnancy. If you’ve struggled with anxiety and stress, it’ll multiply manifold. If you’ve always been addicted to junk food, you’ll crave for it even more. If you’ve been eating healthy prior to pregnancy, you’ll eat even better during it. And I found this so true. I actually ate better in my pregnancy. I’ve never been a milk drinker but I loved having cashews + milk before bed. I enjoyed fruits and berries more. I am a great multi-tasker (if I can say so myself! it’s what fuels my brain) and I found my multi-tasking abilities soar in second trimester. I’ve been on and off with weight training in the past and preferred cardio to it but some switch was flicked and I did more strength workouts in my pregnancy than I’ve done all my life. In-fact, my walks were considerably reduced, something I’ve happily done all my adult life. Walking was also my midwife's recommendation, instead of weight training. I still trusted Rujuta’s advice more coz my focus is getting back to the same clothes 6-9 months after delivery, naturally, without any stress or guilt.

Rujuta also calls second trimester as an opportunity to get ready for all that’s coming. First trimester is hard for many, then comes the breezy second, before you are eventually broken and tested in third trimester. So it is a time to focus on all that needs doing while you can do it. Build up strength while you feel like working out and fuel up for a growing baby and body while you still enjoy food. Oh! and catch up on sleep. Sound advice? I think so.

My symptoms from one week to another, matched the BabyCentre app’s prediction exactly. It was so freaky to be so predictable. I had itchy, watery eyes one particular week, checked the app and it said it was common in that week (16^th I think, can’t remember exactly). One week, I woke up from horrible leg cramps in the middle of night, all week, as predicted. Magnesium supplement was suggested but I found it interesting that I didn’t get cramps on days I stretched and worked out. If I didn’t move myself for 3 days or more, I was sure to have cramps that night, which is something I’m grateful for, coz that motivated me to move more.

Size wise, I was doing pretty good till week 18, wearing my pre-pregnancy clothes with the same confidence and not showing out of my clothes (even though I did have a bump that only I could see). Something happened in Week 19 and I was suddenly showing (blueberry was 6 inches, size of an heirloom tomato then). I could see my tummy taking that round shape. I hardly felt pregnant in any way before week 19 but after that I could surely see that extra layer of fat. Some of my t-shirts would sit funnily around it so I waved them goodbye for a good 7 months. I suddenly had to think what I was wearing and if it accentuated the bump. I wasn’t scared, ashamed or wary of it in any way but because I hadn’t told anyone at work, I had to be conscious of how I looked.

Second trimester is also the safest and best time to travel/Babymoon, which is something I really really wanted to do. Any excuse for travel I’d say but this one was special because there are a million places on my wishlist and time is ticking. It is now or never time for many of them. Unfortunately, as of week 20 (with just 6-7 weeks of T2 in hand), we still haven’t been able to plan a trip. Pending projects and financial constraints has us home and I’m most bummed about it. Oh! the dreams of European summer!

It’s Week 20 tomorrow and no one at work has made out my pregnancy yet, so it’s a success. I’m officially half way there now. So far my pregnancy has been exactly as my sister exclaimed “pregnancy is way exaggerated & overrated. It’s actually pretty good and stress-free. I’m actually having a good time.

Knocks wood**

Nishu

Trimester 2 photo-diary