Pregnancy Diary - My Second Trimester

I can't believe it's time to share my second trimester diary! It doesn't feel that long ago that I was sharing my first trimester pregnancy diary... which makes me nervous and feel like time is flying by far too quickly! Although I'm quite nervous, I'm so excited to meet my little one. Writing these little updates every week and sharing my pregnancy journey on my Instagram has helped me to feel less alone and I've really enjoyed documenting this special time in my life. I feel so lucky and grateful to have this platform where I can share these things. So without further ado, here is my second trimester diary!

WEEK 14

Okay, so this week I've pretty much gone off chocolate. I've had a few nibbles here or there, but the idea of a full bar of chocolate makes me shudder, which is SO unlike me! I can't believe that the one time I sort of have an excuse to eat as much chocolate as I want (within reason, of course), I've gone off it.

I've noticed this week that my hair and nails have started growing particularly quickly, and my hair is a lot shinier than usual, which is nice! However, my skin has started coming out in spots in very weird places, like under my chin and on the tops of my cheeks. I've heard that spots in pregnancy point to a girl, so we'll have to wait and see...

My craving this week was blue raspberry Tango Ice Blasts. I've written in my phone notes - 'Blue Tango Ice Blasts. Can't get enough of them' which pretty much sums it up!

WEEK 15

This week has been terrifying. On the Friday night after school, I had some light spotting, which would be worrying enough on a normal day, never mind whilst being pregnant. I immediately phoned the Maternity Unit at my hospital, who then passed me on to the Gynaecology Assessment Unit. As I was 15 weeks, this was still classed as early pregnancy, meaning I would be seen by Gynaecology rather than Maternity (which is from 16 weeks onward), which was confusing. I immediately went into the hospital to be seen, where they said they couldn't tell me definitively whether or not baby was okay as it was out of hours and at a weekend. As you can imagine, I was absolutely distraught and panicked. After a few tests and examinations, they concluded that this was probably due to an infection and I was sent away with antibiotics and the promise of an emergency scan in the next few days. Before this, I had a preference for boy or girl, but in that moment all of that completely faded and I just wanted a healthy baby who was safe.

I still hadn't heard anything about my scan by Monday lunchtime, so I gave them a call. They said that they didn't have any appointments available for the next week. I explained, whilst almost in tears, that I was so worried about my baby and that nobody could tell me if baby was okay or not. I'd spent the weekend in a constant worry and just hearing the heartbeat or seeing baby on a scan was all I needed to reassure me. The lady on the phone put me on hold for 5 minutes or so, then came back and offered an appointment an hour later. Needless to say, I immediately told work I was leaving, jumped in my car, phoned my mum to beg her to come with me (as unfortunately there was no way B would be able to get there in time from his work) and got to the hospital.

We waited there for a while and then it was time for the ultrasound. I felt more nervous than I did for the first scan, which I didn't think was possible... until the sonographer (who was actually the same sonographer I'd had for my 12 week scan) said, "There they are, and the heartbeat is going strong," and my mum and I breathed the BIGGEST sigh of relief. Mum squeezed my shoulder and I blinked back at her through tears. I was just so relieved to hear that baby was absolutely fine and to see him/her on the screen again. Once that initial panic was over, I was just staring at my beautiful baby on screen. I couldn't believe how much they'd grown in just 2 weeks!

WEEK 16

The leg cramp at night came back with a vengeance this week (ouch!) and I am only really feeling uncomfortable at night. I need to invest in a pregnancy pillow asap, but I just don't know which one to go for! We also had our heartbeat appointment where we got to hear baby's heart for the first time. I did a urine sample (which is just standard now for every time I visit the hospital) and they checked my blood pressure before basting me with the ultrasound jelly and putting the doppler on. I wasn't prepared for the fact that it might take a while to find baby, so I did panic! After a tense few minutes, the midwife found baby (which was VERY low down) and the room was filled with the strong sound. B actually filmed it for me so that we had the audio, and you can really see the panic in my face and then the sheer relief when we could hear it! Apparently, depending on whether you hear a horse galloping or a train when listening to the heartbeat suggests whether baby is a boy or girl, but B and I both heard different things so who knows?

WEEK 17

This week, we felt baby move for the first time! It was only a tiny movement, but I thought I felt something so grabbed B's hand to see if he could feel it too. I can't wait to be able to feel baby move properly, although I've been told I'll regret saying that when it's booting me in the ribs and bladder! Also this week, my sense of taste and smell has gone really funny. Things smell and taste completely differently! In particular, Mini Eggs smell really perfume-y, garlic bread (which I used to love!) tastes awful and baked beans taste like metal. I finally bought a V-shaped pillow this week too, which has been a game changer and something I didn't realise I was missing! I've been sleeping so much better and it helps to stop me from rolling so much in the night. In terms of cravings, I'm currently loving chocolate-filled crepes.... random I know, but I think this will be fun to look back on!

I had my third Covid vaccine this week too, and I was so unsure as to whether or not to get boosted whilst being pregnant. I spoke about this on Instagram, but in the end I decided that I'd rather have the vaccine to protect myself and baby from Covid as I've been told it's dangerous to catch it in the second/third trimester. I know there's a lot of debate on whether or not to get vaccinated, but I think it's such a personal decision and, as it's recommended now by the NHS, I decided that for me it was the best decision.

WEEK 18

Okay, so... this pregnancy is flying by! I felt like the first 12 weeks (well, even less than that from finding out!) went so slowly because it was such a huge secret and an agonising wait until the first scan, but now it seems to be going so fast. I'm disappointed in myself that I haven't taken a bump picture in the same outfit every week, so I'm now going to try and make sure I stick to it every week. We have been documenting the bump in other photos, though. Gross symptom, but I've noticed this week that my right nostril is almost always bloody? Apparently this is normal, although having never had a nosebleed before it's a little concerning! My sense of smell has also gone crazy this week - everything smells SO strong!

WEEK 19

I can feel a lot more flutters this week as baby is getting bigger and moving around! The leg cramp is back (only in my left leg for now) and some days it's been so painful that it hurts to walk. Heartburn has also started this week, which I've never had before. My friend at work gave me Rennie's (which, again, I've never had as I've never had heartburn) and I didn't know you had to chew them, so I swallowed them whole! Oops... I felt like they were lodged in my throat for ages afterwards, so I wouldn't recommend doing that.

WEEK 20

It's 20 week scan time! We were SO excited to confirm the gender (since we did the Sneak Peek test and already had an idea!). We went in for the scan on Tuesday 29th March (which is a lot longer than the 12 week scan as they have to measure lots of different parts of baby, check the four chambers of the heart, check fingers/toes etc) and B couldn't take his eyes off the screen. As he had Covid for my 12 week scan, this was the first one that he was able to come to! It was so sweet watching him watching our baby wiggle around on the screen. At the end of the scan, she asked if we wanted to know the gender and said that she couldn't get a proper look, but she'd had a look from lots of different angles and thought we were having a baby GIRL!

Now, the awkward thing is, our Sneak Peek test told us it was a boy (erm...) so now we were really confused. As the sonographer couldn't get a proper look, and because we'd done the Sneak Peek test, we weren't 100% convinced that baby was a girl. We filmed a gender reveal video for our friends and family (which I've also now shared on Instagram), but we decided to go for a private gender scan just to confirm. We really didn't mind either way, but we wanted to know once and for all so that we could start buying bits and decorating the nursery. It was the best decision we could have made!

We booked the private gender scan for Friday night (1st April) because we just wanted to know. It was £60 for the scan, which included printed photographs and 4D view. We were allowed to bring up to 4 people, so my mum and dad came with us too. When we went in, the room was dimly lit with candles and calm music playing. I instantly felt relaxed and excited to once and for all find out the gender. My mum and dad sat on a little sofa on the side, and B sat next to me. There was a huge TV screen on the wall in front of us where baby would be shown! The sonographer was LOVELY and explained every little thing we were looking at, making sure we could see everything and pointing things out to us. He confirmed that baby is a GIRL and showed us her little fingers and toes. It looks like she'll have big feet like Mummy! He then flipped to a 4D view and we could see her little face! Her tiny button nose... it just felt so reassuring and so much more real. He showed us so much more of baby than we'd ever seen on the NHS scans and really took the time to go through everything. After the scan, he handed me a wallet full of pictures and gave me a password to download them onto my phone too. It was such a lovely experience and one that I'd recommend to anyone who's pregnant, even if you don't want to know the gender! It was also so magical to have my mum and dad there, who were absolutely made up to see their first grandchild on the screen.

When we got back in the car to go home, I logged onto the website to download the pictures and saw that there were also videos of baby! They are only around 3 seconds long, but it's so lovely to have them and to be able to look back on to remember what she looked like when she was so tiny!

WEEK 21

Baby girl has been moving like crazy this week! We haven't been able to see her movements yet (except for one time when I spotted a tiny push whilst I was in the bath!) but she's usually most active first thing in the morning and last thing at night. This week we also ordered baby's nursery furniture (SO exciting!) and went pram shopping. We really need to make a list of everything we already have (which, to be honest, is mostly clothes) and everything we still need to get.

WEEK 22

Week 22 is here and I honestly can't believe how fast it's going. It's scary to look on my pregnancy app and see that I have more weeks behind me and less weeks ahead of me! I'm so excited to meet our baby girl but I'm also terrified at the same time... I don't think my bump has changed too much, although I'm hoping I'm out of the 'is she bloated or pregnant' stage!

WEEK 23

I'm now finding sleeping quite uncomfortable, and getting out of bed is even more of a challenge than it was before! I have to sort of roll onto one side to lift myself up as it feels like my stomach will explode if I just sit up. So grateful to past me for buying that pregnancy pillow, as it was 10000% worth every penny!

WEEK 24

This week my family and B's family met for the first time! There just hasn't been an opportunity for them to meet before, but we wanted them to meet before baby arrived. We went to a lovely local Indian for a meal and it was really nice. This is actually where the photo above was taken!

As my stomach is growing, my belly button is completely changing shape and it's something I've been so weirdly fascinated by! It freaks Ben out, but I've found it so interesting. I wonder if it will go completely flat or if it will pop out?

WEEK 25

I feel like my bump really popped out this week! I'm finding it more difficult to dress myself because things either don't fit at all or don't look/sit right.

This week I caught a really bad sickness bug (probably from school!) I went into work one day and just didn't feel right at all. Everyone said I looked pale and just 'off'. Then my stomach began cramping - it felt like shooting pains across my stomach, like someone was tightening a belt around or squeezing my stomach for a few seconds and then releasing it. It was exactly what I'd imagined contractions to feel like, so obviously I was panicked. Because of the pain, I couldn't feel baby moving which also freaked me out. I told work that I would be going straight to the hospital to get checked out. Thankfully my mum was able to meet me there, although when I arrived B was there too! Both of them were as worried as I was.

I had to wait for a little bit in maternity triage, but it wasn't long before they put a doppler on to hear baby's heartbeat. Thankfully it was absolutely fine and as strong as ever, but they still needed to run tests to determine what was wrong. After a few hours, they decided that it was probably a sickness bug and said I could go home, but to come back if the pain continued/got worse. I went home and went straight to sleep for hours! Thankfully, when I woke up the pain was gone, but it was still really scary. I took the next day off work, and when I returned I was told that apparently there was a Norovirus outbreak in school which could have explained everything.

I also had a midwife appointment booked for the same day I'd gone into hospital! Once I got back to the hospital, they said that I didn't really need to come in as they'd already completed most of the checks when I'd been there in the morning. I ended up getting my Whooping Cough vaccine though. This week I also finally saw baby moving through my stomach! It was only a tiny movement but I was able to catch it on camera.

WEEK 26

I can feel baby move so much more now, and I've finally been able to see her properly moving around! It's such a weird, but lovely, feeling. It reassures me that she's okay and I already know I'm going to miss it so much when she's actually here. Before getting pregnant, the idea of feeling and seeing baby move inside me made me feel really weird, but now that it's actually happening it's completely different!

I'm becoming more and more tired now, and have been taking a LOT of naps. I feel first-trimester tired all over again! At first I felt really guilty, like I was wasting time - but growing a human is exhausting and I need to give myself a break.

This week we've been sorting out baby's nursery! When we came to view our house before buying it, we joked that it would be baby's room. I didn't think it would be happening so soon! Thankfully, it was the only room in the house we didn't have a plan for and didn't decorate. Instead, it was sort of a storage room for all of our moving boxes and random stuff that didn't have a proper home. I've been on a major decluttering spree recently (perhaps this is what people mean by nesting?) and have listed loads of stuff on Vinted - stuff that I probably should have gotten rid of a long time ago! It's made me realise how much of a hoarder I really am... But I'm determined to change that!

WEEK 27

Baby is moving all the time now! This week she's started kicking me in the ribs, which is... an experience. It's not been too painful yet, but I can imagine that as she gets bigger it will get a whole lot worse! Sometimes her kicks make me stop in my tracks and lose my train of thought. This week I ordered a changing mat (which has polka dots all over it, of course), some bottles, some rose gold hangers for her wardrobe and some polka dot stickers for her wall! Our original nursery plan was to paint it half white and half pink with a scalloped edge (I saw something similar on Pinterest and thought it looked really cute!) but finding the 'right' pink was impossible, so I changed my mind. I feel like I'm really annoying B at the minute with my indecisiveness - although I was never really good at making decisions before!

And now we're up to date! I can't believe I'm going into my third trimester already... sh*t is getting real! I feel like the days and weeks are flying by and I'm not sure I feel ready. I've learnt so much already but I feel like I still have so much to learn/do/plan/buy before she's here. I've really enjoyed documenting my pregnancy journey on here and Instagram, as I know I'll really appreciate it in the future when I look back!

Thank you so much for reading this post if you have - I'm not sure if anyone else will be as interested in my pregnancy as I obviously am, but I thought I'd share it anyway in the hopes that it helps someone else!