What People Don't Tell You During The Second Trimester

There can be a myriad of symptoms, feelings, and interactions with other people throughout a woman's pregnancy. Many that most people know about, but there are some that either other people don't go through...or simply they forget to tell you. We've already gone through the first trimester in my post, "What People Don't Tell You During The First Trimester". You know what though...my pregnancy just continued to surprise me...all the way through. Most people know that by the second trimester your nausea is supposed to have dissipated, but what I didn't expect was that the rush to the porcelain thrown could still happen every once in a while (for some, nausea remains consistent throughout the entire pregnancy and for those women, I am thoroughly sorry). Sitting at a friends house, no one could decide what to eat for dinner. For some reason I had waited a while to eat that day and I was starving. The minutes turned into hours while I waited for people to decide what they wanted to eat and order it. Then all of a sudden it hit me...the nausea and shaking. I had waited WAY. TOO. LONG.   I was suddenly sitting in their bathroom trying desperately to not throw up. It turns out nausea, sometimes doesn't go away after the first trimester. Any time that I forgot to eat, this happened. I quickly learned to eat...immediately! In the second trimester your body starts to change, but at first you don't look pregnant (especially when it's your first pregnancy). So you become paranoid that no one knows your pregnant, but they just think you've gained some weight. So you do whatever you can to make sure that people know you are pregnant... A. Place your hand on your belly in a very maternal way. B. Simply tell everyone the exciting news no matter where you are. C. We all buy this shirt to cover the tiny bump that's growing until you can finally have a legitimate baby belly.   One thing that I was completely unprepared for was...wait for it... The sex hormones. My husband was grateful, but this completely hit me by surprise. I wanted sex constantly during my second trimester! Whatever had happened to me gave my libido a boost...and although we weren't complaining...it certainly did come to an unsuspecting soul. All I have to say is just enjoy it. And when everything people say sounds like a sexual innuendo, just remember, it might be the pregnancy hormones talking. During the second trimester, I gained more weight than my entire pregnancy. No matter what I did, I jumped on the scale in the doctor's office and my eyes grew as the numbers increased weekly! Just a side note: Don't worry ladies, weight gain doesn't necessarily continue this fast for all women! It could slow down during the third trimester...but just remember all the water, blood, and baby that are growing inside of you to create this amazing little being! During the second trimester, I finally had my energy back. I wasn't falling asleep at seven any longer and I could live a pretty normal and healthy social life. Pretty Normal. Just not Completely Normal. My social life suddenly consisted of a change of clothes in the car. Why, you say? Because I suddenly had become the clumsiest woman in the world and knocked over nearly every water glass around me. Friends were getting used to mopping up my messes. Somehow the pregnancy had affected my equilibrium. My hair was getting thicker and thicker. I could sometimes go from fine to starving in a matter of seconds. People want to comment on how big you are. This reigns true to for the last two trimesters. My brother saw me at five months and said, "Man, Tessa, if you are already this big, you are going to be huge!" It's a good thing that I'm not sensitive because he might have felt the pain from someone else. The crying that started during your first trimester for joyful things, doesn't stop...everything is a monumental moment and you suddenly embrace it with tears. Once again, the excitement outweighs any and all irritants. The second trimester is a time when you feel the first flutter (mine literally felt like a small butterfly in my stomach), you start to see a belly that means your baby is growing, and you can find out the sex if you want to. You can begin to feel and look pregnant, but not be so close to the end event that you are panicking... So, if you are there now or are hoping to be soon, I hope you enjoy every moment. It's only gets better... XO, Tessa