Everyone says that the Second Trimester is the easiest of the three. Besides a couple of bumps in the road and a few scares, I would say that I agree (so far)...
After about 2 weeks into the Second Trimester, my morning sickness got way better. The further I got in, the less sick I felt until it finally became a very rare occasion for me to throw up! That was a very welcome relief...feeling sick
all the time was one of the worst parts of the first trimester.
For a while, my cramps also eased up as well, but they definitely came back, along with the beginnings of round ligament pain. This wasn't surprising considering how fast I was growing. Toward the end of the trimester, it felt like I was doubling in size every week! I finally started gaining weight as well...I think between 12 - 15 pounds. Finding clothes that fit became more and more of a struggle!
The most exciting part of the Second Trimester was finally finding out what we were having! I had read that you can sometimes tell as early as 16 weeks, but that it really depends. I had an appointment scheduled right at 16 weeks, but didn't want to get my hopes too high just in case. Josh had class and couldn't come, so my mom came with me. I had been having some bad cramping that really made me nervous, so mom decided we should definitely push that point and maybe they would give me an ultrasound. Sure enough, when we told her about the cramping, the nurse practitioner did say she would recommend an ultrasound just to make sure everything was okay. She spent the first little bit looking at my cervix, but then let us look at the baby for a bit. As she moved the wand around, I thought I saw a sneak peek and asked "is it a boy?!" She kept trying to get a better shot and finally we could see: it was a boy! Because it was so early, the nurse wouldn't commit to a definitive response, but we were all pretty sure. I rushed out to call Josh and tell him the great news. He was so beyond excited! We would have been thrilled either way, but Josh has always wanted a boy first because he thinks every kid should have an older brother (Josh has four). We can't believe we get a sweet baby boy!
At week 20 we went in for the anatomy scan, and this ultrasound confirmed it. Definitely a boy! It was so fun to get to see all the little parts of his body and watch him move around. The doctor said everything looked great and right on track.
The low point of this trimester came just 2 days after the 20 weeks appointment. I had been cramping that day, but didn't think much of it since that was a frequent occurrence. Then, while I was at a Young Women's activity, I could tell that something was wrong and rushed to the bathroom to discover that I was bleeding. Fortunately, Josh was there that night for a Book of Mormon class. I grabbed him, received a blessing from him and Jordan, and we rushed over to the nearest hospital, Grand Strand. My parents made it there not long after they checked me into a labor and delivery room. They hooked me up to a monitor to make sure I wasn't having any contractions and then the doctor checked my cervix. She said that everything looked good and couldn't tell where all the bleeding was coming from so they ordered an ultrasound. The ultrasound technician was mean! She would yell at me if I tried to look at the screen and kept turning it further away from me so that I couldn't see. I was scared and just wanted to look at my baby and see it he was okay...how does it disrupt her work if my eyes are on the screen too? Very weird and cruel, if you ask me. But the baby was fine. They said it looked like my membranes might be funneling into my cervix a little bit, but the doctor didn't see that when she was checking me. So, they kept me over night to wait for the bleeding to stop. The next morning, they told me they hadn't been able to find the source of the bleeding, so they were going to discharge me and that I needed to call my regular OB right away so that they could take it from there.
My OB made me go down to Waccamaw Hospital that day to monitor me for a while. She agreed that everything looked fine and said to stay on bed-rest for a week and they would check again. When I went in for that next appointment, she said my cervix had changed and wanted to order another ultrasound. This ultrasound did not show any funneling, but my cervix looked a bit shorter, was softer and a little open, but not dilated. So they extended the bed-rest until further notice. Fortunately, my boss was so great and understanding and let me work from home. We were also very blessed with great family, friends and ward members who were kind enough to bring us dinner and check in on me. For a while, the doctor was considering a steroid shot because of the danger of preterm labor, but decided to hold off. The full bed rest lasted for a month, and my cervix didn't get any worse. After that they said I could do a little more activity, but not to push it, and that's pretty much the strategy we hope to stick with for the rest of the pregnancy!
One of my favorite parts of being pregnant is feeling the baby kick. It was hard to tell in the beginning, but I thought I felt my first little flutter around 16 weeks when Josh and I were driving back to work after picking up lunch. From there, the little movements slowly became stronger and easier to recognize. This is definitely one active boy! He kicks all the time; it seems like he has at least one dance party a day! Josh was able to feel him kick the first time around week 21. I had tried to help him feel it several times before that, but every time Josh put his hand on my stomach the baby would stop kicking! We joked that it was because Josh was just so soothing and would calm the baby down. It was very exciting when Josh finally got to feel the little kicks; it made it all seem more real to him.
One more trimester to go!
