I’m sharing a little bit about what my second trimester with baby number 2 has been like for me. For those of you who are new around here, I’m due at the end of July with our second little one. Harrison, our first baby, just turned 2 in April, and we found out in the winter that we were going to be adding a second little boy to the family!

I blogged about my first trimester HERE, and since I just finished up my second trimester of pregnancy, I wanted to share what the alleged “easiest” trimester has been like for me.

How I’ve Felt: At the beginning of my second trimester, I could feel my energy really start to come back. I wasn’t feeling quite so wiped out by the time 5:00 rolled around anymore, and I was thankful to leave behind the phase of hiding the “bump” that was growing. Along with the second trimester, my skin started to clear again as my hormones started to rebalance to the new heightened normal. I started to feel a bit like myself again in the second trimester. Until the past couple of weeks, I’ve felt relatively good! And now, those aches and pains of the third trimester are starting to creep in. Much earlier than the first time around too, which is interesting. Not sure if it’s the fact that maybe this baby is bigger than Harrison or that my body is more used to pregnancy that my muscles and joints start relaxing for the baby to put pressure on them quicker. Who knows…

Being Pregnant During a Pandemic: When I put on my blogging calendar this topic to blog about, I can guarantee you that I did not even contemplate being pregnant during a pandemic. There’s a lot of emotional bits that have come along being pregnant in a pandemic for me. Like a lot of people, there’s been grieving and coming to a place of acceptance that the birth of this baby is likely not going to look like the birth that I had dreamed of or wanted for him. There’s the possibility that family won’t be able to visit us in the hospital, and at this point, I’m just hopeful that our family will be able to meet him and hold him outside of the hospital!

There’s also just an undercurrent of concern by my doctor and myself of potentially getting COVID-19, and what that would mean having a baby while sick. I’ve heard everything from the baby is essentially taken away from you if you’re positive for the virus to you’re only allowed to be around the baby while feeding. And that is perhaps the scariest possibility of them all. The bonding that happens with your baby those first few weeks is immeasurable and worrying about not having that has kept me up at night sometimes.

Cravings?: Not really. Not unless you count the NEED for ice cream every night. Not sure if that’s being stuck in the house all day with a toddler, or the baby growing inside of me. 🙂 I developed an aversion to chicken, particularly chicken breasts, somewhere around the beginning of the second trimester as well. I had the same aversion last time. I’m just thankful it’s not an aversion to something as crucial right now as coffee!

Work-out Schedule: I trrrrry most weeks to get my booty out of bed in the morning and get my workout in before the rest of the house is up. Toward the end of this second trimester, and six-ish weeks into lockdown chasing around a very active toddler all day, though, has resulted in fewer workouts than I’d like to get in. My body only has so much energy to give during the day! Running around after Harrison should be considered cardio, though. Just saying. The kid is fast.

What’s Baby Been Doing: I started feeling movement with this little one much earlier than the last one. Probably because I knew what it felt like from the first time. This little boy is particularly active in the late evenings, usually just after I’ve sat down to watch a little TV before bed. And then he’s super active come about 3 or 4 in the morning, which means I’m not sleeping nearly as much as I need to right now. He’s kicking and flipping and doing who knows what else in there in the early morning hours. Here’s to hoping maybe he gives that up before he’s born. 🙂

Thing You’ve Enjoyed Most About This Trimester: Feeling more like myself, and the growing bump. But not the huge-ness that comes with the third trimester.

Thing You’ve Found Hardest About This Trimester: Having a full time job and a full time toddler with absolutely no outside help!

What Does Harrison Think?: He loves right now to compare his belly to mine, and he’ll point to my tummy when asked where his baby brother is. Before he goes to bed right now, he likes to see my tummy and give it kisses. I think he understands as much as he can right now as a 2 year old.

Have You Picked a Name?: Nathan and I struggled to come up with Harrison’s name. It was literally the only boy name that we agreed on. I think that we’re potentially down to two, though. I’d still love ideas! Nathan tends to like very traditional, classic names, and I like traditional with a touch of modern. At least that’s how I describe it!

What other questions do you have about the second trimester?