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Second Trimester Pregnancy: The “Easy” Stage No One Explains · Life After Birth by Her Health Room

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  everyone says that the second trimester is easier, but is it?
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  What does it do to you physically?
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  Does it affect you mentally at all, and can it affect your work?
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  That's what I'm gonna cover off in this video today.
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  If you're new here, I'm Remi.
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  I'm an obstetrics and gynecology doctor, a mother of two, soon to be three, and I'm talking you through my preconception, first trimester, second trimester, third trimester, and beyond of what I've experienced in this pregnancy.
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  check out the first two videos before you dive into how I navigated the second trimester whilst also sharing tips for you where you are on your journey.
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  This channel is for people who are navigating pregnancy, postpartum, and beyond.
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  I want it to be your one-stop shop to really understand what's happening to you physically, mentally, and socially.
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  So subscribe, share it with a friend, and let's dive into the video So what really happens as you enter the second trimester?
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  For me personally, I just felt that the symptoms that I'd had in the first trimester really began to disappear.
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  So I had really significant fatigue, which I've mentioned in my previous video.
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  And then the nausea, the strong smells, the bloating slowly started to disappear.
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  So I'm not saying that you'll get to 13 weeks and all those symptoms you had before just vanish.
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  But also, as the time goes on, you do start to get your energy back.
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  Some of the nausea that you are feeling starts to level off because your pregnancy hormone sort of hits a plateau.
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  And for me specifically, I just felt better.
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  I remember being in the first trimester being like,"Once I get to my second trimester, I'm sure it will be better." And it was probably about the 18-week mark that it got better.
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  Not saying I didn't have any symptoms at all.
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  I still have had, issues where it doesn't really feel like you can taste anything or food isn't that great.
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  I still had some bloating, but it wasn't as severe.
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  I was probably able to go to toilet a bit better.
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  And then I knew that I was coming up to my scan at 20 weeks.
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  So the scan at 20 weeks specifically is to check for any anomalies.
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  Like, does the baby have any physical issues that's wrong with them?
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  We routinely, talk about it as a gender scan, and it is also that because that's how many weeks you need to be, to be accurate on whether it has external genitalia that's in line with being a male or a female But the purpose of that scan really is to look at the way in which the baby's growing, see if there are any anomalies that are detected at that time, and also direct where your care needs to go to.
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  So in the first trimester, you would have had your dating scan, and this scan happens in the second trimester.
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  If you're in the UK, you might realize in the second trimester you have way less touch points with your midwife if you're going through, like, NHS care because they would have seen you at your booking appointment.
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  They might have seen you at your 16 weeks to give you blood test results, and then you're typically not seen again by the midwife until you're 28 weeks unless it's your first pregnancy and you might have an appointment at 25 weeks.
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  And just bearing in mind that the second trimester runs from 13 weeks to about weeks.
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  So in that trimester specifically, most women do feel better because their symptoms have relieved.
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  However, if someone has severe hyperemesis gravidarum, so really bad nausea and vomiting in pregnancy, it is not unusual for them to continue having it through the second trimester, even into the third trimester.
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  And I've even seen some people who have a really bad first trimester, second trimester they're fine, and third trimester a lot of those symptoms do come back.
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  So this middle period where it seems a bit quiet on the appointment front, your symptoms are getting a bit better, what else really is happening for you or should be happening for you?
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  So one of the first things that I was aware of was the movements of the baby.
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  So because I've had two before, I thought that I would start feeling the baby as early as, like, 14, 15 weeks, and that actually wasn't the case.
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  It probably was about 16, maybe even 18 weeks that I was convinced that I felt the baby.
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  And I say this because in my second pregnancy I was sure that I was aware of the movements as early as like 14 weeks.
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  And if you've not had a baby before, it's not unusual to not feel the movements at 20 weeks.
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  But if by 24 weeks you've not felt the movements, then you would need a scan to see how the baby is.
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  And then there'll be lots of other things that affect movements, and that might be something that I'll go into in another separate video.
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  But that was one of the first things that I was thinking of when I was in the second trimester like,"When am I gonna start feeling the baby move?" Trying to be really in tune with any flutters and things that I felt.
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  But I don't think I convincingly felt the baby till about 18 weeks.
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  So I guess that's to reassure you that if you haven't, it's not particularly abnormal.
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  It will happen for different people.
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  And, when you get to that 20-week scan, about then you would expect that you are feeling some type of movement.
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  And it won't feel like a kick like you're expecting.
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  Often it will just feel like a flutter.
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  It might feel as if your bowels are moving.
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  So if you're really hungry and your tummy was rumbling, like that type of feeling now I know in my first video, which I really encourage you to go back and watch, I spoke about the rate of miscarriage being higher in the first trimester.
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  In the second trimester it's still possible, that miscarriage occurs.
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  The numbers are lower but it is still something to be aware of.
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  So if you are before 24 weeks and you notice any bleeding or any spotting, you definitely should still go to see a doctor because there is a risk that you could be miscarrying or if you're 23 weeks, 24 weeks, going into really early labor.
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  If you'll get like a gush of liquid, that could suggest that the waters around the baby have gone, and that would need to be seen as well.
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  And for some people who've had like surgery on the, on the neck of the womb, so the cervix, before there might be issues with the cervix that show up in the second trimester.
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  And again, any bleeding, any liquid, any spotting, it would be really important at that point to go and seek help from your like local maternity service because there is a risk.
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  And again, depending on where you are in the world, babies born at like 23 weeks onwards do have a chance of survival.
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  But I'm not gonna go into that in this video because, It's very complex, and it really does depend on where you are in the world and what they can offer you And so those are things that you would need to go and seek help for.
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  And like I've insinuated, it can feel really quiet in the second trimester, almost like the forgotten trimester.
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  if you're worried about anything, the second trimester is often when you might have access to the maternity triage.
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  So you can go there on an emergency basis, you can contact your midwife, you can contact your GP.
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  And if you're being seen by an obstetrician, the late second trimester is when you might expect to get your first few appointments, depending on your sort of personal circumstance.
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  Largely for me, my second trimester really was chilled.
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  I was loving the burst of energy that I had.
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  I'd gotten to a point where the bump was more visible, and I wasn't really in a head space of where I wanted to show that.
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  And I think that's to do with me being slightly embarrassed that it was my third child, which is really weird and I'm gonna make a separate video on that.
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  But also in that I was changing jobs at the time as well, so I just wanted to leave my old job without them knowing I was pregnant and I wanted to start my new job without them knowing I was pregnant.
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  And the way in which I did that was to wear baggier clothing'cause my tummy was actually quite significantly bigger.
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  And I think it's really important to say'cause not everybody wants people to know that they're pregnant.
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  Especially in the workplace, you might find that you start getting treated differently.
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  If you're starting a new role they might not take you seriously and those were my motivations.
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  And so even thinking around work, it will be different depending on where you are in the world.
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  But, Going through your contract and seeing what your rights are.
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  So for me, I knew that I only needed to share the news about being pregnant, by the 25th week of my pregnancy, I needed to have told my employer that I was in fact pregnant and going on maternity leave.
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  I told them, I think, maybe three or four weeks before that deadline just to give them chance to replace me.
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  And the choice, the way in which you do it is up to you.
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  Once you do tell them, especially if you're in the UK, they need to risk assess you and see that you're safe to carry on working in the way that you have been working, and that whatever you do for work doesn't put you in danger or affect you or the pregnancy.
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  So there are obviously benefits to telling earlier.
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  So if you were in your first trimester and really struggling with the pregnancy, telling them at that point would probably be reasonable so that you could have reasonable adjustments made.
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  But then it's still your choice because, again, I'm very aware that when you are pregnant at work, people start to either treat you differently, give you different bits of work, et cetera, et cetera.
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  It's a quiet enough trimester that you can then reasonably start to make plans about maternity leave, maternity pay, when you're gonna go and come back.
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  And those are the types of questions that start to get asked in that period of time thinking about, mental health, how you cope when you are in a second trimester will be different for different people.
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  Like, if you've had a mental health condition in the past like depression, anxiety, you might find as the pregnancy progresses it might get better or worse, and it's really important that you discuss any changes with the person looking after you.
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  For a lot of people, where the symptoms are getting better, your mood starts to get better, your energy levels start to get better, so you find that you're doing more things, and that can have a positive impact on your mental health as well.
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  And if you're on medication, that might be the time that people start to be like,"Oh, I could go without." I definitely wouldn't do that without speaking to your doctor or your clinician because they might have a different type of advice for you around that.
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  I think it really starts to feel in the second trimester y- you're not just, like, coping with the symptoms, but you're actually an active participant in the pregnancy, and I think that's really key.
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  I was watching an interview that Anne Hathaway was giving the other day, and she's obviously 43.
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  She's pregnant.
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  She's having her third baby.
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  And someone was like,"Oh, she's so much better on this press tour than she was when she did The Devil Wears Prada press tour." And she was probably in her first trimester trying to stay awake, trying not to vom, going from country to country.
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  Whereas we've caught her now at a different stage of the pregnancy where she probably has more energy, less symptoms.
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  And you'll find that across the course of the pregnancy, you will feel different at different times.
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  So now I'm in my third trimester.
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  My early third trimester felt very much like my second trimester, whereas now my late third trimester feels like, ugh, save me, I need this to be over soon.
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  So there will be ebbs and flows to it, and it's about recognizing, what's normal, what's normal for you, and seeking help at an appropriate time And if you're like an ambitious girly like me, I definitely was like,"Okay, my second trimester, I've got 13 weeks." If we're being s- honest with ourselves, it was probably a bit less than that because the symptoms don't just disappear at week 14.
• 11:03
  But I got to a place maybe about 20 weeks where I was like,"You know what?
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  Between weeks 20 and weeks 34, I'm gonna have energy, so I'm gonna make use of that." And I remember people being like,"No, no, no, slow down, slow down." So I would say if you are getting to that place where you are getting energy and there are certain things you want to do before the baby comes or before the fatigue pops back in, then making use of that window for yourself is also really good.
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  Obviously not neglecting yourself, not neglecting the growing baby inside you or your own symptoms, but seeing it as a window of opportunity to probably get stuck into things that you wanted to, knowing that actually the third trimester is coming.
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  My next video will be about the third trimester, the appointments, the growth of the baby and things like that, and my experiences as well.
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  If you have any specific questions, drop them in the comment section below.
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  What was your second trimester like?
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  Were you one of the lucky ones who got all the joys of it?
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  Or were you still bogged down by a lot of the symptoms from the first trimester this is Her Health Room, the Making Room podcast, and everything we discuss here is to give you clarity as you navigate pregnancy, postpartum, and beyond.
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  And I am your friendly obstetrician helping you do that.
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  So subscribe to this channel, and I will catch you in my next video where I'm talking about my experiences of the third trimester and giving you some key takeaways that you can do when you're in the third trimester thinking about birth planning.
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  Maybe I'll do a separate video on birth planning and delivery and trying to induce delivery because, yeah, that feels like it's taken up my head space over the last couple of weeks.
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  So do subscribe if you want to know how I've gotten on with that.
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  And yeah, maybe the next time you see me, I have a little bubba in my hands.
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  But until then