Baby Dupont: Second Trimester

Hi everyone, I’m so glad you’re here. I’m writing this as I’ve just headed into my final trimester of this pregnancy. Gosh, that has gone so damn fast!

Let me tell you a little about the last few months…

I’m so grateful to have had a reasonably easy second trimester. It did take a few weeks to transition out of the struggles that the first trimester brought, but as soon as I hit about 17 weeks, I was starting to feel much more human. The best thing to happen was the debilitating tiredness went away. The biggest relief ever, if you know, you know!

My appetite also returned to normal. I’ve been reasonably the same as my pre-pregnancy usual the last few months. No aversions, no consistent cravings. Though, I have to say, if I’m hungry and scrolling on my phone you can bet that my husband is running out to the shops to satisfy whatever it is that I’ve seen, that’s gripped onto my hunger. To be fair, I’ve also had those moments not pregnant, but the need is even stronger when growing a human.

There have been some minor unpleasant things that have made an appearance. First being heartburn & reflux. Antacids are my best friend and come everywhere with me. It seems to be completely spontaneous, it isn’t triggered by anything in particular, but it’s definitely worse when I’m lying down. There has been the occasional night where i’ve slept upright to get some relief, which isn’t the best when insomnia has been a common thing throughout my whole pregnancy so far. I’m hoping it doesn’t get worse as we get closer to baby girl’s due date, but rumour has it that it will.

Another that has popped up is rib pain on my left side. It comes and goes and is completely normal according to my Osteo, who is constantly helping me manage this. Unfortunately there isn’t a lot that can be done other than waiting it out as my ribs are widening to make room for baby. I have a heat pack glued to me pretty regularly and an amazing husband who listens to me complain and then hits me up with magnesium spray and a back rub to release some of the tightness. It’s been getting less frequent, so it looks like the end to this is close (fingers crossed).

It was discovered on my last ultrasound that I have low-lying placenta. I’ve chatted to some Mum’s in my life and so many of them have had this too. The doctors are confident that as baby grows it will move on its own. We are checking it again at 30 weeks to see if it’s moved at all, fingers crossed it has and I won’t require a c-section for delivery.

And the last thing that has only just started to make an appearance is some pelvic pain when walking. I have an appointment with my pelvic physio booked in, so i’m hoping this is something she can sort out for me. Honestly, all women should see one of these. They can be really tricky to get into and are usually quite booked out, but well worth the wait.

Some wonderful things that have happened is that baby girl’s kicks are here, and finally Jules can feel them too. She’s one active little munchkin and it is so nice to have more reassurance that she is okay in there. We had an ultrasound at 21 weeks and she is measuring well and looking just as she should. I love hearing her heartbeat and seeing rather than just feeling her.

We have also started to make some progress on baby’s room and with getting everything organised for her arrival. I really wanted to make the most progress with this during my second trimester so that it will be less to do and think about as we get closer. The biggest hurdle was turning what was my husband’s work from home space, his wardrobe, the spare bedroom and storage for everything that didn’t fit nicely into the living space into a nursery for baby girl. We installed a shed with shelves (by we, I mean Jules), which now stores a lot of the things that don’t need easy access to in the house on a regular basis. We have also been through the whole house and culled A LOT of stuff. If it hasn’t been used recently or isn’t a need to keep item, it has either gone to charity or been sold on marketplace. We also added an IKEA shelving / drawer system into the wardrobe in our bedroom, so that we are back to sharing a wardrobe again. And the laundry, which previously held a lot of ‘garage worthy’ items (we don’t have a garage) that now live in the shed, became the secondary storage space for things like books, board games, stationery etc.

It was a journey and a half, but last weekend we had everything cleared out of the nursery, it had a nice facelift of paint, a thorough clean, and we finally got to pull baby girls things out of boxes and set them up in her fresh space. It was the best feeling! So worth all of the previous effort to make it happen. Also, why do we accumulate so much crap along the way? The amount of things we store for years and never use is ridiculous. I have to tell you though, if you are in need of a clear out, having a baby in a small house is definitely the way to make that happen in a hurry and with ruthless energy.

What we will be ticking off now that we are headed into the final trimester is classes with our midwife, having a baby shower to celebrate baby girl, scrubbing the heck out of the house, finally picking a name, and ticking off the mile long list of baby items still to buy.

This last few months has made everything feel so much more real, though some days I still have to remind myself. We can not wait to meet our beautiful girl.

Nic x