Second Trimester Update: Weeks 13-20

Originally I thought I would do one blog post recapping each trimester. However, over the past 2 weeks, I have felt SIGNIFICANTLY better than I did from weeks 13-20 (I'm 22 weeks today). So, I decided to split the second-trimester recaps into two. Quite honestly, I feel pretty amazing right now (which is crazy for me to say). I kind of feel like I did before I was pregnant, just with a bump, hungrier and a bit of lower back pain. I thought it would be good to recap the past couple of months before I erase them from my memory forever haha.

The first half of the second trimester was very rough for me, I'm not going to lie. I think this was partly due to my expectation that the second trimester is the easiest (essentially your old self with a bump). Unfortunately for me, this wasn't the case. There is a part of me in writing this post that worries it will come off as just complaining. While this isn't my intention, in trying to be authentic and real I do feel like I need to be honest about my struggles over the past couple of months and not sugar coat it. So let's get right in.

I expected that after feeling sick in the first trimester, I would feel healthy and strong in my second. I am normally a very energetic person, who thrives off of eating healthy, feeling fit and rarely getting sick. Due to my morning sickness and food aversions in the first trimester, I was eating a lot of shit (salads just did not do it for me). I felt nauseous and tired. I naively assumed that the second trimester would be the complete opposite.

The first time I realized that I wouldn't be bouncing back to my old self so quickly was around week 15. I went for a run in the morning and then went to visit my friend downstairs.  I was kind of hungry but figured I'd wait for 30 minutes for Ray to get home so that we could go eat together. After speaking to her for a bit, I opened her door to head back upstairs. As soon as I opened her door, the hallway started spinning and I started sweating. I immediately walked back into her apartment and lied on the couch. Luckily, she's been pregnant twice before and knew the drill. I fanned myself while she went to get me juice and after a few minutes, it passed. I won't lie, while she remained very calm I was secretly freaked out. WTF just happened?! The only time I have ever come close to fainting was a blood test. And now I was fainting just because? That's when I learned the importance of drinking 2-3 liters of water a day and not really letting myself get hungry.

The following week I headed to Montreal to visit my mom before Italy. One night I took a relaxing bath, as I used to do every night before bed. After my bath, I sat on the couch talking to my mom when all of a sudden I got so hot and turned around and threw up. It literally came out of nowhere. It was Friday night but I emailed my doctor and thankfully he wrote me back very quickly. He said I likely got overheated in the bath and that my blood pressure probably dropped, which made me nauseous. He told me to make sure I stayed really hydrated, was eating well and not to get too hot. I won't lie, it freaked me out. Again, I am used to being someone who is extremely healthy. I all of a sudden felt fragile, in this weird way. At any moment would I faint? Throw up? I was constantly making sure I was eating and drinking and staying cool. When we got back to LA a similar thing happened. I woke up out of nowhere sweating and threw up. Luckily I had my monthly doctor's visit coming up.

At my doctor's appointment, we determined that my blood pressure was pretty low. While I've learned that doctors are more concerned with high blood pressure during pregnancy than low blood pressure, we did a blood test to ensure there was nothing underlying that was causing my low blood pressure. It turns out that everything looked good, it was just a symptom of being pregnant. My doctor stressed the need for me to be eating and drinking a lot, so as to avoid the symptoms I was experiencing.

I had to essentially make sure I was eating and drinking all of the time, even if I didn't necessarily feel hungry. Otherwise, I would feel woozy. When I woke up in the morning (obviously hadn't eaten in a couple of hours), I would feel light-headed. It was only after I digested some food that I felt better. My morning routine became a lot more slow-paced. I stocked up on snacks and didn't let more than 1.5-2 hours pass before snacking. This was definitely a change for me, as I was used to eating when I was hungry and not eating when I wasn't. I know that this sounds like a dumb complaint, but if going 2 hours without eating could make you throw up, it's kind of scary.

Because I was eating a lot, I gained a lot of weight quickly. I only gained 2 pounds in the first trimester and I've gained around 8-11 pounds so far this trimester. Most of the weight I gained from weeks 13-20 happened from weeks 16-19.

My last complaint is my skin. I started breaking out on my chin like crazy and wasn't sure what products I could use to help with it. Luckily I had an appointment with Shani and she showed me what I could continue to use (which was almost everything I used before, minus the retinol).

Now to the good stuff. My energy slowly has increased from weeks 13-20. I've been doing pilates three times a week and loving it. I've replaced my morning runs with morning walks (and still run about once a week). At the beginning of my pregnancy, I couldn't run since I would get completely out of breath, and so I just stopped exercising in the morning. This was not good for my mental health. I realized how important it was for me to have a morning routine, to get my heart rate up (even if it's just a bit) and clear my head, before a day of work. So now I power walk and I actually really enjoy my mornings. It's definitely not the same as a good run, but it's okay for now.

Most of my food aversions are gone. I've been able to go back to eating really healthy, which is nice (especially for how much I have to eat). The only thing I still can't eat is cooked salmon- it grosses me out.

Now to the absolute best part of weeks 13-20-- feeling baby girl kick. When I first started feeling her kick in week 18, I just wanted to spend all of my time lying down with my hand on my stomach waiting for her to kick. I didn't want to miss one opportunity to feel it. By week 19, the kicks became stronger and more frequent throughout the day. Ray was able to start feeling her. I was someone who would get anxious before each doctor's appointment, waiting to hear the heartbeat to make sure she was okay. Getting the constant reassurance every day that she is moving is an incredible feeling.

It honestly makes me feel so guilty for complaining about the above. The reward of this whole pregnancy journey makes it worth it a million times over. I honestly feel so incredibly lucky and grateful to be on this journey-- so then who am I to complain? Parts of me feel like I should just suck it up, and only focus on the positive and what there is to be grateful for. Yet, I know that while part of that is true, the fact is pregnancy can be difficult. And as I've mentioned several times, my goal is to be as authentic and real as possible. If you sugar coat everything, those going through the hard times will just feel alone in the process.

I'm now in week 22 and most of my complaints above are gone. I'm going to soak in the next couple of weeks until the third trimester haha. I promise to update you on the second half when the time comes! xo