The Second Trimester - It gets better (sort of)!
My partner likes to say I am a poster child for each trimester - and he’s definitely right on that one!
As I said before, my first trimester was pretty tough one me. Feeling crappy all the time, not getting sick but just low lying nausea without feeling better, constantly exhausted, and not having a lot of people know why (I didn’t share my news until after 20 weeks) was difficult for me. But then the second trimester hits, and all of a sudden, I started feeling these little flutters inside of me, and my pants were starting to be too tight (the old hair-tie on the button of the jeans trick only lasted me about a week before I needed to order some maternity pants!), and I finally had some of my energy back.
It wasn’t until I hit my 20+ week ultrasound, and heard the news that everything looked great with our little peanut, that I truly felt like I could breathe. I didn’t realize how much I had been holding my breath for that ultrasound, but I felt a huge sigh of relief once we knew all was well in there. It was really hard for me, not seeing physically this tiny little human and trying to just trust my intuition that all would be okay. I of course hoped it would be, and had no reasons to doubt that, but sometimes a thought can creep in and get in your head and plant itself for awhile.
Once I hit that stage, I was ready to share my news with the world (see my previous post of that big announcement here!). Things started progressing quickly, and time felt like it was flying by! I was keeping myself busy doing my side work of dog and house sitting, and grateful for my four legged friends that still just wanted a cuddle buddy while their humans were gone. But I was still having a hard time being motivated physically and mentally. While I wasn’t feeling as drained as I was during the first trimester, I still couldn’t find time to get on my yoga mat or keep up with my personal practice at all. It was like any time I had to finally get to work, I would start over thinking about the upcoming labor, and everything we needed to do at the house in order to prep for the baby. Or I’d want to do work at the house, but would be away for over a week at a time and unable to start the process of nursery and baby prepping.
Needless to say, self care, while I believe is the most important thing you can do for yourself, took a back seat for other priorities. Now don’t get me wrong, I would lay down plenty and take it easy, I wasn’t pushing myself too hard by any stretch, I just found plenty of ways to procrastinate when I knew deep down the best thing for me might have been to get out, go for a walk, get on my yoga mat, meditate, etc. But I created every excuse I could in order to avoid doing what I knew I needed most.
And isn’t that always the case? Why is it sometimes so hard to do the things we love, even when we know they are for the best for us? I love getting on my yoga mat, and I truly missed it for most of this year. But the stronger part of me pushed that away and focused on other things. If I could go back to my second trimester, more energetic self, would I change anything? I honestly don’t know. The days I found myself doing more than usual would typically find me the next day completely depleted. While the days that I took it more easy on myself, I found I could go more days in a row getting smaller things done.
What I do know is this, and it’s a foundation principle from my coaching program:
There are no mistakes.
Everything I have done during this pregnancy has brought me to exactly where I am today. Currently healthy, 39 weeks pregnant, and doing just fine (stay tuned for the 3rd trimester blog-coming soon!). The fact that I’m even sitting here, writing this blog, and sharing my experience, shows me that I’m right on track and doing everything I need to do for myself - and if anyone else needs to hear that it’s okay to just take a break from everything you have going on and take it easy on yourself - than just do it! You are NOT alone!