What to Expect in Your Second Trimester of Pregnancy

What are some first trimester things you think people don’t talk about enough? Here are some of mine:

• you either have diarrhea or constipation, there is no inbetween
• water tastes rotten
• there’s a weird taste in your mouth but toothpaste makes you want to vomit
• one minute you will love eating something specific, the next you will find that exact same thing to be disgusting
• you secretly pray to the universe every time you pee, hoping there’s no blood
• you find yourself touching your nipples just to make sure they’re sore so you “feel pregnant” still
• you stress over conflicting advice such as “eat every 3 hours but make sure you’re not gaining too much weight”
• the vivid dreams & waking up in a pool of sweat every morning
• you feel a constant guilt. guilt for not loving pregnancy. guilt for not being able to eat every little micronutrient that’s best for the baby. guilt that you’re not some superwoman who can work at 100% while taking care of your household and also yourself.

Did i miss anything?

The title is dramatic, but people always told me that the second trimester would be so much better! I looked forward to hitting that milestone, for more than one reason. My nausea slowly got better, my fatigue disappeared, I wasn't cranky, I was hungry and food didn't gross me out. That lasted 2-3 weeks. Now, at 21 weeks, I'm exhausted, uncomfortable and in pain, annoyed by everything, and no food sounds good. My nausea returned. I feel like I can't do anything but sit on the couch and rot!!! I just ate 4 burnt chicken nuggets and some cheese because it was all I had the energy to scrounge up. It's so frustrating.

Hi Again 👋 - I'm finally in week 28 which means I'm officially out of my 2nd trimester & in the home stretch. At the end of my 1st trimester I had written a post on all of my symptoms & solutions I found for them to try & help other FTM who were going through a really scary (& isolating) experience. A couple of comments we're interested in me doing this again at the end of each of the trimesters, so I'm here for the 2nd update.

I'm going to separate this one into 3 parts; Physical Symptoms, Emotional Things & the "Things People Say"

The Quick & Easy about me, I'm a FTM that lives in a large Texas (USA) city, so some of the below is going to probably a slightly different experience compared to others.

Physical Symptoms

The 1st Trimester Symptoms (Nausea & Exhaustion) //
How I Felt: Okay my 1st trimester symptoms did not "just go away". Everyone kept telling me that it would feel like a switch turned off & I would just feel better all at once. That did not at all happen for me. It was more of a gradual thing. Sometime towards the end of my 1st trimester it started to get better, but I don't really feel like I was back 100% until closer to week 17 or 18 if I'm being super honest.

Solution: Honestly it's a waiting game, but I kept just doing a lot of the things I was doing in my first trimester to feel better. Eating snacks through out the day to keep the Nausea away & resting when I can.

Hunger Pain //
How I felt: This got so MUCH worse in my 2nd trimester. One time I woke my husband up at 6am to go to Sonic when they opened to get a breakfast burrito. I often woke up at 3am just to eat something - eggs or cereal.

Solution: Everyone kept telling me to eat more fiber - this did NOT work. Honestly what worked for me was snacking a lot & trail mix. 100% nuts was the best thing for me.

Breast Pain //
How I felt: Okay so the 1st trimester constant breast pain went away, but I would occasionally have days where I was a bit more sensitive and my breast have just kind of kept growing. I don't even bother with bras any more - braletts all the way. I've gained probably 1 or 2 cup sizes.

The new 2nd trimester breast pain is different. To me it felt like electricity or a pain that moved from the base of my breast to my nipple. I asked the doctor about it & it's apparently my breast getting ready for a milk supply. This started early in my 6th month and doesn't happen to often

Solution: Honestly nothing needed here. It freaked me out at first but I got over it and it was usually quick and temporary.

Exhaustion //
How I Felt: This get's SO MUCH BETTER in the 2nd trimester, but some days are a bit worse then others. I get tired quickly and just want to rest.

Solution: The only thing you can really do is rest when you can & get the rest you need. Your going through a lot so let it be.

Carpal Tunnel //
How I Felt: This is something that apparently "happens" honestly if doctors told me that my skin will turn green and that just happens but it'll go after the baby I'd be like okay at this point. It started as waking up to my fingers being numb and I thought I was sleeping on them or something, but then it started happening while I was working or just randomly. It doesn't happen all the time or even a lot, but it's still weird.

Solution: I was given exercises to do - link here - & told to drink a lot of water.

Restless Leg Syndrome (Leg cramping) //
How I Felt: For me this & the Insomnia has been some of the worst part of the 2nd trimester. The GD sucks to but that's newer so it's sucked a lot less. Pretty much this mainly happens at night & feels like my calves are antsy and unable to be kept still. It causes me to stay up all night and move a bunch.

Solution: I have a few things you can try. Some work some nights & other nights nothing works:

• Have my husband massage them
• Take a "I wish it was hotter" bath
• Take a Tylenol - my OB ok-ed this
• Going on walks before bed
• Doing Calf exercises / stretches
• Magnesium vitamins - my OB ok-ed this

Insomnia //
How it felt: IDK how I can be so exhausted some days, but the minute I try to go to sleep I just stare at the ceiling. It's the worst OR I wake up at 3am and just can't go back to sleep. It's wild.

Solution: Melatonin - that's it.

When Did I Pop (start showing) // This ones not a symptom but I see lots of questions on users about it a lot. I'm currently 7 months pregnant & if I really wanted to I could hide it - period. Wearing tight clothes, I started to "show" sometime around 20 or 21 weeks, but of course I noticed earlier then that. I mostly look pregnant from the side & not the front.

I've kind of learned that no one knows what pregnant women look like unless you have a very obvious belly, so I don't let the things people might say bother me. It's kind of like how weight looks different on different bodies - 130 LBs can look different on so many different bodies. This is the same and no matter what you are still pregnant and theres no such thing as being "really pregnant".

When did the baby start moving // This is another not symptoms but something I see on here a lot. I felt my first "flutter" at about 18 weeks. It was a weird senstation. Larger movement probably started around week 22 or 23. At now 28 weeks it feel like weird muscle spasms. Also my child is on a schedule movements happen at 3:30 in the morning, between 7 - 9 am, between 1 - 230 pm, and again around 6 - 8 PM.

Constipation & Recital Bleeding //
How it Felt: The constipation is wild or I guess the hard stools, so much so that I've had slight tearing and a little bleeding.

Also no one talked about the poop cramps - it's wild. Like I've had an episode that I thought I was going to die.

Solution: I drank prune juice and it's helped a lot. The doctor offered to give me a prescription for something if the prune juice ever stop working.

Other //

• Hair Growth - so much of it all the time... Thank the Gods that winter is coming.
• Sweating - always. The Night Sweats are CRAZY. Also my feet have started sweating....
• Swelling - EVERYWHERE.... like sometimes even my labia swell.
• Random aches & pains for no reason
• Being Snotty or just feeling like a stuffed nose all the time. This is mainly annoying but like whatever I guess
• Chapped lips, it doesn't matter how much water I drink. I'll always have chapped lips. I really like Burts Bee and Glossier lip balm, but still you know all the time.
• More ear wax - My body just makes more of everything
• Feeling Swampy between my legs all the time

Gestational Diabetes // Okay, I saved this for last in this section because it's the newest & the longest... So I'm going to break this down into the test, the diagnosis & dealing with it since. HOWEVER, before I start I was to explain what GD is & why some pregnant women get it & how IT'S NOT ANY WOMENS FAULT!

What is GD: Gestational diabetes is a form of diabetes that develops during pregnancy, where the body cannot produce enough insulin to meet the increased needs. It typically resolves after childbirth

Why does it happen: We as the mother eat and the food turns into sugar for fuel and what not. Our bodies naturally produce insulin to deal with the sugar we consume. When we get pregnant, the placenta is created and that makes all sorts of things including sugars, so we're eating sugar (usually more because we're pregnant) and our bodies are now naturally producing more for the baby. And our bodies can't always produce more insulin to keep up - that's it. It just happens your diet or whatever won't prevent it.

The Test: So I had a lot of anxiety about this test & I was already kind of thinking I had GD, so yah. My test happened at 24 weeks and I was told to eat as I normally do, but if I have a sweet tooth maybe don't eat anything super sweet. I got to the office and the front desk lady gave me the drink and said I had 5 minutes to finish it. So I binged it in 5 minutes - I hated the taste. It kind of burned going down.

During & After drinking it I felt not great. I was a little nauseas & had an increased heart rate, but after about 5 minutes it went away. About an hour later I got my blood taken, then I was done.

The Diagnosis: About 2 days later, the nurse called me & was like "yah sorry, you have GD & need to start tracking your blood." I didn't get another test or the 3 hour test. My number was 174 and needed to be below 144.

The Dealing With: Honestly it's mostly annoying, but it's not the worst. However, I might feel that way because I was in and out of hospitals for an eating disorder for 3 years and this is easier to deal with then that. Pretty much I have to take my blood 4 times a day at the below times:

• Fasting: below 95
• 1 hour after Breakfast: below 144
• 1 hour after Lunch: 144
• 1 hour after Dinner: 144

I pretty much obsessed over it for the first week, but now it's whatever. I have a pretty good system down and have kind of figured out what is going to spike it vs. not. You can DM me if you need food ideas. It did take me a few days to get over losing the literally only good part (IOP) of being pregnant, like there are so few good/happy things in this & now I can't even eat whatever I want.

I have also told no one but my Husband & my 2 best friends. I'm not going to deal with everyone else's opinion on this. I real big believer that people don't need to know everything about me & this process.

The Emotional Side of things: I don't have solutions to any of the below. Just know if you feel any of this your not alone.

I HATE BEING PREGNANT // That's it period the end. After 6 months that has not changed. I feel like I went from being in my early 30's to being like 100. I want the baby & I want it to stay in there as long as possible and what not, but this is not fun & I don't want to do it again.

Nesting Anxiety // Sometime around 22 or 23 weeks I started to freakout that we were running out of time to get things done. I cried a lot about it & my husband helped with making a plan on what needed to get done & when we would do them. That helped a lot. I also just doing small things like buying things and making the baby registry. All of that helped.

Body Image // My body itself changing hasn't been to hard on me - probably because I had to do something similar with my eating disorder - some days are better or worse then others. However, I LOVE clothes. I have put a lot of time & energy into finding my style and curating a closet that fits that style. Being pregnant has sort of ruined that.

You have no waist... what do you wear when your waist is now at your ribcage? I also refuse to buy maternity clothes so that might be part of the problem. I mainly wear stretchy dresses & skirts.

Sex Life // I don't have one. I haven't had sex with my husband since my 1st trimester. Pretty much in my 1st trimester I bleed a lot through out it & the few times we had sex the bleeding would get worse, so I am traumatized from that. I also have almost NO libido. We do other things and still have a great relationship, but yah, penetrative sex is a no.

Hormone related emotions // This hasn't really been to bad for me honestly. Sometimes I get really annoyed, but I just tell my husband and he ask if he can help with anything & I say no I just want to be alone and he goes away.

Sometimes I don't feel pregnant // This was more of thing before the baby started moving around, but I just kept telling myself I was pregnant even if I wasn't showing or felt anything. However, I'm now 7 months & still sometimes forget, so you know 🤷‍♀️

The Things People Say: Before we start this section, my general personality is to not assume people are being mean. I assume that most people's intentions are good and most people are just stupid or like just don't know what to say - I include myself in that too. So when people say things that maybe I don't love I assume it's coming from a good place and they just don't know what to say. I will also say my husband is a protective asshole, so he tends to deal with people who aren't saying it from a good place.

"You Don't Look Pregnant" or "You Haven't gained any weight" // This doesn't really bother me. I kind of assume people are trying to make me feel better about my body changing. Like I know I'm pregnant & they know I'm pregnant, so I'm assuming it's just like an awkward response.

My Response: I kind of just smile, laugh & say "I definitely feel pregnant"

"Why aren't you finding out the gender", "How do we know what to buy", "You can't put a boy in pink" // This one actually does bother me - a lot. I even wrote a rant about it a few weeks ago. I still don't understand why people make this such a big deal or why they care so much about the gender of my baby. They either don't think my husband & I can wait that long or that we just shouldn't be waiting, but we are so....

My Response: My friend says I'm very "nonchalant" about it. Pretty much I just say we don't know & we want it to be surprise and that there are a bunch of colors that aren't blue & pink.

Pretty much turning into a incubator vs. a person // IDK when this happened exactly, but sometime after I told everyone, everyone pretty much started to only want to talk to me about the baby. "How are you" turned into "hows the baby" - I don't really feel like a person anymore. I've noticed it this is especially the case with older people. My friends aren't this way, so it's mostly everyone else.

My Response: I've just accepted it

Everyone has an opinion // People are going to start asking about what your plans are after they baby. Are you going to breast feed? Are you going to circumcise if it's a boy? Are you going to [Insert whatever]? Again I think most people are trying to be helpful, but I also live in the South so some of it is also people just being back handed.

My Response: Pretty much the only people I give a real answer to is my husband & my doctor. For everyone else "I just say I'm not sure yet" or I say "My plans currently is to go to the hospital, get as many drugs as possible so I can be in as little pain as possible, and both me and the baby come out of the hospital alive & well with the baby outside of me."

In general, I'm a strong believer of everyone does whatever feels right for them and will make them happy and y'all do y'all as long as you & baby are happy and fed.

Hope this is helpful for someone out there!

Nobody told me how scary this middle period would be. I'm currently 16+6. I was lucky enough that the bulk of my morning sickness dropped off at about 13 weeks. I still have occasional light nausea, especially when I'm brushing my teeth, but nothing to complain about. My boobs have stopped hurting (although intermittently, they'll ache for a day or so). I'm no longer waking up every 2 hours to pee overnight. I virtually have no pregnancy symptoms.

Meanwhile, I'm not really showing yet. If I'm not wearing clothes, you can see a bit of a bump, and my belly button has started to pop out more than it used to, but there's really no way for me to look at myself and say "Look, I'm pregnant" In fact, I've only gained about 1 pound so far, from my pre-pregnancy weight which I feel like isn't enough. The most I have to go on is that my lower abdomen is tender if I press on it, and if I cough or sneeze or stand up too quickly, I get the sharp stretchy pains in my lower abdomen.

Logically, I know I'm pregnant. There's been no bleeding. My last ultrasound at 12 weeks was perfectly healthy and there's no indication that anything changed since then. I know that pregnancies don't just disappear, and yet, I can't help but think that the baby is no longer in there. I'm thinking of buying a doppler so that I can hear the heartbeat myself, but from what I've heard, that may end up causing even more anxiety if I end up not being able to find the heartbeat on my own.

Are these normal feelings around this time in the pregnancy? I hear people talk all the time about the anxiety of the first trimester, but I don't really hear much about the second

ETA: Thank you all for your responses and sharing your similar experiences. As always, this sub is a life saver

One million percent. The nausea got WAY better (unless I skip a unisom!!) but I’m exhausted and everything hurts all the time, plus the worst acid reflux ever, high HR, and constant anxiety about the baby. At least in the first trimester (which was sooooooo much worse overall) I was too sick to notice anything else or have any thoughts.

Around 13 weeks it was literally like a switch. I had been sooo tired and sleeping pretty much all day. When I was awake, my head was cloudy and I wasn’t engaged in things going on around me. But one day around 13 weeks, I just woke up! I was awake and I didn’t need a nap! I wouldn’t say I was exceptionally energized or anything, but I was able to function and get things done during the day. Second trimester definitely gets easier, don’t worry! And there’s lots of fun milestones during that time too!

It’s totally normal. You’ll feel baby moving any day now depending on your placenta location. Try to trust your body and unless you’re told otherwise, you’re pregnant

I really need some hope, even if it turns out to be false hope. I am 11 weeks and absolutely miserable. The all day everyday nausea and exhaustion has ground me down.

Please tell me about how all your symptoms disappeared in the second trimester to give me something to live for.

EDIT: thank you so much for all the positivity, I’m reading every reply and it’s helping me believe this might not be my life now forever. I’m glad things got better for you all.

I’m 11w+3 and I’m so terrified that it doesn’t actually get better….. and that you just get used to being absolutely exhausted and nauseous all the time. Do I have hope or should I just come to terms with the fact that everything is going to be difficult for the next year? I don’t have the energy for…. Anything!

It’s soooo different for everyone. I’m one of those people that would’ve told you it gets better, but I also follow it up with ‘then it gets worse again.’ During my second trimester I would have told everyone I loved being pregnant because my first trimester wasn’t hard and my second trimester was even easier symptom wise, but those trimesters were just fooling me into believing the 3rd trimester would be easy too and that I’d be one of those women that “love being pregnant.” There’s just no way anyone like that exists. I’m 36 weeks & have been waking up everyday pissed off that I’m still pregnant…VERY grateful, but frustrated to go through another day of pain.

This was me! I hit a real quiet patch from 16-19 weeks. I was just waiting for my 20 week anatomy scan, and my previous midwife appointment was at 15 weeks. I kept worrying that the baby evaporated or something. My poor husband was so understanding even though he couldn't help but laugh at me sometimes 😅 But at about 19 weeks I could feel definite little flutters, and at the anatomy scan I saw him wiggling about in there like nobody's business. Now I'm 21+6, and I look and feel pretty dang pregnant right now. These feelings will pass!

Second trimester was SO much easier physically than the first! And it was like a switch flipped right at 14 weeks - my nausea went away, I could stomach most foods again, and I had almost my pre-pregnancy level of energy back. A lot of the bloating went away too, so for a few weeks at the beginning of the 2nd tri, I was actually a little bit smaller than I was at the end of the first, which was weird.

The thing I wasn’t prepared for was how mentally stressful the 2nd tri was, because suddenly I went from feeling miserable but definitely pregnant to feeling totally normal, which made me worry daily that something was wrong, since it was still too early to feel the baby move. That was a tough time to get through, but got better around 20ish weeks once I could feel the baby move regularly.

I’m 31 weeks and this is my first pregnancy. I have learned not to trust others experiences and take them as your own. Take others experiences as a “could happen” a “maybe” “probably not” approach. They are not you and you are not them. I have had extremely little to no symptoms since the beginning of my pregnancy. The only thing that alerted me that I might be pregnant was a missing period. I have some pretty severe mental health issues and i’ve always been scared of getting pregnant because of the hormonal shifts and such. I was wrong. I’m so much more balanced and my appetite is so much better pregnant than not. Don’t listen and just take what others say as truth. Take it as their experience and stay in tune with your own experiences. Take care of yourself. You deserve it

This is totally normal but I don’t find it to be a topic that’s talked about nearly enough. All I had heard about the second trimester was how great it was and how great you feel. I was a weird mix of I didn’t really feel pregnant (much like you, my morning sickness thankfully stopped and I hadn’t gained very much weight) but I also just didn’t feel GOOD. I was still tired, I was still emotional. I didn’t have any of this elusive energy that people talk about. I didn’t really start enjoying food again and I didn’t have any desire to get back into a workout routine or any of my hobbies.

I’ll be 25 weeks near the end of the week and I’m definitely feeling more pregnant now. I’m up about 16 lbs and have a definite bump now, and I can feel light kicks and flutters almost every day. Hang in there — you’ll get there too!

(And one minor note. Someone in another comment told you you would feel kicks any day depending on your placenta. I have an anterior placenta so doc warned me that I would be on the later side, but I didn’t feel my first kick until after 21 weeks, with them becoming a little more consistent at 22. So just a heads up that it may be another 1-2 months before you feel that, but nothing to worry about. Everyone is different!)

I HATED my first trimester. I felt hungover like 247, was so exhausted, and ridiculously emotional. The second trimester I’ve rarely experienced that hangover feeling (usually I just need to take my iron supplement), have so much more energy, and feel more connected to the baby because I can finally feel her moving. The worst complaints I have for the second trimester are increased pelvic pressure/pain (and this isn’t every day), and acid reflux waking me up at night every now and then.

Now, everyone’s pregnancy is very different. But the general consensus from what I’ve read, and now experienced, is that the first trimester and third trimester are icky but the second is a welcome reprieve. I would agree with that.

I hope you start to feel better here soon!! I got a burst of energy around 14 weeks and it kept me going for a while!

i’m 23w and wouldn’t say i felt “better” but my issues changed. for example, instead of feeling nauseous unable to eat i got extreme acid reflux that felt like lava pouring up my throat which made me gag. my belly is bigger now which is super uncomfortable to sleep & i have to pee constantly. i’ve basically accepted pregnancy just sucks lol hope yours goes great! a lot of people say the 2nd trimester is amazing for them and i have no idea what they’re talking about 😅

Much more energy. Also love feeling baby move. Pretty fucking magical

I’m 3 days out from second trimester with my third. I’ve had a very hard first trimester this time and quite a bit more nausea than prior two pregnancies. At 11.5 weeks I’m now getting morning relief and nausea sets in around 1pm and lasts until bed time. I’m hoping by next week it drops off completely.

With my other two, literally the first or second day of week 12 the nausea and fatigue turned off like a light switch. Praying that’s the case again! Feel free to check back. I’ve needed a lot of hope this time around too. Spent many many days in bed the last few months due to the extreme nausea and fatigue.

Hang in there!

I’m having quite a hard time in my first trimester (9weeks now) and hope that the second will be better. What changes did you feel or observe around weeks 12-16? Did you start feeling better? Any tips?

I feel like there’s so much to do but I don’t even know where to startttt

I am 22, currently 7.5 weeks pregnant. Haven’t gained any weight, pretty bad acne and exhaustion, experienced my first wave of nausea yesterday.

I’ve heard that the second trimester is easier, what should I expect? I should technically be gaining a bit of weight now, but so far I have gained nothing, so I am a bit curious as to when I expect to pick that up. I know I’m pretty early into pregnancy but I’m not sure when this would start to affect me or when I feel like I’m really pregnant aside from constant symptoms.