My pregnancy survival kit – second trimester
Welcome to the pregnancy honeymoon-phase – the second trimester!
You have made it through the first trimester, you are feeling way better (hopefully) and you have finally told your loved ones that you’re expecting! It’s an exciting time.
If you have checked out my First Trimester Survival Kit article, you’ll know that my first trimester felt pretty rough. I promise that you’ll forget how bad it was in just a few weeks 😉
In this Blog post, I am sharing the products and habits that helped make my second trimester more comfortable.
Buh-bye morning sickness
I’m not gonna lie, the morning sickness lasted up until 20 weeks for me before it started to fade. But for the sake of this article, I will focus the second trimester-part around the time when my morning sickness finally went away – and made room for some new symptoms, yay!
That said, the second trimester was the most fun for me. I felt more like myself. My energy levels came back and I felt productive and refreshed. I also finally felt like eating vegetables and semi-normal meals again!
Here are some symptoms I experienced and what I did about them:
Itchy skin – especially the belly and the boobs
As your belly (and the rest of your body) starts to expand, your skin will get very, very itchy. Sometimes it turned into full body itching for me. Who knew?
Some people are convinced that if you moisturize your belly enough, you can prevent stretch marks. One person told me to moisturize at least twice a day, in order to “get your pre-baby body back more easily”.
My 2 cents on this topic: Stretch marks can develop no matter how many times you moisturize. They are mostly genetic. And also: they are beautiful! They tell a story. Don’t fear them.
That being said, getting some relief from that itchy skin makes moisturizing twice daily worth it, regardless of the stretch mark argument.
Here are the products I found helped the most
Burt’s Bees Belly Butter Mama — This one was great in the first trimester, because it has no smell to it (and I was very sensitive to smells!).
Mama Mio Tummy Rub Butter — smells heavenly and the quality is amazing. I find I only have to moisturize once per day and don’t get too itchy. I use it on my whole body after my showers.
Nasal congestion
My sinus rinse was my best friend in the second trimester, because my nose was always plugged! Here is an article on this fun pregnancy symptom.
To help with nasal congestion, I did 2 things.
1. I used my Neti Pot twice a day, once in the morning, once at night
This isn’t the most ‘sexy’ way of taking care of your clogged nose, but I promise it can work wonders. It can also help with coughing, as a lot of our coughing as a result of clogged sinuses comes from swallowing too much mucus. (I know, gross!) Here is the sinus rinse that was most helpful for me.
2. I got a humidifier for our bedroom
This helped keep the air in our bedroom moist, so that my airways wouldn’t get too plugged at night. Here is the humidifier I recommend!
Fun fact: Now that nasal congestion is a thing of the past, we have put the humidifier in the baby’s room, as they need one anyway.
Leg cramps
Due to hormone shifts and a shortage in calcium and magnesium, those leg cramps can get pretty bad, especially at night. Waking up from debilitating cramps is never fun, so be sure to get in enough magnesium and calcium. I found that supplementing with calcium and magnesium helped the most, as well as taking regular Epsom salt baths – make sure the water isn’t hot!
My favorite magnesium supplement (I take half of one tablet every night)
My favorite calcium supplement
Epsom salt for a self care bubble bath
Mental health and body image
My mental health definitely took a deep dive in pregnancy and I had a hard time sharing about it. When you announce that you’re pregnant, everybody gets so excited for you. It makes you feel like there’s something wrong with you, because you’re not feeling so great. It’s very guilt-inducing.
Yet another thing we as women are made to feel shame about.
I had to make sure to take really good care of my mental health, so that I could work through the difficult moments.
I wrote more about my experience with prenatal anxiety and depression here.
Here are some things I did to help myself through the lows of pregnancy
Journaling
This pregnancy journal has some great prompts.
You can also do an activity called “morning pages”, where you write first thing in the morning. It’s a stream of consciousness writing that has no rules. It’s a great way to release any intrusive thoughts and do a sort-of “word vomit” first things in the morning.
Physical self-care
Sometimes, the only thing I would accomplish for the day was to take a shower and moisturize. I would then put my pajamas back on and lay in bed. But doing my skin care routine and taking a shower/bath was my self care non-negotiable.
It was the one thing that kept me feeling like I was still taking care of my body, even if I wasn’t feeling so great.
Keeping up with basic hygiene can help so much in those difficult moments. Neglecting it can make us feel so much worse.
BetterHelp therapy
I have been in therapy for almost 4 years and consider it an important part of my self care.
BetterHelp has been my therapy of choice, especially because COVID has made it hard to see a therapist in person.
BetterHelp is an online platform that matches you with a therapist or mental health care provider that meets your needs.
It’s my favourite way of receiving therapy for many reasons, one of them being that I can do it from the comfort of my own home via my mobile phone, laptop or tablet.
Upon signing up you fill out a survey in order to be matched with the right provider for your individual needs.
My therapist has been fantastic and I only ever switched therapists once, which was also very easy to do, so you are never locked in.
Another thing I love is that you can get as much support as you need through video calls, audio only calls or text messages and sending back and forth PDFs to do “homework” – you can check in with your therapist every single day if need be.
It’s $65 USD per week and financial aid is available for those who qualify.
It’s available worldwide, just keep in mind that it’s not a crisis line.
You can get 10% off your first month of counselling by going to betterhelp.com/ownitbabe 🙂
So, there you have it. My 2nd trimester survival kit. I hope it helps you make your second trimester a more comfortable and exciting experience.
Stay tuned for my 3rd trimester survival kit!
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