Week 25: Surviving the second trimester

The second trimester is supposed to be the sweet spot in pregnancy. You’re out of the morning sickness phase but not quite into the final stages where you are dying to get the baby out of you any way possible. Luckily, my nausea is long gone, but the second trimester hasn’t left me shimmering with pregnancy dust. Don’t get me wrong; it’s been pretty great, but three things in particular have been raining on my parade a bit: Heartburn, sciatic pain and sleep deprivation.

The whole heartburn thing is something I dealt with the last time around, and my daughter was born with a full head of hair to prove it. This time, it showed up a whole lot earlier and with a vengeance. I no longer have the option to modify my diet to relieve the burn. Nope, now I could eat a bowl of cereal, and you’d think I ate three bowls of five alarm chili. So, I’ve learned to supplement with Tums and Pepcid AC depending on the severity—and just pray it does the trick.

Sciatic pain is something I definitely did not deal with last time around. The first time I felt the sharp shooting pain, it about gave me a heart attack. It switches from side to side and is the worst when I go from sitting to standing. The things that have really helped me are continuing my prenatal yoga and staying hydrated. I’ve been trying to do yoga as much as possible with this pregnancy, and it’s so easy because I literally just found some videos I like on YouTube. That means I can do it at home whenever I want, and it’s free. Whoop whoop! To motivate me to stay hydrated, I splurged on a fancy water cup that’s stainless steel and keeps my drink cold all day long. I’ll even add some citrus to my water to give me a little pep in my step.

Sleep … sweet, sweet sleep. It’s not been the same since having my daughter (obviously), but she has honestly been a great sleeper. You can imagine my frustration that my sleep is being stolen earlier than it has to be because, Lord knows, a new baby is going to throw it all off big time. I’m not sure if it’s insomnia or just the fact that I can’t seem to get comfortable and relax my brain. The one major thing that has helped is lavender spray on my sheets before bed and finally getting a pregnancy pillow. See, I’m 6 foot tall, my husband is 6 foot and 4 inches, and we sleep in a queen size bed. So, there’s not much room to spare. I finally caved and bought a compact pregnancy pillow, and it has made it so much easier to relax and get cozy at night.

So there you have it, the few tricks I’m using to survive the second trimester. I’m almost into my third trimester, though, so I’m sure I’ll be learning a whole new list of tricks soon.