The Glorious Second Trimester

The second trimester was the best trimester of my pregnancy. I was no longer exhausted all the time. I was coming to grips with being pregnant, and I had my first official ultrasound around week 20. I guess if you compare pregnancy to a hurricane, the second trimester would be the eye of the storm, for many women, the calm period where you feel as much like yourself as you can. After three months of morning sickness and exhaustion and preceding three months of feet swelling and feeling larger than life literally, the second trimester is a time of enjoying your current state of being pregnant. Here are five things to look forward to during your second trimester.

The Babymoon

Your second trimester is a great time to take a trip before you get too far along. Once you get into the eight month, you do not want to be more than an hour or so away from where you want to deliver. You also are not supposed to fly and most likely will not be up for long road trips anyway. So between weeks 16 and 27, book and hotel and spend sometime with your spouse, partner, or if you're flying solo in parenthood, a close friend or relative and enjoy a short vacation while you still can.

Baby movement!

You will probably start feeling your baby move during the second trimester. The reality is that babies move a lot throughout pregnancy, but early your bundle of joy is so small movement goes undetected by you and during the third trimester, you are either used to the movement, sleep through it, or because the baby is getting a little cramped the movement is more slight than second trimester movement. The first movements I felt from my wonderful baby were flutters, and to be quite honest, I was unsure of whether I had gas or was actually feeling my baby move, but later in the second trimester I was getting forceful kicks, punches, and flips which confirmed what the doctors had been telling me for 5 - 7 months, there was a person living inside of me!

Baby's sex

If you want to know whether you are having a boy or girl, at around week 20 when you go in for the ultrasound, you can learn your baby's sex. There are two schools of thought on this: 1) It doesn't matter, we're having a baby!!! Yay! 2) I need to know so I can start buying gender specific sheets, clothes, car seat, stroller, etc. because I hate yellow and green. Whichever route you take, it's thrilling to know baby will be here soon.

Baby sex

Early on in the second trimester, you may start to feel more like yourself. For example, if you had terrible morning sickness, you may stop experiencing it. If some of you pregnancy symptoms wane, your libido may wax. If your friskiness increases, the second trimester is a great time for you and your beau to enjoy each other. Your belly is only getting bigger and soon baby will require your time and attention.

The second trimester is a great time for you and baby. Baby's developing into who he or she will be, and baby is letting you know they're in there. You can take a pre-baby getaway and still feel like being freaky. Enjoy the second trimester-it's the eye of the pregnancy storm.