The middle months - What the second trimester means to me

In the blink of an eye, the second trimester of my pregnancy has come and gone.

Most people deem this as the best period of the 10-month journey because by now, the morning sickness, nausea and extreme fatigue has tapered off. You feel on top of the world and glow as a mum-to-be, you feel proud to flaunt your not-too-big tummy yet big enough to make people stop guessing you grew fat, you are more aware of the changes in your body, your life and you readily embrace them.

My emotions for this period were: Elation, Gratitude, Confidence

Elated that my baby is growing bigger everyday, that Angel is going to have a playmate, that I'm looking more and more like a radiant preggie mum.

Thankful that my girl is safe and sound, that I do not have to go through another miscarriage tragedy, that life is good to me and I'm lucky to be able to experience motherhood.

Confident that I'll be able to tide through the hardest moments, that life will get more challenging but more blissful, that I will love both my girls with every beat of my heart.

Some of the more outstanding symptoms I went through in this period include:

1) The Squat

You know how Ah Bengs like to squat in public areas? Even when there are plenty of chairs around just so they think it's way more cool?

I started doing that not because I think it's fun, but simply because I can't find a chair sometimes and my legs, and tummy, just feel better squatting down than standing up.

I squat after walking in the streets for too long, I squat when I bathe Angel, I squat when I'm waiting for a friend, I squat even when I make dinner in the midst of frying and waiting for the food to be cooked.

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I don't have a picture of me doing that, and though I wish I looked as suave as Ekin Cheng in Young and Dangerous, but I probably looked more like an auntie with an oversized T-shirt, messy hair and protruding belly.

Oh, did I mention that after squatting for less than ten minutes, it becomes a burden and I end up sitting on the floor instead?

2) Va-va-voom

If I've been blessed with a good life, one of the things I've not been blessed with is a good figure. I mean, it's great to be skinny but when it comes to the hour glass shape and 36-24-36 ratio, well, that's something that eludes me.

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Pregnancy is the only time that I feel like I have the va-va-voom factor. Cleavage appears magically, cup size goes up by one or two,  and for once, I actually feel great in sexy nightgowns. It doesn't matter that the breasts are not the only ones that are bigger, think tummy, it still makes you feel awesome as a woman and as a mum-to-be.

The good news is breastfeeding helps me to keep up this wonderful phenomenon. The bad news is once after breastfeeding, it's probably time to chuck the nightgowns and the big bras.

3) Pee in my pants

If there's anything that irks me during pregnancy, this has got to be one of it.

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My usually strong bladder control disappeared from the face of the earth and in place of it comes involuntary peeing - in other words, I leak urine. It doesn't happen every day, usually does when I sneeze, but definitely occurs more than my liking.

I might be cooking bak kut teh in the kitchen and the peppery smell made me sneeze, or I might just emerge from a shower and the cold wind made me sneeze. Then I would realise as much as I tried to do a kegel, I just leaked pee in my pants. Grrrrr. Sometimes it even flows out, down and onto the floor.

Ok, I'm not going into the details here.

4) SOS

No, I'm not referring to the distress signal, but the SOS I'm talking about is the sleeping position - Sleep-On-Side.

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I can't even start to count how many hours of sleep I've lost just because I can never seem to find a comfortable sleeping position. There were even nights when I did not sleep a wink at all after tossing and turning for hours and hours, just to realise that daylight had arrived.

Experts say that sleeping on your left side will increase the amount of blood and nutrients that reach your baby, sleeping on back causes the uterus to lie on the spine, back muscles, intestines and blood vessels, sleeping on the right add pressures on your liver. In other words, sleeping on left is probably the best bet.

I do agree with that but after sleeping on my left for a couple of hours, I can't help it but feel my back ache and thus try to switch position, Which usually fails after a while and I end up on my left again, but in the process I lose my sleep.  

So yes, I do seriously need some SOS in this area. On the bright side, it's helping to train me up for the sleepless nights once my baby arrives.

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All in all, while the second trimester might not be perfect, it's still considered one of the best times of the entire pregnancy and I did cherish every moment of it. Now, I'm just looking forward to seeing my baby for the first time and planting tender kisses on her tiny face as she greets the world.

Do you remember how your second trimester went? Any funny incidents to share?

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