Heinz - Tinytums

Second Trimester

You are now in your second trimester, the tiredness and nausea you've been experiencing should ease a little. At this stage, many women have an increased feeling of wellbeing and peace. Your hair and complexion glow and hopefully you'll begin to get your energy back.

Weeks 15-16
Most women feel like this is the start of the best part of pregnancy - mid-trimester time, or months 4, 5, 6 and 7.

You'll probably feel far more secure about the pregnancy as miscarriage is unusual after this point, as well as no longer feeling nauseous or tired.

If you're Caucasian you may well look pinker and fresher due to the extra circulating blood in your body.

Many women say that they feel sexier during this time of their pregnancy.

You will probably be showing a noticeable but small pregnancy bulge

Amniocentesis
The amniocentesis test is offered between 15 and 18 weeks to older mothers, to families with a history of genetic problems, such as Down's syndrome or Cystic Fibrosis, and to mothers whose AFP screening test was abnormal. Guided by ultrasound, a fine needle takes a small sample of the amniotic fluid in which your baby is floating, for analysis in the laboratory. Results can take 3-5 weeks, there is a 0.5-1% risk of miscarriage and the accuracy is 99%.

Some centres can do a Chorionic Villus Sampling (CVS) for chromosome disorders, such as Down's, at 11-12 weeks. This involves taking a sample from the placenta, and the risk of miscarriage is approximately 2%.

Weeks 17-18
Your usual clothes are probably now impossible to do up, so the moment of truth has arrived and it’s time for maternity wear. Luckily this no longer means you are sentenced to wearing vast floral tent dresses, as maternity fashions have moved on quite considerably in the last 10 years.

Too tired to shop?  Simply go on line and check out the many websites devoted to maternity wear for every age and stage.  Click on our what to wear section for tips.

The first time you feel your baby move tends to happen between 16 and 20 weeks, and it can be exciting and extraordinarily touching.

Your baby has in fact been moving before, but you can now feel it because your growing womb is touching your abdominal wall. Women often say the earliest movements they feel are like having a butterfly in their tummy, while others say it's like having wind.

Weeks 19-20
This week is the start of the period of pregnancy (20-30 weeks) when you gain weight fastest, and it's the hardest time to keep your weight under control. Ideally, you are 'meant' to put on about 18lb during pregnancy, but average weight gain during pregnancy is more like 11/2 to 3 stone.  Check out our diet during pregnancy section for healthy eating advice.

Massage wheatgerm or apricot kernel oil into your stomach, breasts and upper thighs all the way round to your back, to help skin stretch. Stretchmarks are scar tissue caused by collagen damage when skin and flesh are stretching fast. They can appear literally overnight and spread like a run in a pair of fine tights, fading to silvery lines after birth.

Around now you usually have a detailed routine scan to check the position of your placenta, your baby's major organs, confirm twins, triplets or more!!, see whether your baby is growing normally and what sex he or she is.

You may have an idea about that already - according to research, under light hypnosis 25 out of 26 mums got their baby's sex right.

Weeks 21-22
You may find that you are having really vivid dreams now. This is perfectly normal and nothing to be alarmed about. If you can remember what you dream about try writing them down.

Health Points

Pre-eclampsia
Pre-eclampsia is a disorder of the placenta characterised by high blood pressure and protein in the urine.  It is not known exactly what causes pre-eclampsia but it affects 1 in 50 women and appears in the last trimester of pregnancy. It will be checked for in your antenatal appointments, one of many reasons why it is important to attend all appointments and report any unusual symptoms or concerns to your midwife or doctor.

Signs to watch out for are sudden swelling of face, feet, ankles and fingers, headaches and visual impairment. Although signs of pre-eclampsia can be treated with rest and relaxation and drugs to lower blood pressure, if left untreated it can be harmful for both mother and unborn baby, so it essential to get all signs or symptoms checked out.

Varicose veins
The commonest time for varicose veins to appear is 20-24 weeks and if you want to avoid them, here are some tips:

• Wear Lycra-enhanced support tights/stockings.  Today's tights are unlike the 'traditional' support stockings which were mostly thick, opaque horrors.  New yarns mean you can choose your degree of support (from 6 to 17) and wear it in a range of shades.
• Put on support tights/stockings before you get out of bed in the morning
• Put your legs up whenever possible during the day, especially for 30 minutes each evening, for example when watching television
• Don't sit with your legs crossed
• Do ankle circling exercises as often as possible - try to do 10 one way and 10 the other about 10 times per day.

Weeks 23-24
You now have approximately 40% extra volume of blood in your system and your heart (which beats on average 100,000 times in 24 hours) is beating an extra 14,000 times per day! Your womb is now the size of a pumpkin and you may have some water retention.

Sex during pregnancy
The most common advice is that it has no affect on the baby to continue love-making when pregnant (about one-third of women report they felt sexier in months 4-7 of their pregnancy) but it is also perfectly normal to go off love-making during pregnancy. You should avoid having sex if you had any bleeding or any early contractions of the womb.