At the time of posting this blog, I’m 28 weeks pregnant. I didn’t share a lot of my personal experience with pregnancy my first time around, but this time, I feel like opening up to our community a bit more. I always love hearing other people’s experiences, so I thought it would only be fair to share my own. 

I will share a brief overview of my first pregnancy, how I’ve been feeling so far in my 2^nd pregnancy and I’ll finish with some tips that might be helpful to other expecting Moms.

Brief Overview Of My 1st Pregnancy

I have to say, my first pregnancy with my little boy was a dream (don’t hate me!). Apart from the pregnancy tiredness in the first 3 months (which is no joke), I had no other complaints. I loved the sense of purpose I felt with growing our little baby. I focused on looking after myself as well as I could, so that I could look after my baby. I ate really well, got lots of sleep and I did Pilates and walked every day. Self-care was at an all-time high and I truely felt great, right up until my due date.

My 2nd Pregnancy To Date

Fast forward to finding out I was pregnant with my second baby, I was definitely expecting the same type of pregnancy. It certainly hasn’t felt as “easy”. 

Trimester one was tough, I think the pregnancy tiredness hits different when you have another baby to look after (Hugo is 18 months now and he’s busy).

I found the evenings tough especially. After getting Hugo to bed at about 7.30pm, I would literally be ready for bed myself. I go as far as to say that I was wishing the evenings away, so I could just lie down. I really don’t remember it being as bad the first time around. 

I didn’t suffer with nausea, sickness or major food aversions but I was sick every other week. I don’t think it was directly related to pregnancy. I had a couple of stomach bugs, head colds, a bout of tonsilitis, you name it. Hugo had just started in childcare, so I think that my immune system was down and as a result I was picking up bugs from him. He was handling them better than I was. I work from home and I don’t meet people much day to day, so I really think I am prone to picking things up anyway. That, coupled with my immune system being down during pregnancy probably left me more vulnerable than usual. 

I really struggled to exercise and keep to my usual routine of walking and Pilates and that definitely took a bit of a toll mentally. With stomach bugs, I was eating a lot more plain foods like bread and pasta than I usually would. I wasn’t able to be as healthy as I wanted to be for my baby, which I did find tough. 

Another first trimester symptom was some digestive issues. Apparently our pregnancy hormones cause our digestive system to slow down. It left me feeling really bloated, uncomfortable and sluggish; not nice. I will be sharing some tips below so I’ll include what helped me with this. 

Fast forward to my second trimester and by week 14 or 15, I definitely felt my energy come back. I’ve been back in a routine of walking each day, doing Pilates and most importantly I’ve lots of energy for my little boy. I haven’t been sick and I’ve been enjoying eating well, as I usually would.

I’m trying to take advantage of my energy and motivation at the moment to focus on getting back to feeling fit and strong, both to prepare for my third trimester, my labour and my post-partum recovery. I think we underestimate how strong we need to be to carry our bump around as we near our due date, so that really motivates me. I really believe that being fit and strong helps keep the aches and pains at bay as you progress week by week. 

I also am pouring lots of energy into my work. I want to be able to take time off to really enjoy the new-born bubble when my baby arrives, so being self-employed, that means lots of planning and getting ahead. When Hugo was just 3-weeks old, I filmed our Postnatal Programmes that are currently on the site. It literally catapulted me out of the lovely new-born bubble and back into work mode. I have no regrets, I am so happy and proud to have that programme on our platform, but I’d like to take more time off this time around. 

So, that’s my personal experience so far in this second pregnancy. I want to finish by leaving some tips for the first and second trimester that I have found helpful in terms of looking after myself, in the hope that they will help you. 

Tips For Your 1st Trimester

• Go easy on yourself and rest as needed. Growing a baby is so physically demanding, the tiredness we feel is testament to that, so don’t feel guilty for resting when you need to (I struggle with this). 
• When you have the energy to move, be it a walk or Pilates, use it. Some days I felt better than others and when I had the energy to exercise, I did and I felt so much better for it.
• When it comes to choosing a Pilates class, listen to your body. You don’t need to modify the classes you do until after 12-weeks, so if you feel up to a tougher class, go for it. If you can only manage a 10-minute stretch, that’s fine too. Do what feels right for you, but when you have that motivation to move, use it because I find it comes and goes quicker than it normally would. You’ll find our most popular First Trimester classes here.
• In terms of eating well, just do your best. I think of what I eat as feeding me and my baby, so I try and eat really well. But also, baby gets what it needs from us regardless, so if all you can stomach is toast, then that’s ok too. Here’s an interesting blog on Pregnancy Nutrition from a Dietician that might help reassure you. 
• If you have digestive issues, these are some of the things I have done that have really helped me: a shot of Kefir each morning for probiotics, eating high fibre foods each day like kiwi, chia seeds, pears and lots of fresh vegetables, homemade high fibre brown bread (recipe here), lots of water and magnesium each night before bed. 

Tips For Your 2nd Trimester

• Again, if you have lots of energy, use it. Get into a routine with Pilates and follow one of our pregnancy schedules if you need some help with structure. Take this time to prepare your body for what’s to come. Building your strength will stand to you in your third trimester, in your labour and in your postpartum recovery. Our Second Trimester classes are here.
• Continue to eat well to fuel you and your baby. This mindset keeps me motivated to look after myself. 
• Do things that will serve you later in your pregnancy and when the baby arrives; be it at work or at home. I’m starting to do some nesting and organising in our home (Hello, I’m Aoife and I’m a type A personality!) and forward planning for TPP as much as I can. It makes me feel ready for baby number two and I know I will really enjoy the time off if I plan ahead for it, setting myself up as well as I can. 

Finally, if you are also expecting, TTC, or whatever life stage you are at, I wish you well on your journey. I hope that sharing my experience can at least make for an interesting read or provide some inspiration for you in some way. 

I want to acknowledge that everyone is so different and comparing ourselves to one another is definitely not going to serve us, but if you are like me, you will enjoy hearing other people’s experiences. I also love reading other people’s birth stories, so if you would like me to share mine, that’s something I can certainly do here. 

Sending you lots of love,

Aoife