This part of pregnancy is often the most pleasant, as for most people the nausea and vomiting and tiredness of early pregnancy passes, but your baby is still relatively small, so the aches and pains common in the third trimester are not yet as evident.
Routine midwifery care during this period usually involves an appointment around every four weeks, although this is negotiable with the midwife you are seeing. At this stage, your midwife will be able to hear your baby’s heart beat, and this can be checked at each appointment – with a doppler from about 12 weeks, or with a Pinard or fetoscope from 28 weeks.
From late in the second trimester, your midwife will plan with you how to monitor baby’s growth. If you have no risk factors, then your midwife will offer to measure your bump from 26-28 weeks onward, every two weeks. The measurement will be plotted on a customised GROW chart, which your midwife can show you at each appointment. If you are at higher risk of growth restriction, then you will be offered routine growth scans, usually from 28 weeks.
Sometime in the mid-second trimester, usually between 18-22 weeks, you will start to feel your baby move, although this may be earlier or later for some people. Pay attention to these movements – they will start to fall into a pattern, which will be established by 28 weeks. In the second trimester, it’s all about working out when your baby’s active times are, so that in the third trimester, you can tell if baby is not moving the same as usual.
Weight gain is normal throughout pregnancy, but it starts to be more noticeable in the second and third trimesters.
Tests offered in this trimester include the anatomy scan at around 20 weeks, which is a top-to-toe assessment of your baby’s body structures, and screening or diagnostic testing for gestational diabetes around 26-28 weeks, along with another set of routine blood tests to check iron levels.
Vaccination against whooping cough, the flu, and Covid is also offered in the second and third trimesters. Whooping cough vaccination is recommended from about 16 weeks in every pregnancy, even if you had one recently, and flu and Covid vaccinations can be done at any stage of pregnancy. It is recommended that you wait six months between Covid vaccines.