11 Things to Do During the Second Trimester of Pregnancy | 82

However, some of these things could also apply to first Or third trimester, especially if you haven't done them yet. Anyway, so we're going to talk about second trimester and what you can start doing during your second trimester to prepare for your birth. So the first little section that I'm going to talk about is really about nurturing your body and your soul. 


Because you're about to enter into a phase of life, whether this is your first baby, your third baby It doesn't matter, each baby, it's such a different journey. And I want to dive into some things that you can do to be nurturing yourself, your soul, your body, your mental health, which is super important. 


Like an actual. factual person with fingers and toes. And that is a lot of nutritional requirements. Your body, your baby needs nourishment. So I really want you guys to start thinking about focusing on meals that are rich in nutrients like iron and calcium and protein. Listen to your cravings. 


So if whatever. Chocolate's healthy, you guys. So You can have chocolate, but focus on balanced meals. So try to avoid things that are processed or heavy and like salt and sugar and just keep in mind balance. That's your word, balance. Now we talked to our first trimester mamas last week and we talked about staying active. 


If you join my birth classes and you're hanging out with me and Linnae and we're, doing your labor bat signal, which is your private DM that my student members get, then we're going to tell you to take some walks. You and your partner go, it's one of the best ways to prepare your body. For the birth marathon because it is a marathon. 


It's not a quick little thing. Now remember, here's my little disclaimer, you need to talk to your provider if you're trying anything new or anything unusual when it comes to activities. If you've been told that you're on bed rest or you have any pelvic restrictions or anything, talk to your provider. 


And toddler, and... Even teenager, because I had to, right before I started recording this, I had to text my teenager to let her know that I'm gonna be teaching you guys because she'll come to my door and she'll want something. And that's Parenting 101. So take the warm bath now. Take my tip on this. 


Okay, the next section that we're going to talk about, I'm going to call connecting with your baby. So here are some things that you can start doing now, and I know some of you guys are feeling those movements, which are insanely incredible. So incredible. But some things you can start doing now, bonding with your baby. 


So she made some decisions with her subsequent pregnancy. She's pregnant again, so you know who I'm talking about. And she said she would do more bonding moments. So I wanted to add this in if you haven't thought about this yet. Some of y'all are just getting out of that first trimester and feeling really crappy and tired and All the things. 


So I just wanted to throw that in there in case you're not thinking about those things. The other thing that I would do is capture your journey. So when I first launched Labor Nurse Mama, I did a a poll with other moms that had blogs, and just asked them what would you do differently if you were pregnant again? 


And an overwhelming and the moments. Because most of them did not capture the moments. So document your pregnancy with photos, with journals, and it's such a beautiful way that you can preserve the memories and share the story of this baby's beginnings with this baby. When this baby, I have adult children now, and they love seeing the journey. 


They want to see you pregnant with them. So mark my words on that one. Okay, the next part is going to be what we say is education and planning that you should be getting done in your second trimester. Of course, I'm going to say. Childbirth education. This is so important. And this is why I launched my birth classes because you have to be empowered for your birth and you're responsible for that. 


And we have movements that you can do In picture so you can print it. It's a guide to take to your birth. So that if you're, you know where the baby is in the pelvis based on the station and we show you in pictures and why exactly what to do and when, and we tell you the positives and the negatives of all the different positions, and this is a powerful resource to have. 


There are stunning. Anyway, you guys know I like presentation, so there's that. So knowing what to expect during your birth experience, knowing what to expect during postpartum as best as I can prepare you, which is why I have the membership, because it's really hard to prepare you for all the things. 


But that's why we have our membership. And if you join our birth classes, you get 30 days free in our membership, and then hopefully stay with us throughout your journey. Because we provide virtual support services. Me as a labor nurse, we've got Dula as a pelvic floor specialist. We've got a lactation consultant who hangs out in there with us and she does virtual visits. 


Unless you've taken a class because you have to know why you're putting what you're putting into your birth plan. It has to be Something that you could explain your why your rationale And why we use the things you don't want us to use So for instance, let's say you say that IV during birth Which is fantastic if you're a low risk mama who has no need But why do we use one? 


It's not the power. The education's your power. Your birth map is your tool to explain to the people that are taking care of you exactly what you want and why. Not just what you want and why. I have some mantras that I say inside of my private community, and one of them is, we don't refuse things just because we can. 


You deserve the birth experience that aligns with your wishes. You deserve it. Don't let anyone tell you that a birth plan is a waste of time or you shouldn't do one and that's not necessary. That is something you deserve. You deserve to have that power. But remember, it's not the paper. It's the preparation. 


So that way, if anything goes on during birth, which it can, you're pushing out a human head. Out your vagina. Hopefully I won't kicked off, get kicked off for saying that, but go and get a baseline because then if you come back, they're gonna know what your normal is and they're gonna know more effectively how to work with you. 


This is such an important step in maintaining the health and the strength of your pelvic floor muscles because. Those little suckers play a big role from here to kingdom come. So when you're my age, you won't be sitting here wetting yourself when you cough or any of that fun things. Which I don't by the way, because this is one thing that I did do even as a really young mom with not a lot of knowledge. 


All right. Let's talk about nesting mode. So a lot of a lot of mamas start to do that preparation, that nesting mode preparation. Now it usually doesn't kick into high gear where you can't control it until you actually hit that in the early, before labor, but nesting mode when I'm saying that right now I'm talking about starting to create the space for your little one so that you're not overwhelmed at the end and the other thing is just you might be one of those rare mamas who have their babies earlier, so I would consider starting to, create a list of the things that you're going to need. 


There's so many options for you guys. We've got great lists put together on Amazon. And we're putting together a baby bundle too. That's going to come. We want the birth bundle to come out first. So baby bundles coming. But starting to do this is a really exciting way to channel that anticipation and that excitement. 


I have this, I have mindset and mental exercises really infused into my birth classes because mindset is 90 percent of your birth. I promise you. I promise you on my 16 year career and my six unmedicated birth that what you're telling yourself in here matters. So start to practice capturing those thoughts, taking control of those thoughts and flipping them. 


beautifully. Tell yourself that all the time. It's the truth. Okay. My last one, number 11, my oddball is connecting with other moms. This is something I am so passionate about, and this is why we added the membership to our lineup. So for those of you who aren't quite ready to take a birth class, we offer our call mama society membership where Every week we have a hangout with our pregnant mamas on Wednesdays, every Thursday, our postpartum mamas. 


We encourage individuality and we have a wide range of representations of different types of moms, and they all just love on each other. There is no mom shame. I'm talking whether you vaccinate or you don't vaccinate, whether you go unmedicated or medicated, whether you choose hospital or a home birth. 


No matter what path you choose, it's your stinking path and you have a right to choose it. We're all adults here, so we created a community where you can choose the path that you want to choose for you and your family. And you're the only one who has a say in that and we're going to support you whatever you choose. 


No, you don't. It's a natural process, but I love that you have the opportunity for both. And that's what we provide inside of our online pregnancy postpartum group. And you have access to me, you have access to my doulas. And once you purchase our birth classes, if you're still in the membership, You get your virtual labor support, which we have dubbed the labor bat signal, which you can initiate around 37 weeks, unless you have something going on in your pregnancy where you need a little more handholding, you can do it early and me and Linnea just support you inside of our labor bat signal until you don't need us, which some of our moms, that's 15 months postpartum, and some of the, our moms, that's.