Second trimester

So, the second trimester begins, and I’m over the moon because our little Gummy Bear is growing and forming into an entire human being. I’m finally starting to feel more energetic and can stay awake for much longer. I’m even able to tidy up the apartment without feeling like the world is about to end, however, the reality of the pandemic hits me like a ton of cement bricks and I sink into prenatal depression - this is not how I planned to have my first viable pregnancy!

 

Before I even fell pregnant, we had decided that our children would be born in South Africa. I wanted my husband to be at every Gynae appointment. I wanted a gender reveal party, a baby shower, a baby moon and a baby pinkeln for my husband - only the gender reveal party materialized, and that too was by chance because ngithanda ukufosta. I also wanted to attend prenatal classes, pregnancy yoga and aqua aerobics, but that very quickly became a far-fetched dream.

 

We were stuck in a 65m2 apartment in the middle of Euro Spring/Summer with every single shop and restaurant closed. All prenatal classes, pregnancy yoga and aqua aerobics canceled. All borders closed, and I had to go to my Gynae appointments alone and take videos for my husband – it was all a f***ed up situation if you ask me.

 

I remember one night, I put a pillow on my face and cried till I was out of breath because I actually hated my life at that point. I felt like the world was caving in on me and there was no way out of this dark sh*tty cave. I wanted to be home and taken care of like only your African family can when you are pregnant, but the damn borders were closed and though I could fly to South Africa and back to Germany on repatriation flights – my husband couldn’t cause he doesn’t have permanent residence in South Africa, and I didn’t want him to miss out on any milestones and potentially the birth of our first child.

I wanted to be able to crave things and have someone, anyone, drive out to buy whatever I’m craving instead of standing in front of the stove every single day to cook. I yearned to be in the presence of my friends and talk smack or joke about situations like we always have, and only we can – but all that was limited to our social presence, and honestly, everyone had their own struggles and was trying to live through this damn pandemic.

 

To add on to all of that, at my 20 weeks appointment, I thought I would be getting an Anatomy scan and we were excited for that, but we found out on the day of my appointment that, in Germany, pregnant moms only get the Anatomy scan if there’s very good grounds for it. I, however, felt there were good grounds for the scan so I told my Gynae to refer me to a Prenatal Specialist, and she was hesitant at first because she said everything was perfect, but eventually gave me the referral letter because I was persistent about getting it.

 

We went to the Prenatal Specialist for the scan at around 24 weeks and boom – I had double notches on both the uterine arteries (the veins that supply everything to the baby), and I’m now officially at high risk for pre-eclampsia with no other symptom besides these double notches on both arteries.

First thought that went through my head when the doctor told us this was ‘’well well well, f*** my life’’, but I was also grateful and thankful that I was persistent because this scan is what saved my life and the baby (stay tuned for my birth story – yifilm).

 

As if all that wasn’t enough – towards the end of the second trimester, I started getting reoccurring thrush infections from everything under the sun… and thrush infections are masepa fela when you’re pregnant.

 

Yerr, this is loooong, boring and depressing me all over again, so let me tell you all about the good stuff.

 

I started feeling the baby move very early, at around 14 weeks, and at the time, it was honestly the most surreal feeling in the entire world.

I also started shopping online for our little Gummy Bear, and that made me so happy. I remember when the first package arrived – it was blankets and muslin cloths from Aden&Anais, and it suddenly made it all real that we were having a baby. That was also the day my husband realized that he had to work smart because his wife was about to shop until she drops – and I really did buy everything and more for our baby.

 

We had a smaller nyana gender reveal party in the middle of the second trimester because some hotels were open and allowed a small number of guests. I just wanted an excuse to celebrate life – anyone that personally knows me will tell you how I love hosting parties and love celebrating life in general.

It felt good seeing my family and all my closest friends online and celebrating with us. That party made me realize how blessed I am with an amazing circle of friends, and off course, how blessed we are for my in-laws and my husband’s friends who helped with ensuring that the online party was a success.

 

Was the second trimester as fun as all the pregnancy books said it would be? LOL

 

See you again in a few weeks, and don’t forget to keep safe, wear your masks and wash your hands. Covid is real and people are dying out there.