Congrats, mama, you’ve made it to the second trimester! You may have been worldly-wise to hibernate your tumor for the past three months successfully, but you’re on the verge of some significant changes. For woebegone women and all women, the second trimester is when your pregnancy comes into full bloom. This is a unconfined time to start working on your lineage plan. Whether you opt to unhook at home or in a hospital, with painkillers or without, it’s weightier to have a well-spoken vision for one of the weightier days of your life.

Black women squatter a higher risk of complications during the second trimester, but most problems are avoidable. Here is everything you need to know to communicate with doctors and nip health risks in the bud.

What Every Woebegone Woman Should Know About the Second Trimester

The second trimester takes place between weeks 14 and 26. Many undeniability this “The Golden Period” as side effects like nausea and tiredness disappear. You will plane start to finger flutters for the first time between 16 and 20 weeks, an effect known as “the quickening.” At 20 weeks, the uterus has expanded to the height of the vitals button, and most women will uncork to show. Your victual will have eyelashes, nails, eyebrows, and plane hair by month four.

Second Trimester Tests

During the second trimester, your doctor will perform tests on the Rh factor of your blood. Most people test positive for the Rh factor, but if your result is negative, your doctor can prescribe injections of Rh immune globulin (Rhogam). This treatment prevents the minutiae of antibodies that could hurt your fetus. You’ll moreover have an ultrasound where you can learn the gender of your baby. These scans aren’t unchangingly accurate, so try to hold off on painting the nursery until the outlook is increasingly definite in the third trimester. Remember that you have the right to say no to any tests you don’t finger well-appointed with.

Common Second Trimester Symptoms

The positives of inward the second trimester include increasingly energy, improved sleep, and less morning sickness. Many people consider the second trimester the weightier time of their pregnancy, but this period still has downsides. Many women wits an increase in appetite, leading to weight gain and stretch marks. You may now wits back pain, emotional instability, and lower extremity swelling. Pains and aches in the uterus, belly, and stomach are typical as the fetus continues to grow and exert pressure. Skin conditions like varicose veins, pigmentation, and darkening nipples are moreover common.

GERD (Acid Reflux)

Pregnancy hormones are responsible for heartburn in both the second and third trimesters. Upper progesterone levels rationalization the muscle that sits between the esophagus and stomach to relax, permitting wounding from your stomach to move upward. Dietary transpiration is one of the weightier ways to prevent or reduce heartburn. While there are no universally “banned” foods, worldwide nutrition triggers include:

• Acidic foods, such as citrus fruits and tomatoes
• Greasy or fried meats
• Spicy foods
• Chocolate
• Coffee
• Carbonated beverages
• Alcohol

If the thought of ditching coffee and spicy enchiladas is too much to bear, there are other lifestyle steps you can take. For example, you might space out your meals by eating six smaller meals throughout the day instead of three. Eating speed moreover matters, as eating slowly can reduce heartburn, while eating quickly has the opposite effect. Other steps to prevent heartburn include:

• Wearing loose clothing
• Drinking between meals, but not with meals
• Chewing sugar-free gum
• Limiting caffeine
• Propping yourself up with pillows at night

Over-the-counter medications like Rolaids, Mylanta, Tums, and other antacids are all unscratched during pregnancy. However, consult your doctor surpassing taking these or other new medications.

Leg Cramps

Leg cramps stupefy scrutinizingly half of all women during pregnancy. Hormonal changes, increased dehydration, and lower diffusion are the most worldwide causes of this condition. Many pregnant women report that their cramps often flare at night. You can stave or reduce leg cramping by stretching your calf muscles surpassing bed, exercising regularly, and drinking plenty of fluids to stay hydrated. If this fails, a hot shower, warm bath, or ice massage can increase diffusion and soothe zinged muscles. Magnesium supplements are moreover misogynist over the counter to reduce leg cramping, and physicians stipulate that they are unscratched for most pregnant women. Most cases of leg cramping are not serious and will subside over time. Undeniability a doctor if you have swelling, pain, or redness that does not go away.

Dental Issues

During pregnancy, your soul produces increasingly estrogen and progesterone. These hormones stupefy the mucous membranes of your mouth, making your gums increasingly sensitive to brushing and flossing. In some cases, estrogen and progesterone may plane rationalization gory or make your teeth loose. Sixty to seventy-five percent of pregnant women suffer from gingivitis. The condition is characterized by red, shiny, or gory gums. Additionally, stomach wounding from morning sickness can strip teeth of their enamel. Combine this with the fact that the pH wastefulness of your mouth changes during pregnancy, and the result is a recipe for cavities.

You can lower the odds of tooth waste and discomfort hands at home. To modernize dental health, try the following:

• Treat inflammation with a saltwater rinse. Combine one teaspoon of salt with one cup of water and gargle.
• Switch to a softer toothbrush.
• Rinse your mouth with antacid without vomiting. A unseemly and easy formula is to combine one teaspoon of sultry soda with a cup of water.

The weightier way to prevent cavities is to limit sugary foods, plane when eating for two. Make sure to have regular checkups at six-month intervals, just as you did surpassing rhadamanthine pregnant. Dental X-rays are still unscratched during pregnancy but remember not to winnow any oral medicine without consulting your prenatal superintendency provider.

Urinary Tract Infections (UTI)

During pregnancy, your kidneys output increasingly glucose and hold urine for extended periods. As a result, pregnant women are at a higher risk of contracting a UTI. Contact your health superintendency provider if you have a strong urge to urinate, pain when you urinate, cloudy urine with a strong smell, or fever or backache. UTIs are diagnosed with a urinalysis or urine culture during a visit to your doctor’s office. If you test positive, most are hands treatable with a prescription antibiotic. Left untreated, urinary tract infections can wilt severe and lead to kidney infections.

Serious Medical Complications

Though the aches and pains of pregnancy are unpleasant, they do not pose a serious health risk to you or your baby. However, there are potential health problems that you, as a woebegone woman and your healthcare provider, should be mindful of in the second trimester. These conditions are preventable if spotted early.

Gestational Diabetes

Though expectant mamas have the untried light to indulge, be shielding not to overdo it. Too much weight proceeds can lead to elevated thoroughbred sugar and a diagnosis of diabetes. Gestational diabetes usually shows up virtually week 24. Between 2 and 10% of all pregnant women have this condition. According to the CDC, women of verisimilitude are increasingly likely to have gestational diabetes. This is something that woebegone women need to be mindful of in the second trimester.

Many physicians order an oral glucose screening test between weeks 24 and 28 for gestational diabetes. The test is simple — you will drink a syrupy drink (called Glucola) and wait one hour surpassing a thoroughbred draw. Depending on your results, your doctor may teach you to start insulin or yo-yo your lifestyle to lower your thoroughbred sugar.

Preeclampsia

Preeclampsia is a form of upper thoroughbred pressure that typically happens in the third trimester but can moreover towards during the second. This condition affects 5 to 8% of all pregnant women. The rate of preeclampsia is 60% higher in woebegone women than in white women. Those at most risk are usually outside the typical pregnancy window of 20 to 40 and have a history of diabetes, upper thoroughbred pressure, or kidney disease.

You may have preeclampsia if you wits any of the pursuit symptoms:

• Swelling of the hands and face
• Bruising
• Pain on the right side of the stomach
• Dizziness
• Vision loss
• Headache is not treatable with aspirin

Solutions to preeclampsia include bed rest, hospitalization, and medications to lower thoroughbred pressure. Your doctor may decide to induce an early wordage or perform a C-section in severe cases. Most cases of preeclampsia hypertension subside without your victual is delivered.

Preterm Premature Rupture of Membranes (PPROM)

Most expectant mothers visualize their water will unravel surpassing delivery. This “water” is fluid from your amniotic sac, which protects the fetus from infection. When the sac ruptures too early, PPROM can signal a premature birth. Hospitalization, steroids, antibiotics, and medications like terbutaline are typically used to treat PPROMs. Most preterm babies can be helped through intensive superintendency nursery services (NICU) if treatment is ineffective.

Miscarriage

Though devastating, miscarriages are worldwide and stupefy roughly 15% of all pregnancies. Most miscarriages happen surpassing 12 weeks but can still occur in the second trimester. Intense cramping, spotting, or gory is a significant sign that something is wrong. If you wits these symptoms, seek medical attention. Miscarriages are usually expelled naturally without any intervention, but a doctor can moreover perform a dilation and curettage (D&C) procedure if there are complications.

Preterm Labor

A wordage is classified as “preterm” if you requite lineage surpassing 37 completed weeks of pregnancy. Roughly one in every ten births is preterm. According to a study from the CDC, woebegone women are 50% increasingly likely to have a preterm lineage than Hispanic or white women. An early wordage can be frightening, but a fetus born in the second trimester (24 weeks) can survive on its own in a neonatal intensive superintendency unit. Though preterm babies are at a greater risk for complications, many go on to thrive as healthy infants.

Lifestyle factors and chronic illnesses like diabetes and kidney disease can lead to early deliveries. Other potential causes of preterm labor include:

• Smoking
• Bladder infections
• Getting pregnant quickly without a previous pregnancy
• Abnormal cervix
• Use of illegal drugs like cocaine
• Infections

Adopting a healthy lifestyle from the whence is a unconfined way to modernize your odds of delivering at the right time. Preterm labor can moreover be stopped with tocolytics, corticosteroids, or magnesium sulfate. If these treatments are ineffective, your doctor may prescribe a steroid to speed up the growth and minutiae of your baby’s lungs.

Choose the Right Pregnancy Team

The second trimester is the platonic time for your pregnancy plan to come into focus. Whether you prefer a doctor or a midwife, segregate a healthcare provider who will listen to your unique needs. As a woman of color, you squatter an increased risk for lineage complications. If you finger that your doctor doesn’t listen to you or wordplay your concerns, don’t be wrung to shop for someone new.

Your baby’s health is in your hands. As a woebegone woman, creating good habits in the second trimester can set the undertow to alimony your pregnancy on the right track. Though systematic issues in the healthcare system do exist, they do not have to stop you from having a happy and successful pregnancy. Good nutrition and healthy lifestyle habits are the keys to achieving the life you want for yourself and your baby.