Second Trimester Of Pregnancy

What are common pregnancy symptoms during the 2nd trimester?

During the second trimester, you're typically not showing so much. You may start to develop something that you, definitely, will notice, but most people may not. You actually start to feel better during the second trimester. The breast tenderness sometimes lessens. The nausea sometimes dissipates quite a bit, and so, the 2nd trimester is not really riddled with many symptoms, until about 20 weeks, where the best symptom of all occurs: you can actually start to feel the baby move. So, most women, at about 20 weeks, will feel the baby move. Some feel it at 18. Some will feel it even sooner, especially if it's not their first baby, and some don't feel it until 22 or 23 weeks in the second trimester. If it's after 23 weeks and you're not feeling it, consult your doctor, because there are reasons why you may not be feeling it, but you just want to be reassured.

What medical exams occur in the 2nd trimester?

In the second trimester, the exams that typically occur are a triple marker, or Quad test, as we now call it, and the AFP test, which is a screening test that's done between 16 and 18 weeks to determine the risk of certain abnormalities that can occur with the baby. Around 18 to 22 weeks, I usually send my patients to a perinatalogist who performs an ultrasound, and that's going to look at the baby from head to toe and check the anatomy of the baby.