PNEI of the second trimester of pregnancy

During the second trimester a change in hormones and in the response to stress may be observed. Such change may be either sudden or gradual.

There is a notable increase in the hormones of pleasure, libido, and emotional expansion: progesterone, endorphins, prolactin, and of course oestrogens. From the biological point of view, the hormonal state is aimed to tissue- and receptor growth (also for birth), to glandular development, and to the increase of bodily waters and amniotic fluid.

The mother’s- and the child’s oestrogens are the first signs of the pregnancy good state and, above all, of a good communication between mother and baby, and determine the baby will have to react to stress. As far as hormones are concerned, the woman in the second trimester experiences a physiological emotional opening (oestrogens), an increase in libido (oxytocin), and in the perception of psychophysical wellbeing (endorphins), alongside a lively REM activity (oestrogens), which encourages the sensorial- and unconscious symbiotic communication with the baby in the uterus. The bases of the mother-baby relationship are forming. During the second trimester, the psychic-, nervous-, and endocrine bases on which dilating labour and breastfeeding will go according to are created. Those bases will also be the ones on which the love relationship between the mother and her child will be built on during exterogestation.

During this trimester, the baby makes themselves felt through movements, palpation of the belly by the mum and the midwife, the partner’s- and the siblings’ touch strengthen deep, intuitive communication between mother and baby, playing, presence.