You are now in your second trimester, the tiredness and nausea you've been experiencing should ease a little. At this stage, many women have an increased feeling of wellbeing and peace. Your hair and complexion are glowing and hopefully you'll begin to get your energy back.

Weeks 15-16

Most women feel like this is the start of the best part of pregnancy - mid-trimester time, or months four, five, six and seven.

You'll probably feel far more secure about the pregnancy as miscarriage is unusual after this point.

You will probably be showing a noticeable but small pregnancy bulge.

Weeks 17-18

Your usual clothes are probably now impossible to do up, so the moment of truth has arrived - it's time for maternity wear. Luckily this no longer means you are sentenced to wearing vast floral tent dresses, as maternity fashions have moved on quite considerably in the last 10 years.

The first time you feel your baby move tends to happen between 16 and 20 weeks, and it can be exciting and extraordinarily touching.

Your baby has in fact been moving before, but you can now feel it because your growing womb is touching your abdominal wall. Women often say the earliest movements they feel are like having a butterfly in their tummy, while others say it's like having gas.

Weeks 19-20

This week is the start of the period of pregnancy (20-30 weeks) when you gain weight fastest, and it's the hardest time to keep your weight under control. Ideally, you are 'meant' to put on about 18 lb during pregnancy, but average weight gain during pregnancy is more like 21-28 lbs.

Around now you usually have a detailed routine ultrasound to check the position of your placenta and your baby's major organs, confirm multiples, see whether your baby is growing normally, and confirm its sex.

Stretch Marks

Stretch marks are scar tissue caused by collagen damage when skin and flesh are stretching fast. They can appear literally overnight, fading to silvery lines after birth.

Weeks 21-22

You may find that you are having really vivid dreams now. This is perfectly normal and nothing to be alarmed about.

Pre-eclampsia

Pre-eclampsia is a disorder of the placenta characterised by high blood pressure and protein in the urine. It is not known exactly what causes pre-eclampsia but it affects 1 in 50 women and appears in the last trimester of pregnancy. It will be checked for in your regular appointments, one of many reasons why it is important to attend all appointments and report any unusual symptoms or concerns to your healthcare professional.

Signs to watch out for are sudden swelling of face, feet, ankles and fingers, headaches and visual impairment. Although signs of pre-eclampsia can be treated with rest and relaxation and drugs to lower blood pressure, if left untreated it can be harmful for both mother and unborn baby, so it essential to get all signs or symptoms checked out.

Varicose veins

The most common time for varicose veins to appear is 20-24 weeks and if you want to avoid them, here are some tips:

• Wear Lycra-enhanced support tights/stockings. Today's tights are unlike the 'traditional' support stockings which were mostly thick, opaque horrors. New yarns mean you can choose your degree of support and wear it in a range of shades.
• Put on support tights/stockings before you get out of bed in the morning.
• Put your legs up whenever possible during the day, especially for 30 minutes each evening, for example when watching television.
• Don't sit with your legs crossed.
• Do ankle circling exercises as often as possible - try to do 10 one way and 10 the other about 10 times per day.

Weeks 23-24

You now have approximately 40% extra volume of blood in your system and your heart (which beats on average 100,000 times in 24 hours) is beating an extra 14,000 times per day! Your womb is now the size of a pumpkin and you may have some water retention.