Hello everyone! If you didn’t know it already by my Instagram, I have some pretty exciting news…we’re pregnant! There are no words to be able to explain how over the moon we are and how blessed we feel. Although I’ll be doing a first trimester Q&A over on my YouTube channel which will be live soon, I wanted to give you the lowdown on how it’s actually been.
The good, the bad and the ugly.
Weeks 1-4
Let’s face it, if you’ve been pregnant before you’ll know that not a lot happens in the first few weeks. During these initial weeks, you don’t really even know you’re pregnant. Most people find out around week 4 after their two week wait (the time between when you ovulate and your expected period), whereas I became pretty impatient and decided to text in week 3.
I’m going to be honest, the two week wait sucks! All you want to know is whether or not there’s a little baby brewing away in your belly.
Taking the test was also one of the scariest things I’ve ever done. After seeing negative tests in the past, I wasn’t expecting anything. I woke up in the morning and just had a gut feeling I had to take a test. So I went to the loo, did my thing and did a double take when I saw the second line show up instantly!
Nothing on earth will stop the tears that follow people…I cried. And when I say cry, I mean UGLY CRY.
Once I’d consoled myself I had to mentally prepare myself to not tell James for a few hours till I’d sorted a little surprise for him. Thankfully, I’d already got round to buying a little baby grow in preparation.
After telling James the wonderful news, and once we’d both stopped crying, we called both our parents immediately. We honestly couldn’t wait. But, I understand that people want to wait for as long as possible. This is because the risk of miscarriage reduces after 12 weeks. Honestly though, it’s totally up to you when you tell people.
Other than just being super excited, weeks 1-4 were pretty plain sailing.
Weeks 5-8
This is when things started to change. Week 6 hit me like a tonne of bricks. The nausea arrived with a bang and the tiredness smacked me in the face. Unfortunately for me, morning sickness meant waking up feeling sick and spending the rest of the day feeling exactly the same. The only time I didn’t feel nauseous was when I was sleeping, which was ideal as I needed all the sleep I could get.
The thought of exercising made me want to throw up, as did everything from vegetables and pretty much everything healthy haha! One thing I was told by a few people is that don’t worry about eating crap food if that’s all you can stomach. The baby will take the nutrients it needs from the food and your body. Trust me when I say this piece of advice really helped calm my mind.
Cravings wise, in the first two weeks of this stage I started to crave pasta in a homemade tomato sauce…at 10.30am. This was the oddest thing that’s happened to date! Although I enjoyed that for a few days, after a while anything tomato based just gave me the worst indigestion and heartburn. It’s worth keeping an open mind where food is concerned, as your tastes and preferences will change regularly.
Top tip: doing a weekly food shop might become challenging, especially if you’re craving something different every day!
Weeks 9-12
These were by far the most exciting weeks. More so because we saw our baby for the first time at 9 weeks and 6 days, and again at 12 weeks and 4 days. The first was a private scan with a lovely clinic in York – if you’re thinking of having a private one to give yourself peace of mind, I’d recommend going as late as possible so your little bundle of joy actually looks like more than a tiny speckle.
The second was the NHS scan – this was just incredible as in the space of two weeks the baby had doubled in size and actually looked like a little person.
At both scans we cried, so be prepared for tears. But honestly, just seeing your little one growing away and doing their thing in your body, makes all the nausea, tiredness and ever growing boobs so worth it.
I’ll keep you guys updated throughout the whole pregnancy. I want to give you an accurate representation of how the journey is, and the fact it’s not all roses. Growing a baby is hard, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
