If you’re reading this post, then you probably saw our announcement a few days ago! We have a baby on the way! Today I wanted to share with you how I’ve found the first trimester and how everything has been going!
I found out I was pregnant at 6 weeks. I had been having my strong suspicions something was up from week 5. My period has been quite regular lately, however I had been taking a herbal supplement my naturopath had given me to try and help with my skin. I thought it might have been this that had thrown my period out, so I gave it a bit over a week before I started even giving it a second thought. Around 4.5 weeks I started getting sore boobs and some light cramps in my tummy. This is normal for me one or two days before my period, so I just assumed it was on the way. After 5 weeks, I was still feeling crampy and also incredibly tired. At 6 weeks I knew something was definitely up so I took a pregnancy test. The test said it may take up to a minute for a positive reading, but I had mine in about 10 seconds! I’m guessing the pregnancy hormone was pretty strong!
I was absolutely thrilled, and we booked a doctors appointment to get it confirmed. I had to wait a few days before I could go for this and the wait almost killed me. I wanted it confirmed! The doctor said with a result like that there was no doubt I was pregnant, so she sent me off for a series of blood tests. I was also given folic acid to take until the 12 week mark, and iodine to continue taking through the pregnancy.
During both weeks 6 and 7 I felt incredibly tired. I’d get to about 3 or 4pm in the afternoon and I would just want to crash. I started working smarter to get all my work done in the morning and early afternoon, and just spent the rest of the day watching tv on the couch. I hated feeling so lazy, but I literally had no energy to do anything. I even ended up going for an hour nap some afternoons as I was just so washed out. It’s amazing how guilty you feel sneaking off for a nap in the afternoons while everyone else is at work. I’ve never been much of a napper, so I found this really hard!
I was very lucky to not have any nausea in the first few weeks. I’d feel a little ill if I hadn’t eaten in a while, but as soon as I had something to eat, I was okay again. I just made a point of keeping muesli bars in my bag as they seemed to be the sugar fix my body craved. By week 8, I started to feel a little more nauseous during the day. I was never actually sick, but just had waves of it through out the day. Week 9 was pretty much the same and I had one day where I felt so sick and ended up vomiting pretty much the whole day. I haven’t felt that miserable in years and I was so scared that it might continue!
Luckily week 10 rolled around and I actually felt really good. I found a good eating routine which seemed to keep the nausea at bay, so for the most part I was feeling pretty normal. My energy seemed to pick back up and it was only if I had a bad sleep at night, that I felt tired the next day.
We had our first appointment with our midwife during week 10! Her name is Jenny Davidson at Clutha Health and she is lovely. All of my blood tests and urine test came back perfectly, so I was thrilled about that. She also arranged my first scan for the week before Christmas. We decided to get the scans and blood tests done for Downs Syndrome, so that happened during the first scan at 12 weeks.
Week 11 was pretty uneventful, I still felt pretty good and it was just the tiredness that was getting to me a little. The morning sickness had pretty much disappeared which was fantastic!
Week 12 was crazy. This was the week that we moved not only houses but towns, so it involved lots of long days packing up our house. We also had to paint the kitchen in our new place, and then had another full day of shifting. Plus all the cleaning! I was super tired and actually a bit grumpy and stressed this week, but I think everyone understood!! We did have our first scan this week and it was so exciting to finally see baby!! I was so worried we would get to the scan and there would be nothing there and everything would think I was crazy. I don’t know why, but this was something I was so worried about, so I was so happy to see that everything was okay!
We learned that baby was actually only 11 weeks old instead of nearly 13, so it was too small to be able to do the measurements needed for the testing. None the less, it was so lovely to be able to see it and get our first baby photos. It’s a bit of a wriggler and seems to like sleeping with it’s hand up near it’s face (like it’s mum). Baby’s due date is now the 9th of July. I’m glad we have a little more time to get things ready, but gutted I now have to wait an extra 2 weeks to see the little guy or gal!
Week 12 with the new dating, we went and had another scan and they could get all the measurements needed. Baby was a bit more chilled this time, and I was amazed to see how much it had grown in a week! Everything is looking good, and it seems to be happy and healthy. The testing takes a couple of weeks to come back, especially over the holiday period. It was Christmas and New Years during week 12, and I was the super annoying one having to be picky about what I ate. I was also nominated sober driver and had absolutely no excuse haha! I felt extremely tired this week and found myself having to have lots of rests during the day. I also had horrific hay fever, and there’s nothing really that is safe to take while you are pregnant, so I just had to ride it out. I swear I am never having another baby during hay fever season! 😂
Week 13 and the final week of the first trimester! I kicked off this week feeling a bit queasy and really tired which wasn’t ideal as we were trying to get a bit done to the house. My parents came down for New Years and to help us renovate the laundry and toilet. I felt so bad as my parents and boyfriend ended up doing pretty much everything, and I just made lots of cups of tea for everyone. I felt so guilty that I felt so tired!
And that was my first trimester! I feel so fortunate that it was pretty manageable and I was let off very lightly with the morning sickness. I feel so sorry for women who have horrific morning sickness that lasts right through the first few months. It must be so tough, as feeling sick just takes so much out of you.
From now on I’ll be doing monthly updates of how things are going. I love reading other bloggers pregnancy diary posts (even before I became pregnant!), so it’s exciting to finally be able to write my own! I think it will also be a fun way to be able to look back on things once baby is finally born.