My First Trimester

I thought my first trimester would be the easiest time of pregnancy. I thought I would breeze through it like I have seen so many times by celebrities who post their announcements looking gorgeous and talking about their blessing. In reality, I had a slightly different experience and whilst I am loving every minute of being Pregnant, I think it's only fair that I tell you about the realities of not only my first trimester but also being pregnant during a global Pandemic.

Once I found out I was pregnant, Chris and I decided only to tell our immediate families. We decided we wanted to wait until our first scan (at 12 weeks) before letting everyone else know. Why? Well it's strange, but the moment I discovered I was pregnant I became instantly protective of our baby and that included even just telling people about it.

The first thing I noticed is that EARLY PREGNANCY IS FULL OF TELLING LIES!!

Funny story actually, (loose on the word funny), on the Saturday after we discovered my pregnancy, Our Neice Khloe was round but she had Chicken Pox!! I had to hide in Chris's bedroom for hours so she didn't see me (otherwise she'd want to see me) so we had to lie to her parents and say I hadn't had the pox before so had to avoid her! Avoiding a 3 year old - especially the cutest wee 3 year old ever, is impossible! but we managed.

On top of that, on the same day, Chris & I's friend, Darren, had a weightlifting competition (which he absolutely smashed and came back with a medal!). The 'boys' (grown ass men) all went to support Darren whilst the girls (laaaaaydies obvs) had a wee gathering at Stephs (Darrens beautiful wife) where we had wine and lunch together with their gorgeous children. I had to rely on Vicky, my sister in law, to help me hide the pregnancy. Our friends are like wee inspector gadgets and would know instantly if I said I wasn't drinking (your girl here loves a wee rosé) so we made a plan to say I was taking antibiotics for severe toothache (which they believed... except for DI Gill). We went out that night and somehow, managed to keep it quiet.

Literally two days after this, lockdown was announced. I started to self isolate seperately from Chris as pregnant women are at an increased risk (due to the unknown aspect) of catching a more serious version of the virus and potentially passing it to their baby. Chris is a key worker and so we've been living seperately for 7 weeks.

HOW DID I FEEL PHYSICALLY?

I didn't really get any symtoms other than missing a period until around 6 weeks which is when I started to notice things changing.

NAUSEA

I had some slight Nausea. I was never actually sick (and so far haven't been!) but certain smells and ANY hot food really made me feel sick at around the 12 week mark. I get the weirdest feeling of either needing to be sick or needing to sneeze the minute I start to eat anything. I usually end up sneezing which is frustrating because the feeling usually continues throughout an entire meal meaning I can never enjoy it. I can't eat pizza anymore it makes me feel sick instantly and the smell of vimto is enough to make me want to leave a room.

CRAVINGS

I haven't had a huge amount if i'm honest. I had, and still do now and again, have a craving for ice cold milk. I'm not a big milk fan regularly so this was quite a shock. I've also been eating more sweets rather than crisps which is the complete opposite of what I normally am like. Crisps FTW.

ROUND LIGAMENT/PELVIC PAIN

Every few weeks, even now at almost 14 weeks, I get pains in my hip and sometimes if I stand too quickly, I get a sharp pain in the bottom of my stomach. This has been going on since around 7 weeks so I'm almost used to it now but at the start I was quite scared by it.

BOOBS

My boobs hurt so bad!! My nipples and the sides of my boobs just ache, especially at night time. My pain started around 8 weeks and I still have it but it sometimes goes away then comes back.

CONSTIPATION

Around about the 10 week mark, I started to get constipation for a few days then I would get an upset stomach for a couple days. I actually had some bum bleeding (Sorry TMI) from it and panicked but after a call to my midwife she assured me all was fine.

DREAMS

Vivid AF dreams. Grandad from Mrs Browns Boys and wee Bob from River City were both in my dream a few days ago. So weird!

EXHAUSTION

There have been days where i've felt like I just wanted to sleep all day long. I make sure to keep to a routine everyday so that I don't indulge in laziness too much (the odd time is fine).

MOOD SWINGS

NGL, I've had some anger issues. Small things annoy me for no reason. My Dad asked me to pass him the TV remote which was right beside me and I told him "I could literally stab you in the face right now". OBVIOUSLY, I don't ever get physically angry, but there are times where the rage is real. Ontop of that, I cry...a lot. I don't normally cry all that easily, but now, if I'm on the phone to Chris you can bet your ass I'm probably going to sob about not being able to see him, or as it was the other day, crying (full on sobbing) because my dad interrupted me when I was on the phone to someone. Fail.

MENTAL HEALTH

Speaking of my mood swings, I thought I'd let you know about how I'm feeling mentally. I feel as though I have this mental checklist and everytime I resolve one thing, I move on to irrationally worrying about the next thing on the list. At the start of my pregnancy, I was in disbelief that I was pregnant. I constantly, right up until my 12 week scan, questioned if I am even pregnant and wondered if everything was ok. At the same time, I felt (and continue to feel) so incredibly grateful to be pregnant. At the start of the pregnancy I was obviously shocked and overwhelmed but I have had no doubts about the love I feel towards our baby. I feel so protective that I spend my days googling things (please don't do it unless its for a practial or 'how to' type thing) and I freaked myself out BIG STYLE. As soon as I heard a horror story I would start panicking that the same would happen to me instead of just feeling sympathetic for the person who did experience it. I know that probably makes me seem like a terrible person but I'm trying to be 100% honest.

VITAMINS & SUPPLEMENTS

Because I am overweight, I take 5mg of Folic Acid daily, a baby aspirin (to avoid pre-eclampsia) and Vitamin D.

GREAT THINGS

I just feel on top of the world knowing that I'm growing a human inside me. Whenever a new symptom comes along I'm actually pleased because I had no symptoms for a good few weeks. I got it in my head that it's a good sign to have symptoms and that the baby is doing well. My hair is thick and shiny which I love and whilst I don't have a defined bump yet, if I lie on my back (briefly), I can feel a bump. I love measuring myself weekly to see how I'm growing and knowing that I'm passed the first trimester feels like a huge accomplishment.

There's loads more I have to tell you but I'll update you every Wednesday on something baby related so make sure you keep an eye on my blog!

Stay Safe

H x