Pregnancy diaries – the first trimester
As I’m now in my third trimester I thought it would be good to have a look back on my pregnancy so far and reflect on the first trimester.
Avid readers will know that we let the cat out of the bag last week and announced we’re expecting our first baby in July eeek!
For me the first trimester wasn’t exactly plain sailing.
The first scare
Once the urine sample had been tested by the GP it was official I was pregnant.
My booking in appointment was arranged and Steve and I went to see the midwife for the first time.
As I’d had some bleeding on more than one occasion she booked us in for an early scan and we weren’t able to complete the appointment.
We were gutted and naturally worried.
Thankfully the scan was the next day but I didn’t get much sleep that night.
The sonographer was lovely and really put us at ease.
We didn’t think we’d get to see anything but she encouraged us both to look at the screen and she explained where the baby was and I felt like Rachel from Friends.
Once she explained what we were looking at it made more sense.
While she was checking she thought she found another baby but it turned out to be a small cyst which she assured me was fine and would eventually dissolve and go away on its own.
Everything looked good and we were definitely only having the one baby!
As we hadn’t told anyone (except my two close friends) it was tough going through that just us two.
Tiredness
For the first couple of weeks I just felt absolutely exhausted.
I napped during the day on Sunday’s and by the end of the working week on a Friday night I was just ready to face plant my pillow.
Fortunately morning sickness wasn’t really an issue for me.
However, when I was sick it was horrendous.
After my work Christmas night out I spent the night lying on the bathroom floor being sick and I couldn’t go to work the next day.
During the Christmas break we had our annual get together with my friends and we went out for tapas in Newcastle.
I drove and gave my friend Laura a lift home.
On the way to Laura’s house I had to pull over twice to be sick and then was sick at her house. I felt absolutely dreadful. Unfortunately Steve had had a drink so I had to drive home feeling like death.
Booking in appointment
The next day was my booking in appointment – take two.
Thankfully this was much better than the first one!
We went through all of the family history questions and I was poked and prodded some more.
Another scare
We had a lovely Christmas where we told both sets of parents our news.
But we had one more scare when I received a call from the hospital asking me to come in that night to discuss blood test results.
It turned out I had a low level of PAPP–A pregnancy associated plasma protein and I would be moving from midwife-led care to consultant-led.
I had to be booked in for growth scans from 28 weeks onward and have appointments with a consultant for the rest of my pregnancy.
We also had to get a prescription sorted that night so I could start taking one baby aspirin a day.
Looking back at the first trimester
So it wasn’t plain sailing we had a few scares but I have to say Steve just took everything in his stride and stayed really calm when we hit every bump.
He has been looking after me making sure I don’t lift anything too heavy and watching what I’m eating too.
Being pregnant didn’t stop me enjoying Christmas festivities or celebrating my 30th. I still enjoyed Afternoon Tea with the girls, the pamper party package and a long weekend in Edinburgh.
I’m not really missing alcohol but seafood like prawns and crab I miss a lot! But I know it will all be worth it when the baby is here.
Make sure you keep up to date with my pregnancy diaries series where I discuss the ups and downs of my pregnancy.
What was your first trimester like? Have you got any advice for me during my third trimester? Let me know in the comments below.
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I was extremely tired during my 1st trimester. I just wanted to sleep all the time!
That’s exactly how I felt completely wiped!
I’m so glad the scares were nothing to worry about in the end, I imagine it must have been so worrying though! It’s great you were still able to enjoy the Christmas festivities and your 30th birthday too! I hope things have been easier since the first trimester 🙂 looking forward to read more and yayy you both must be getting so excited now, July is getting closer! Thanks for sharing Rachael <3 xx
Bexa | http://www.hellobexa.com
Thanks Bexa! We are getting excited and things have been better thankfully 😅
[…] Pregnancy diaries – looking back on the first trimester […]
During my first trimester with my son, I was legit sick all the time. So much that I had to quit my job because they were gonna fire me anyways for my constant call outs. It sucked. With my daughter I was hardly sick at all. I think I only had one episode of morning sickness with her. I was exhausted all the time during my pregnancy with my daughter but that was cuz I was always running around taking care of my son.
Oh bless you doesn’t sound like an easy pregnancy journey for you!
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having a baby is so exciting! Congratulations
Thank you 😊
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