BUMPDATE 1ST TRIMESTER

Recently several people have been asking how my pregnancy is going. I wasn’t sure whether to share this on here but as it’s all part of our adventure and I figure it will be a nice thing to look back on and let everyone at home know how we’re doing.

I have actually found reading other blog posts about pregnancy to be one of the most useful resources as unlike some of the books I’ve read (or given up reading!) there are some really positive people out there and it’s nice to read about their experiences. Everyone is welcome to a grumble or moan every now or then but we have tried really hard to put everything into perspective over the last few months and feel very positive about our journey so far and we’re hoping we can carry this through when things get undoubtably tougher!

Now that we’re in our third trimester I thought I’d share some of the symptoms we experienced in the first 12 weeks and ways we overcame some of the not so pleasant ones! It’s fun to remember as these weeks seem like so long ago and hopefully it might help someone who might be going through the same thing. 

Nausea – Not just in the morning but all day, everyday up until week 12. The best cures we found were eating something the moment I woke up and then every hour on the hour as best as possible. I couldn’t face real food and we tried every cracker and plain or ginger biscuit on the market. We  had a cupboard full of rejects to throw away before we moved house! In the end Rich Tea biscuits saved the day although they do make a lot of crumbs when you eat them in bed!

 

Unfortunately you can’t survive on Rich Teas alone and as you read the first few weeks of pregnancy books there is a huge amount of nutritional information about how much of each food group you need to eat, how much of each vitamin you need, it can be a bit overwhelming and make you feel worse knowing that all those foods sound awful. Even reading menus and recipes made me feel more sick, it was a very unexpected symptom?! The best solution we found was for me to tell Chris anything specific that I really couldn’t face and then he would cook something and present it for me to try to eat. If I wasn’t involved in the choosing, preparing or cooking process it seemed to make it easier to try to force some of it down!

Heartburn – Goes hand in hand with the nausea. Luckily although it lingered it was reasonably mild so I didn’t need to take anything for it. A tip I read online that helped massively in the first few weeks was taking my prenatal vitamins just before bed instead of in the morning. This made a huge difference to the amount and intensity of the heartburn I experienced.

Smell – I have a keen sense of smell at the best of times but this was incredible. We both found it fascinating how much I could smell and from how far away. I don’t know if they’re linked but this disappeared at the same time as the nausea which is a shame as I think it would be fun now I feel better!

Water – I normally drink about 2 litres a day so thought hydration would be no problem….wrong! My body just wouldn’t let me swallow water for some strange reason (this still happens occasionally now, very odd?!) We tried Canada Dry which occasionally did work for a few sips. Then we tried ice cold water WITH ice AND a straw (very diva-ish!) for some reason this combination allowed me to force down the litres I needed through the day.

Sleep – I managed to sleep well but had the most vivid dreams for the first 9 weeks. This wasn’t a problem just very amusing to Chris that I would wake up and rattle off a 10 minute in depth explanation of all the details of my weird dream.

The other very surprising but very unglamorous symptom I experienced was the urgent need to pee every 10 minutes (sorry if this is too much information but it’s all part of nature!). I have never experienced anything like this before in my life and luckily we managed to find the funny side, even if it is really inconvenient! I know it’s a very common symptom and we didn’t find any magical cure but we do have a huge tip for anyone in this early stage of pregnancy…..Don’t go on a driving holiday around the Northern Californian countryside visiting Yosemite and other National Parks. At best the bathroom facilities in these places are primative. At worst there is no restroom for the next four hours and we already need a visit 20 minutes into our journey. Coupled with the intense travel sickness I also experienced….it was a very eventful holiday, certainly one we won’t forget or stop laughing about for a while!

We forgot to take a photo of my “bump” at 12 weeks but here is week 13. The baby is only about the size of a lime so like a lot of other people there’s not much to see yet!