TW: Miscarriage¦ I recently announced on social media that I am expecting our third child! I’m now coming up to 19 weeks pregnant and this whole experience has been very different from my pregnancies with Autumn and Reuben. While it feels a little late to write this post at almost half way, but since having a miscarriage in December 2019, I am cautious about saying anything ‘too soon’. Not only that, but I just haven’t been well enough to write anything…hence why I’ve been a bit quiet this year! Still, the time has come where I’m ready to reflect upon and share what the first trimester was like this time round!
Positive Test
This time I don’t think I had any symptoms as such before I took a positive test, unlike with Autumn and Reuben. I was starting to think my period was a bit late. However, I wasn’t overly worried as my cycle has really varied in length since I had Covid-19 in 2022. Still, I started to get a bit of a gut feeling and couldn’t sleep.
Before my Sunday morning shift, I got my husband to go out to buy a test and took it on my own as I got ready. I hadn’t read the instructions, but was surprised when a strong line appeared almost immediately. “Surely that must just be a control line?” I thought…but then I thought again and suddenly I didn’t think it was a control line anymore. I ran downstairs to the kitchen to read the leaflet, where it became clear that what I held in my hand was a positive test. Saying something along the lines of “Ermmm…”, I showed my husband who looked very shocked. I sent him out for another, which was also positive!
By this time it was 7am, so I had to leave my husband in the kitchen processing everything, to drive to work during which I was also trying to process everything. While there was excitement, at that point it was mostly pure shock. It definitely took us a few weeks to get our head around things!
Symptoms
With both Autumn and Reuben, nausea hit almost as soon as I took a positive pregnancy test. This time, however, I had about a fortnight between finding out and morning sickness hitting. I had been starting to worry if everything was okay…but then it hit and it hit hard! In fact, I wished I’d spent more time enjoying feeling normal instead of worrying. I’d thought morning sickness was bad with Reuben. Hahaha. It had nothing on this time!
I could barely eat, even plain things. Even just the thought of ginger biscuits could make me heave. To make matters worse, I had reflux issues. This made just having a drink of water problematic. I was practically running on empty most days, which probably made me feel more sick at points. I also had a really nasty taste in my mouth almost constantly, which also made the nausea worse. When I went to my booking in appointment, I had actually lost a few pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight. My midwife prescribed me anti-nausea medicine and thankfully that did improve things and helped me to feel a bit more human again.
The tiredness also hit harder this time. It’s not unusual for me to sleep 14 hours at night and still need a nap (or two!) I wonder if it’s because I’m now in my 30s, not my 20s like with my other two children?
I was also bemused to find that this time round, pelvic girdle pain began in my first trimester.
Cravings
Food was not my thing at all in the first trimester, but I was quite enjoying apples and cloudy lemonade. Disco crisps were also great as they’re very salty, which helped with the nausea and nasty taste in my mouth. My first actual craving was at around 10 weeks. Of course, it had to be at 1am, not a normal time. And of course it couldn’t be something we already had in the house! This led to my husband going to the petrol station and getting some odd looks for being there at that time of the morning to buy two cans of Heinz spaghetti hoops.
Exercise
I’d started going to the gym in September and reformer pilates in October. I’d also started swimming more often. I’ve never really been one for fitness as I was naturally thin, but I thought I should start taking better care of myself. By December I had started noticing the benefits, feeling fitter and noticing my stamina improve. When I found out I was expecting, I was keen to keep up my good work. It started well…however, I only got one gym session in before the morning sickness began. That wrote me off for absolutely weeks!
At the end of the first trimester, I did start doing some exercise again in the form of swimming. This was because I’d signed up to take part in Swimathon. At that point I already knew I was pregnant too. I’m clearly insane! Anyway, I needed to train so as soon as I felt able to I did. I was unpleasantly surprised to find just how much not exercising for a few weeks combined with pregnancy had reduced my stamina!
Mental health
I was completely mentally unprepared for this pregnancy. As it was a total surprise, it’s been quite difficult to navigate. It definitely made it much harder to deal with the morning sickness as I’d only had about a week and a half’s notice. As I’m emetophobic, I find it difficult anyway. When you’re planning to have a baby, you know in advance what you’re getting yourself into (to some extent!)
I’m also scared of blood tests, so I started freaking out about that too! Luckily, I have a really lovely midwife and my blood test at 8 weeks was nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be.
