The week we started telling people
5 weeks
It all seems so much more real having started to tell people. We’re not making formal announcements but anyone in our life week to week now knows as well as family. We believe strongly in not keeping it a secret in the first trimester but even so each ‘congratulations’ makes me wince ever so slightly knowing how delicate this little life is inside me. I’ve never had to wait until 12 weeks for my first scan before so that’s a strange concept in itself. That seems like an eternity away!!
This week has been such a weird one because everything felt relatively normal so I keep on forgetting that I’m actually pregnant. I’ve had lots of energy and haven’t felt nausea so I’ve been running around, getting lots of jobs done and trying to pack myself full of nutrient dense foods before I feel sick and just want carbs 24-7. Nothing much to report.
6 weeks
I had a bit of a shock at the beginning of this week when I thought my nausea had gone from 0-100 overnight. I hit the 6 week mark and then the next morning woke up feeling so sick and then it proceeded to get worse and worse. Thankfully it became clear I’d actually caught a yucky fever and was achey all over along with Maggie. It did make it hard to decipher how much of the sickness was the bug and how much was pregnancy. I tried leaving the house on the wednesday and felt so awful. I had to have a peppermint tissue at hand to constantly sniff so I wouldn’t throw up and texted Nick to say I didn’t think I could do this if this was only week 6!
Thankfully I found out from friends that they’d also had nausea with the illness and was reassured when the I-can’t-get-off-the-floor nausea subsided and left that familiar groggy nausea I remembered from pregnancy, that kind of feels like you’re constantly hungover which is always pretty unfair when it’s the only time of my life when I’m not having so much as a drop of alcohol!
Poorly week for us both and the start of pregnancy nausea
7 weeks
Well I definitely feel worse for wear this week. I’ve noticed a pattern emerging where I feel pretty crap when I wake up and really want food but feel very precarious post-breakfast too. That means I’m at my worst between 7.30 and 9.30 each day. Then we move into my happy space where I feel the most normal and that will usually last until lunch time. Then the afternoons are hard work with a groggy head, low level nausea and generally feeling exhausted.
I’m constantly hungry which is a stark contrast to my illness last week but I don’t really feel like eating. It feels like a chore but if I don’t then I’m essentially a black hole of emptiness! I remember this from last time and the notion that I feel most well when I’m eating but when I stop…not so hot! I’ve got that grim taste in my mouth that I also remember so well and I’m back on the salty chips. There’s definitely a whole list of foods I don’t want to smell or be near, most of them the healthy ones. Why can’t my babies make me want the good stuff in the first trimester?
Every now and again I worry if baby’s alright but I’m trying not to dwell on that too much. At least I’ll hit 12 weeks around new year which will hopefully mean the last 3 weeks will fly by but that may well be wishful thinking. We realised the other day that if all goes well this baby will actually only be one school year apart from Maggie! Hold on, how on earth is that possible?? Maggie will probably be the oldest in her year and bubs will be one of the youngest. Not sure we thought that bit through lols.
8 weeks
Yuck! This week has been grim. Monday was a hideous day where I felt nauseous from start to finish, with no break and I’ve had so many nights where I’ve been unable to sleep properly, darting back and forth to the toilet thinking I was going to vom which adds to the tiredness fun. I was napping everyday at this point last time but this time I haven’t at all yet, between trying to work and look after Maggie. I fall asleep watching TV most evenings unsurprisingly.
Sadly this pregnancy is currently 95% sponsored by lightly salted kettle chips. Its the only thing I can eat where I don’t feel more sick afterwards, in fact it sort of helps the sickness. I’m beyond sick of them but I don’t feel like my body is giving me any choice. I want to enjoy eating again!!
I was feeling pretty worried about an event on thursday, knowing I’d be working for 3 hours in the evening which currently feels like the hardest time of the day, but it was actually ok as I hadn’t had a big meal before and was so busy that I didn’t have much time to focus on what I was feeling until the end. I’ve noticed the sciatica properly creeping in though, particularly when sat for long periods of time. I think that’s pretty familiar at this point from the last time but still not ‘stop in the street’ yet.
Working my event
9 weeks
There’s been a shift this week in that I’ve been sleeping much better and the mornings have been easier but afternoons and evenings have been even harder and to add some fun into the mix Maggie has been wading through one of her infamous mega teething spells which has made the feeling poorly and tired all the worse. It’s reduced me to tears on more than one occasion, although in all honesty my tear ducts are well oiled since being pregnant. With countless teething tantrums and not able to put her down without the world essentially ending, I’ve spent many days counting down the hours until I get to either put her down for a nap or to bed. Sounds horrible doesn’t it? I just can’t deal with much when I feel so rubbish.
Along with the nausea I’ve also had a dodgy tummy too so it’s all glamour over here! The other evening I told Nick that I’d quite like to curl up and die. That might’ve been a little hormonally dramatic but you get the gist. I fell asleep in our Community Group bible study for the second week running (was roughly 8.30pm) and then had to excuse myself to go and lie down as I felt so dodgy. Thank goodness it’s in the safety of our own home where the bed is only metres away!
If I remember so clearly that 9 weeks was the lowest point last time so I’m really hoping that’s this is as bad as it’s going to get!! I would quite like to actually enjoy Christmas when it comes around but I guess you can’t win them all. The nausea actually only completely left the building at 16 weeks with Maggie so I don’t have high hopes.
The sciatica has definitely gotten worse and now I feel it pretty much all the time but I’m sure it will ease up again. I totally forgot about being out of breath in the first trimester but it’s all come flooding back. I sound ridiculously unfit as it’s even hard to catch my breath whilst talking sometimes. That symptom is kind of hilarious!
This sounds like one big, long moan but I’m not sure there’s much to enjoy in the first trimester. The only real positives are that if I feel all these yucky symptoms then it’s probably a good sign that baby is healthy and I had my booking appointment with the community midwife this time she was really nice, a far cry from the last time round as she definitely had a screw loose.
10 weeks
I think there are small signs of improvement, praise the Lord! I have to say Wednesday was a bad day without any real break from the nausea and tiredness but it’s funny as each time I have a particularly bad day Nick asks if I’ve done anything differently and then I realise I’ve forgotten to use my magnesium spray for a couple of days! It could be unrelated but it’s happened 3 times now (I should probably learn the lesson). You see I found out that magnesium could help some people with sickness in pregnancy last time around so I was merrily taking my natural calm powder in water before bed, wondering why on earth it wasn’t working, only to read at 15 weeks that whilst pregnant the body is much better at absorbing magnesium topically. It was a slap my forehead ‘doh’ kinda moment. This time I’ve been armed with my spray version from the start and I genuinely think it takes the edge off the sickness.
So all the mineral chat aside I’ve found life a bit easier this week. I’m still working from bed every afternoon because that’s when I feel most grim and still have a weird aversion to anything sweet including sweet smells. I’ve had to hide away numerous candles along with my orange scented body wash as they set my gag reflex into overdrive. Speaking of gag reflex I’ve learnt I shouldn’t go near my tongue with the toothbrush or hold anything in my mouth when I don’t have enough hands. There have been some close calls!!
Still can’t deal with large meals as my Christmas meal out proved…totally delicious but I felt so awwwful afterwards, had to go home early and lie very still in a warm bath!
11 weeks
Back home for Christmas and I can’t tell you what a relief it has been to have more hands on deck when it comes to Maggie as well as my out of office on because I’m exhausted and still finding parts of the day really hard with nausea. I was counting down the days until I might be able to get a smidgen of proper rest! Whilst I did feel a teeny bit better at the start of the week I feel like I regressed by the end so I have loved getting some naps in and knowing someone else can go an get Maggie if she wakes up or change her nappy because I still can’t hack those yucky smells.
It’s also been dreamy to finally consume food items that aren’t chips! I even managed half my Christmas lunch although abruptly gagged and spat out my brussel sprout, realising I wasn’t quite there yet. Needing to work up my veg intake with caution! I’ve actually managed some sweet things too so progress there but essentially it’s been nice to relax a bit, to nap through the yucky feeling I usually get after lunch and to eat a slightly more varied diet. I wouldn’t say a healthy diet though as I’ve reached the chewy sweet phase, more specifically Wine Gums, which is hilarious as it’s exactly the same as with Maggie!
Oh I nearly forgot, I stopped breastfeeding too! I was down to a morning feed first thing but Maggie has been less and less fussed and she’s often skipped it when staying with Granny so it just felt like the right time to stop. I did feel a little sad but it was possibly the last thing I’d been feeling like first thing in the morning so I’m also totally ok with it!
Oh aaaaaand…I have a bump that’s not just bloat! So so weird as I only started showing at 15/16 weeks last time but I guess you often show earlier with the next pregnancy. I’m still fine to wear my normal jeans although definitely longing to get them off by the end of the day. My belly button has also already popped out which is even weirder. That didn’t happen for ages last time around but maybe once popped, that badger doesn’t take too much coxing out round two.
12 weeks
Finally made it to this much awaited milestone! If only my scan was booked in for 12 weeks rather than 13 then it would feel even better. At least we’ve had another week off as a bit of a distraction from the waiting. It feels so weird to have waited so long this time to see if our baby is ok! We’d already had 2 scans by this point last time which was at least somewhat reassuring.
Whilst I’m still far from normal, I can tell I’ve improved a lot this week. I’ve only had two moments where I’ve had any real concern of imminently vomiting and the rest has been very manageable but maybe that’s because I’m still off work and have Nick’s help.
The sciatica has eased up a ton and Maggie’s kindly obliged post 7am lie ins throughout the week, not to mention wild break throughs like eating pesto, chorizo and olives for the first time in about 2 months. Seems like strong flavours aren’t bothering me as much. The hormonal tears are still flowing, particularly with all the movies we’ve been watching this week and Mr Muncey finds it totally hilarious.
This may sound strange but I also felt those first little flutters of movement or at least I’m reasonably sure they were. It’s easy to doubt myself before the scan but it’s particularly in the bath or when I go to bed which is just like with Maggie, except it was only about 16 weeks when I noticed them with her. It seems so strange that it might be our little one dancing about in there.
Definitely starting to feel apprehensive about the Monday scan. There’s nothing to suggest bubs isn’t well, in fact in terms of how I’ve felt the whole way through, this pregnancy is so so similar to Maggie and world’s apart from Zion but there’s still that fear that we won’t see a heart beat on Monday. Baby has been added to our nightly prayers for Maggie, ever since finding out, so they feel so much a part of the family already!
Christmas break
13 weeks
We had a healthy scan and we’re so so relieved!! Having felt so much better I had a crazy evening on Sunday right through to Tuesday morning where the nausea was just so intense again. I could barely sleep in the night and only managed to get through my scan on Monday by sucking a constant stream of polos. Thankfully the rest if the week has been good but back to the scan….
We were both super nervous and were obviously made to wait a fair amount of time but it was such a relief to get two lovely sonographers who were really friendly and straight away showed us the heartbeat and a healthy, little wriggling baby. Then we were both able to relax and enjoy seeing this little person, the reason I’d been feeling so terrible and suddenly it was all so worth it! I’m not sure if technology has come along way in 2 years or having the scan at 13 weeks rather than 12 made all the difference, as we both commented that it seemed so much clearer this time! We saw them tapping their belly and doing little karate kicks. I know you can’t really tell but it’s profile looked really different to Maggie. The whole thing was really interesting and world’s apart from the tense 12 week scan we had in silence, without even a confirmation of heartbeat for Maggie.
I left the room and teared up. I realised how tense I’d been beforehand wondering if everything would be ok. Relief can be quite an overwhelming emotion!
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