We found out we were expecting again on 4th May 2021, it was the first day of our staycation and we'd packed my favourite tipples ready for a few days away. They obviously were put to one side, and we enjoyed our week away albeit scared in case we lost the baby. (If you haven't seen my previous post, we suffered a loss a few months prior)
We filled in the form online to arrange my booking in appointment with the midwives and awaited a response. I never made it to my booking in appointment previously so I had no idea what to expect.
I got a response pretty quickly - as part of the form you are able to advise of any previous complications or losses, so I'm not sure if that was a factor or if they were just not as busy.
We also booked a private scan for 6 weeks, the earliest you are able to do so. As mentioned previously, they were unable to find a heartbeat at that appointment, although they could see the sac and foetal pole, and when we went back a week later we heart that magical noise for the first time.
At my booking in appointment I was about 8 weeks, and spoke to my lovely midwife about how bad I was feeling expecting her to tell me to 'toughen up' and that this was what pregnancy was. Luckily she was amazing and told me I didn't have to go through the rest of pregnancy feeling this bad, having spent the week previous in bed unable to move for fear of being sick, and only able to eat half a ritz cracker every half hour or so.
It was then I was put onto tablets and they were life savers! I recommend them to anyone I know struggling with nausea throughout pregnancy, although I know it's not the route that everyone wants to take.
We spoke about all of my medical history, including my anxiety as I had had to come off of my medication in order to conceive due to the high dose I was on. She was really good at signposting me to places that could help if I felt I needed any additional support for both my anxiety and our previous loss.
My midwife also explained that due to my BMI I would need to have 'Gap and Grow' scans as due to me being plus size they may not be able to measure my bump as they would with those with lower BMI. To be honest, I saw this as a win - I get to see my baby more? Brilliant! (Before anyone comes for me, I'm not promoting a high BMI, although I do think that the BMI scale is ridiculous but thats a whole other topic!)
We also spoke about my hyper mobility, as this, coupled with my BMI meant I would be consultant led. This would mean extra appointments with a consultant and I wouldn't be able to give birth in a birth centre. Again, I was happy about this. Being an anxious person, I like to be able to get as much information as possible and our nearest birth centres are about a half hour drive from the hospital which gave me anxiety in case anything went wrong!
We then went through all my family medical history and I asked any questions I had. I would definitely suggest making a note before you go of anything you want to ask as my mind went blank.
I left armed with my medication and feeling a bit more at ease.
The next few months went quite slowly, I was losing weight just from feeling sick. The tablets helped the general nausea, but if I tried to eat too much I would feel sick quickly. I also suffered with a LOT of food aversions. Garlic was the worst. I could sniff it out even in things such as humus so was devastated as that is one of my favourite foods. Cooking in general also made me feel nauseous- so poor Jack would cook some meals and then I couldn't eat hardly any of it.
I actually made a note of my symptoms week by week until about 12 weeks :
Week by week
4-5 weeks
- Nausea
- Sleepless nights
- Hormones raging - emotional!!
- Slight cramping on rhs
- Really enjoying spicy 🌶 food
5-6 weeks
- Diarrhoea 👍🏻
- More discharge than usual (completely normal)
- Still not sleeping well
- Still have some cramping on rhs
- Loving Lilt!
- Itchy face is back 😩
- Lots of smells are horrible to me! (Black pepper, noodles, Turkish)
- Horrendous Nausea 🤮
6-8weeks
- Nausea is awful still - tablets seem to help though
- All smells of cooking make me feel sick as well as fridge/bin
- Started liking iced coffee again
- Loving gummy sweets, crumpets and twister ice lollies!
9-11 weeks
- Nausea tablets helping loads but smells still making me nauseous
- Iced coffee has gone out the window again
- Sweets are still a life saver
- Cereal is back as a craving
- Meat aversion is strong! Barely eaten any for a few weeks
- Sleeping is hard - getting up to wee a LOT
- Belly getting bigger
- Mood swings!
- VERY inpatient!
At about 10 weeks, we had another private scan and then our first NHS scan at 12 weeks. We decided to have the tests for Downs Syndrome, Edwards' Syndrome and Patau's Syndrome. This is done with a blood test and they also measure the fluid in the back of baby's neck. You will usually receive results in a few weeks following your scan.
We were in in the hospital for hours! Our little pickle kept moving so much they struggled to get the measurements. After drinking what felt like my my body weight in liquid, we finally managed to get them. Although the picture we were given was awful - we didn't get a decent scan picture until much later on in pregnancy.
It was after our 12 week scan that we felt comfortable enough to make our pregnancy public and here's how we did it:
#BirbkysAssemble - January 2022
Is it obvious we are huge marvel fans?
On that note - we are off to watch Doctor Strange tonight, so for now;
Much Love as Always,
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