Our beautiful darling baby recently entered into the world, our lives and hearts. As we focus on spending time together as a family and recovering, I hope that you enjoy a look into what my pregnancy journey was like. These will be long, so grab your choice of beverage, sit back and enjoy!
Week 5
On Good Friday, I took a pregnancy test as soon as I woke up. I hadn’t planned too – in fact, just earlier that week I had asked my husband to hide all of our pregnancy tests, as it was killing me to get a negative test result every month. However this time, my period had been late for 2 weeks and my breasts had been feeling tender and sore, so I had a gut feeling that I was pregnant.
When I saw those double lines appear, I almost couldn’t believe it and made sure that enough time had passed by before walking out to my husband saying, “I think I’m pregnant!”. I hugged him and we cried and laughed together in disbelief. By this stage, we had been trying for almost 12 months and were thinking of going down the IVF route due to my maternal age. We spent the next hour or so cuddling in bed and relishing in the moment. Sadly, we had had a miscarriage a few months prior, so while we were incredibly happy, we were also cautious about not getting too attached at this early stage.
Following the long Easter weekend, I booked an appointment with my GP to confirm the results and get the standard blood work done. The results confirmed the pregnancy and also showed that I had a significant vitamin D deficiency, so I started taking Ostelin twice daily. I also booked my dating scan for week 8 of the pregnancy to confirm exactly how far along I was. Although I would have loved to book this appointment earlier, I was advised to wait a few more weeks to ensure that the baby would be picked up on the ultrasound.
Weeks 6-7
Up until this point, I had been going to the gym regularly and eating well, however it wasn’t long after the pregnancy was confirmed that morning sickness started to kick in. I had been meal prepping on and off for the past few months and literally days before the morning sickness came in, I thought it would be a great idea to prep some soup for the upcoming week. Bad idea! Just looking at those containers full of soup made me sick to my stomach and my poor husband had to help me eat them instead.
My diet primarily consisted of Vegemite toast, crackers and plain biscuits. Strangely, I had an aversion to fresh fruit and vegetables but could stomach fast food. The smell of cooked meat made me feel sick and I felt absolutely miserable.
In addition to the nausea, I also felt tired all the time and lacked the motivation to do anything other than lie on the couch all day. Fortunately I had quit my job a few weeks earlier, as I had no idea how I would have handled going to work during this time. Hats off to all of the working pregnant ladies out there, as the first trimester is tough! I felt so guilty and lazy as my husband went to work each day but he was so sweet and supportive, saying that I should rest if I needed too.
Week 8
At 8 weeks, I had my dating scan done at Western Ultrasound for Women based upon a recommendation from a friend. Many medical professionals get their scans performed here as the practice is run by obstetrician and gynecologist’s that specialise in ultrasounds. Prior to the scan, I had to drink 2 glasses of water half an hour beforehand to help the baby show up better on the screen. For the past few weeks, I had been making frequent trips to the toilet, so fortunately I didn’t have to wait long before we were shown in.
Despite the positive results confirming our pregnancy, a part of me still couldn’t quite believe that I was pregnant, so it was amazing to see our baby for the very first time! At this early stage, our baby was no bigger than a raspberry, and was an unidentifiable blob on the screen but it made me so happy to see it up there. As it was still early days, we could still see the yolk sac sitting above the baby and was told that it would disappear in a few weeks once the placenta became fully formed.
Week 9
A week later, we had our first obgyn appointment with Dr Mike Aitkens who is based at St John of God Subiaco. As I’m due near the end of the year, at the same time as many doctors are taking their holiday leave, Mike was the 4th or 5th doctor that I called! Every office I had called was either booked out or unavailable, so I was relieved to finally get an appointment with someone. At this point in time, our move hadn’t been confirmed, so I wanted to make sure that we would be able to deliver at St John of God if we ended up staying in Perth.
I’m not sure if this is the case with other obgyn’s but when we arrived for our appointment, the office was busy and we had to wait for approximately 3 hours before we were able to see Mike and it’s been the same waiting time for every other appointment that we’ve had. Fortunately my husband works nearby and has flexible working times, so he was able to attend the appointment. However, I did struggle with a full bladder (as instructed) and was starving by the time we left.
The appointment itself was relatively short. Prior to seeing Mike, most of the work and discussion was with one of the midwives, who noted down my medical history and went through my blood work results. My vitamin D deficiency was flagged as well as my low thyroxine levels, which is the main hormone secreted by the thyroid gland. Thyroxine helps to regulate important bodily functions such as brain development and impacts baby’s development, so I had to start taking thyroxine twice daily as well. I also found out that I had low immunity to some serious infectious diseases despite having some recent booster shots, so was also told to avoid sick kids or kids with rashes!
Weeks 10 – 13
As the weeks progressed, I slowly got my appetite back and the morning sickness slowly eased off. As the nausea and accompanying vomiting lessened, and I was able to stomach a greater variety of food, I started to feel human again. I was also getting my energy back and I think that was partly due to having my thyroxine levels corrected. As much as I want to have more than 1 baby, I don’t think I could go through another pregnancy if the nausea and tiredness continued!
So far I haven’t had too many odd cravings, however I usually have a favourite food of the week that I can’t get enough of. One week it was Hungry Jack’s whoppers and another week it was tomato sauce and pickles! While my food aversions come and go, there is 1 thing that I’ve been able to eat consistently and that is – mandarins! Specifically, Imperial mandarins from Coles! Throughout my first trimester my husband has been great and has let me indulge in whatever I’m craving at the time. I’ve had some people tell me to try and eat healthier but the first trimester is all about survival, so don’t let them guilt trip you into eating foods that you can’t stomach!
At 11 weeks, I got my blood work done for the Harmony test and First Trimester Screening. While people usually only get 1 test or the other done, we decided to get both done after speaking to our obgyn as they test for different abnormalities and for my own peace of mind. I’m a worrier and even though the pregnancy seemed to be progressing normally, I just wanted to be sure that everything was okay with our baby before we announced the pregnancy to our friends and family. The wait for the results was less than a week but it still felt like forever! Finally, I received the call from the midwife who confirmed that everything came back fine and I had a low risk pregnancy.
Stay tuned for part 2 of my pregnancy diary and my very first baby bump pictures!
Marie xo
