Pregnancy – first trimester

I’ll keep this brief because let’s face it, there is a huge amount of information out there about pregnancy; and a lot of it contradicts each other!

The first trimester

As much as I always knew that morning sickness did not actually mean that you would be sick every morning, I was still incredibly naïve about what morning sickness actually meant.

Morning Sickness? More like “all day long sickness!”

My first trimester was nearly completely taken up with feeling sick all day every day in addition to feeling absolutely exhausted. This is not even an exaggeration. I literally felt nauseous from the moment I woke up until about 4pm every single day along with the exhaustion. My morning sickness, which I firmly believe should be called “all day long sickness”, started at around my 6th week of pregnancy and finished around week 13/14. I am told that it is normal for your morning sickness to end at around week 12 but for some it can last until week 20.

When to tell friends and family

My husband and I had made decision not to tell anyone until we had passed the dangerous weeks of pregnancy. For those who are not aware, unfortunately the risk of miscarriage is at its greatest in weeks 5-6 and then again in weeks 8-9. This is according to the midwife that I saw in a private scan that I had scheduled in week 10. Of course, this doesn't mean that if you pass this point in your pregnancy then you will be fine, there is always risk. It's just that these are the most risky weeks.

Secretive drink swaps

I know of a lot of pregnant women who underwent the secretive swapping of alcoholic beverages with their spouse in order to spare themselves the “why aren’t you drinking?” question with the knowing glances down to your belly that every woman gets. You can’t exactly respond “I’m on antibiotics for cystitis”, that would bring the mood of the party down somewhat! Although that would be a good excuse!

Private scan anyone?

I knew keeping my pregnancy a secret was going to be difficult in the run up to Christmas with not only having to avoid alcohol but also all the foods that pregnant women can’t eat that seem to come out at Christmas time. I’m referring to cured meats and cheese boards - cheddar is basically the only type of cheese on a cheese board that pregnant women can eat. Forget about stilton camembert or brie!

It just so happened that my NHS scan was 23rd December, by which time, we would have already seen the vast majority of our friends and family in the run up to Christmas.

To help with the situation, we decided to book a private scan for week 10 and were free to start telling people with the knowledge that the baby was healthy. I'd definitely recommend this if you're happy to pay and want the reassurance. Apart from anything else, I was pleased that I didn't have to wait the full 3 months before having a medical professional actually confirm that I was pregnant. Not that there was any doubt, of course I had all the symptoms, but it is an odd feeling not to have that medical confirmation for such a long time.

As much as there isn’t much to say about the first trimester, there is quite a lot to think about. With the sickness and exhaustion, try not to worry about anything until you have your energy back in the second trimester.