The First Trimester.

Is this your first pregnancy? 

Are you feeling confused or anxious about what to expect during the first trimester? 

You are not alone. When I first found out I was pregnant with my son in February 2018 - the first thing I did was look online to find out what I could and could not do during pregnancy, particularly the first trimester.

It may seem alarming at first to think about what could go wrong during the early stages of your pregnancy as your body starts to change and you realise that even so early on there are things that you no longer can do or be exposed to. My first pregnancy- particularly at the beginning, I spent a lot of time worrying and getting myself stressed over the 'what ifs' which is such an easy thing to do. Risks of miscarriages or birth defects are more of a common thing during the first 12 weeks as this is the stage where the major structures of the body form including: the spine, head, hands and feet. So it is understandable that newly pregnant mothers may feel a little anxious at first but then breathe a HUGE sigh of relief at their dating scan when they see their little one moving around so freely inside of them.

I am going to talk about last year when I found out I was pregnant, I was over the moon. The first 6 weeks were fine with just the symptoms that I expected. 

My first experience that I had never had with my son and caused slight alarm was spotting. For my sons 2nd birthday last year, right before the second lock-down, we took him to Cbeebies Land at Alton Towers Theme Park. It was such a lovely day taking him on all the kiddie rides and watching his little excited face light up throughout! However as the day went on, we took him on one ride which was one of those where you sit with your legs dangling and it bounces you up and down - during the ride I thought to myself 'I wonder if I should be on this ride', afterwards I looked at the sign with the list of exemptions and it mentioned pregnant women. Afterwards of course I was looking online about what certain rides can do during the first trimester, I was terrified I had caused myself a problem here. My husband reassured me that everything was fine - always the one to calm me down when I am feeling anxious! So I let the worry fade and carried on enjoying my sons day (making sure to read the signs before I went on anymore rides)! 

All was well until I got home that night, put my sleepy boy to bed and went to the toilet - red spots on my pants. You may be thinking 'why is she panicking for?'  or 'spotting is quite common in pregnancy, calm down!' But I had never experienced spotting before and did not know much about it. Obviously the first thought that had entered my head was 'You have caused yourself a problem now by going on that ride!' Calling my husband upstairs and ringing my mum I did feel like I was probably over-reacting but anxiety can be a monster sometimes and it makes a situation a lot worse than it should be. 

That night I did not get much sleep, and the next morning I noticed more spotting on my pad which did not make me feel much better. I decided to give it another day and if the spotting got worse or I noticed any changes in myself then I would ring my GP. As it happened I did start to get horrid cramps in my lower tummy and back that same evening, however at that point I was in a much calmer frame of mind - weird right? My GP organised an appointment for me to have an emergency ultrasound scan a few days later. The day of my appointment the spotting had stopped and I felt pretty normal but thought I would go all the same just to be on the safe side. As you all probably guessed, the baby was fine - only 6/7 weeks developed inside of me, it looked like a little jelly bean but the heartbeat was visible and strong. This filled me with so much relief. 

I have had a few other minor issues during this pregnancy (currently 25 weeks) including more spotting and tests for gestational diabetes - that came back all clear. I think the main lesson from my story and one that I am living by now is not to stress about things that you cannot control and just live for the moment. While typing this blog, baby girl is very active inside of me, happily kicking away! I am living for that right now, knowing she is fine.

In a few more weeks I will be classed as vulnerable towards Covid 19 and even though it's worrying I cannot control anything so I will continue being careful and remain positive that everything will be okay! I also want to mention that it is normal during pregnancy to worry about things that may seem silly or little to others. Just like in my story above - it may have seemed like the most minor thing in the world as now I realise that spotting is actually quite common, but at the time it was something I had never experienced before so it did seem quite big and scary! 

image: https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/pregnancy-week-by-week/in-depth/prenatal-care/art-20045302