My 20 AND 22 Week Scans

On Halloween of all days, was my 20 week scan.
I was incredibly nervous, because I was hoping to find out the sex so didn't want the little one to have their legs crossed!

I had a student scanner and an experienced one overseeing what she was doing. I was initially shocked by how much harder they press on the second scan, and at a couple of points I felt like if they pressed any harder my bowels would explode!

Flu Jab: Yes or No?

For weeks I have been debating whether or not to have the flu jab as the risks have always seemed unclear to me. The jab is always recommended for pregnant women, as we are deemed the 'high risk category'. This is apparently because pregnancy lowers your immune system, so if you have the flu, you can have far more serious side effects from it, which can even include death.

I am asthmatic, so have had the flu jab yearly for many years now, but the jab now contains bodies to protect against swine flu, and I have always been quite dubious about this.

Pregnancy: The Relationship Wrecker?

I have never found relationships to be the easiest, quite possibly due to the men I have chosen and my own ‘baggage’, but I don’t think I quite realised how pregnancy can possibly provide the biggest test of all.

My first trimester was quite tough on me physically and emotionally, and in turn there were times I would be quite low, irritable and at times frustrated with how I had no control over my body. I attempted to talk to The Bloke about this, and the typical man that he is, feelings really are not things he seems able to identify or understand.

So there were definitely times that my mood swings and his inability to understand why I was having them, would clash hugely. We have had fights because I have spent all day vomiting and he has not attempted to even visit me to mop my brow and kiss it all better. He will argue that I need to just rest and at times he has thought I have been overdramatic, which I think has led him to not giving me the support that I have desperately needed.

The Heartbeat

After spending the last week worrying myself sick that I have somehow suffocated the baby by the squashed positions I sit and sleep in (plus being paranoid about my stomach fat squashing bubba), I was sooooooooooo relieved to get the chance to hear the heartbeat today.

The midwife did the usual checks (blood pressure, urine, checked my notes etc) before getting me to lay down and have that lovely, cold gunk applied to the bottom of my tummy.

For about a minute she searched and searched near my groin for a heartbeat. The longer it took, the more nervous I got, and at one point I heard a beat, but she told me that was my own heartbeat.

Why I'm Doing This Blog...

Hi Readers,

I have just come through my first trimester of pregnancy, and so far it has been a fairly rough ride for me.
I sense my friends and family are starting to tire of my laziness, negativity and general moodiness, so I thought I would burden you lot with it.

Only kidding about burdening you guys... A work colleague suggested that I write an honest account of what pregnancy has been like for me, because the worst part about it so far, has been that I was SO UNPREPARED for the side effects!