Thursday 14 September 2017

Second Baby! First Trimester

I am very excited to say I am now 15 weeks pregnant with my second child! I already have a 4 year old son Michael. We are all over the moon to be adding to our family and Michael is thrilled he will be a big brother. Although he is adamant he wants a sister and only a sister so we will have to work on him if the baby is a boy.

I am feeling really well in myself at the moment and feeling energetic which is great as you can often feel very tired in the first trimester, your body after all is doing alot. I did also have some pregnancy symptoms in my first trimester.

Symptoms of first trimester:

Morning sickness- This is something I suffered from with Michael and this pregnancy has been no different. Although it has eased off greatly since going into my second trimester, I still get sick occasionally. I found it is worse in the evening and if I am hungry so I always carry a snack in my bag as well as eat little and often. I also have a low diary diet anyway due to being mildly lactose intolerant, which has helped. Ginger is really fantastic and is a natural way to help ease sickness and nausea and I would really recommend it!

Headaches- I have always suffered from hormonal headaches and this pregnancy has been rough with headaches. Many times it has felt like I have had a headache for days at a time. Paracetamol is safe to take during pregnancy but sometimes even taking some pain relief does not help. I tend to put a cold flannel on my forehead and to lie down for half an hour which seems to help. I also make sure I drink plenty of water because dehydration can make headaches worse.

Acne-I do not suffer from bad skin typically, the exception being when I am pregnant. My skin goes awful! I get red spots and blotchy patches particularly on my forehead and chest. I put it down to those pesky hormones. It is getting a little better now thankfully. I have a good skin care routine and make sure my skin is clean and use simple products and this has helped.

Now I am in the second trimester, everything seems to be a lot better and I am feeling the best I have felt since falling pregnant. I am however starting to experience some back pain from having a back condition and now putting on some weight. It is something my midwives are aware of and I have recently started to take up Pilates as a way to strengthen my back muscles in preparation for pregnancy and birth. I will also have to have a consultant meeting to support me in later pregnancy and to have a chat about the birth.

I have also started to read about hypnobirthing which is something that really interests me after a natural and calm birth with Michael with a labour mostly at home. Hypnobirthing uses a combination of mindfulness, hypnosis and relaxation techniques to feel calm and confident about labour and birth. It is something I will continue to look into and consider using. 

Next week I have a midwife appointment and a private scan booked which will hopefully tell us the sex of the baby so we are very excited for that. 

Look out for some more pregnancy blog posts! If anyone has tried hypnobirthing please let me know what you think of it!