Preg be friends

Went for tea at Patisserie Valerie yesterday with my friend A. Just as I was blathering on about how manky and sick I was feeling (oh yes, morning sickness is here with a vengeance, and no, it doesn’t just appear in the morning), she blithely interrupted with the news that she, too, is up el duffo. Nine weeks gone, so three ahead of me. I’m so happy to have a pregnancy buddy (and one of my bestest friends) to share all the worries and frets with. We have worried about exactly the same things so at least I’m not a weirdo.

Meanwhile, I am still knackered, intermittently nauseous (mostly first thing in the morning and last thing at night, with waves of it during the day) but starting to be a little less anxious – my period was supposed to start on Tuesday and there was no bleeding at all, so I guess that’s me still properly pregnant. I’m jealous of A though, cause her scan’s only two weeks away – I have to wait a whole month from tomorrow.

Held another baby today, who belonged to the owner of a house we went to look at this morning. I wonder if it’s something about being pregnant that makes people feel happy giving you their babies to hold – as if you’re going to be any better at it? Still, I didn’t drop him and he didn’t cry, so that’s got to be a good sign…

Stressy

Had a big fat wobbly fit this morning, on getting into work and reading an email from the boss asking why I hadn’t worked late last night when we’re so far behind on the schedule. Never mind that I have worked late almost every night for the last, ooh, two months. And most lunchtimes. And that I have got proper text-book first-trimester exhaustion, and what definitely seems like the beginning of morning sickness. So, I came over somewhat emotional and had to run to the loo. Confided the whole truth in my colleague D who offered a sympathetic shoulder… then rinsed my red eyes and got on with it. Hence I’m posting from work at 8.30pm. But I’m nearly done and then it’s the weekend – thank fuckity.

In other news, I held a baby today – 5-month-old Ruby, who belongs to another colleague currently on maternity leave. She was very sweet and sat happily on my lap for 10 minutes without crying once. She did attempt to eat my hand, though.

Sober thoughts

It's been a week since I've had an alcoholic drink, to speak of - and that was just one glass of wine at my birthday dinner. I can't say I'm missing it yet - alcohol's one of those things I've gone off the idea of, like sweet things and breakfast. Not that I'm suffering morning sickness as such - only a vague feeling of having gone off my food, which is unusual enough for me. I must be preggers.

S, on the other hand, went out and 'wet the baby's head' last night with his boy mates. I was knackered and in bed by ten to 11 - at which time, it being the longest day of the year, it was still technically light. What with the non-drinking, healthy eating and early nights, I'd better come out of this pregnancy pretty damn healthy.

Letter arrived from the hospital today confirming my first scan - on 1 August at 9am, which is sooner than I'd expected - I'll only just be 10 weeks gone. Not that I'm complaining - I can't wait to get scanned and (hopefully) see a little heartbeat that will mean the most uncertain period of the pregnancy is over. Just six weeks away...

Things that wobble…

1: Me
Especially around midnight last night when, on the way to bed, I get a tiny bit of spotting – the first since my non-period ended over a week ago. Despite S’s valiant efforts to reassure me that it’s perfectly normal (or so it says in our big shiny Dorling Kindersley book), I am distraught at the idea that something bad could be happening to the little dot inside me that I hope will grow into our baby. Cue lots of wobbling lip action as I try not to imagine the worst (but don’t really succeed). I am not scared at all about having this little (OK, a bit scared about childbirth but that’s what hardcore painkillers are for) but I am terrified that something will happen to it while I’m carrying it because I have sat down funny / eaten the wrong thing / breathed in some cat litter etc. I’m sure that this is normal for first pregnancies, what with all the hormones rushing round the place (and probably serves a biological purpose to make me be careful about what I’m doing). But goddamnit I want this little fella / lady to be safe and healthy so much. Thank god I have a husb with a smaller anxiety quotient (and big wife-hug factor). Luckily the spotting hasn’t reappeared today so fingloids crossed it was a one-off. I feel much more chilled about it anyway – nothing seems as bad in the light of day as it does in the middle of the night.

2: My boobs
That’s my rapidly expanding, bra-bursting, sore-nipped boobs. Ow.

Things to avoid

Aside from being vegetarian (OK, apart from fish) and trying to limit the amount of wheat I eat ('cause of my colitis), here's a short list of things so far I have to avoid...

Medicine
Sadly this includes anything that's of any use to my hay fever. Snoofle.

Peanuts
Can increase the chance of baby developing a peanut allergy, apparently. This includes groundnut oil, so no more chip shop chips for me.

Booze
This is going OK so far, especially as S got me a crate of no-alcohol wine for my birthday. Still, there's eight long months to go yet.

Cat litter
Can transmit toxoplasmosis to preggers chicks, so this is one mucky job I won't be doing. Poor S will be scooping the poop for a while...

The story so far...

Hey! This is the first post in my pregnancy blog. It's my first pregnancy so I want to be able to keep tabs on what's happening when, my memory being crap. Here's the story so far...

We have been trying to have a baby (or rather, not trying not to have one) for a couple of months. My last full period started on Weds 10 May - I'd been having 25-day cycles for a couple of months. We went to the Lake District for a week after, got back on Saturday 20 and had quite a lot of 'action' for the next few days; we reckon Sun 21 May is the most likely conception date as there was quite a bit, er, saved up.

I didn't have any symptoms so was convinced I wasn't pregnant (and carried on boozing as normal), expecting my next period to start on Saturday 3 June. I did get some spotting which continued for 6 days but never turned into a full bleed. Around this time I noticed my boobs were a bit sore but thought that could have been period-related. By this time I had taken a couple of HPTs but they were negative.

On the night of Friday 9 we made love - still no blood. On Saturday morning I did a Clearblue test and got a faint positive. I did two more tests on the next two days and they were both positive. w00t!

Had doctor's appointment on Tues 13 - hoped he would do a test to confirm my pregnancy but he just said "As you've had a positive test result, I'll assume you're pregnant." Signed me up for antenatal care - the next thing is the 12-week scan. Still a long way off...