Hello Baby & the joys of the first trimester

Yes, surprise, I’m carrying a mini me and I’m due the end of April. I can’t begin to tell you how difficult it has been to keep it a secret and whilst I tried to wait for the “safe” 12 weeks before I broke loose and proclaimed my pregnancy to the world, I just couldn’t. So here I am sharing the news at just under 11 weeks (baby is due 26th April).

Mr H and I decided that 2015 was to be the year of “the trying” *insert dramatic music*. I had it all planned out that I was going to fall pregnant just before our trip to England so I could tell my family face-to-face and we could all congratulate each other on our fantastic reproductive organs but it didn’t come to fruition and after four no-shows, we sort of took a break from stressing about it AND BAM. Hello exhaustion, bloating, hot flushes and a sudden aversion to mayonnaise. I took a pregnancy test with a friend whilst out in Stellenbosch and the rest is history.

It’s been a huge shift in lifestyle especially as I work in the wine industry and now cannot drink wine. God has a great sense of humor. A lot of events have received polite declines because some days have been a real struggle and I’m now back to eating meat…when I can stomach the idea.

Don’t worry though, I’m ridiculously fun without alcohol and I promise that I will try and keep baby posts as honest/amusing as possible.

Here are some of the ‘marvelous’ things I have experienced and thought about during my first trimester:

1. Excitement. That’s an obvious one but it’s more intense than anything I have ever felt. It almost makes you want to wet your pants…but that could just be the sudden pressure and increasing pressure on the bladder.
2. Hunger Games. Mixed with sickness. Trying to eat healthy went out of the window in my 6-9 weeks as I was just trying to find something that wouldn’t make me wannna vomit. Toast. Toasties. Pringles. Basically all the carbs.
3. Am I superman? I spend a lot of my day wondering whether my breasts are gonna rip through my bra in a bid for freedom. Oh, and they are SUPER sensitive. I’ve tried to limit my hugging because even the smallest touch makes me recoil in pain.
4. What’s that smell? Oh you can smell everything but it’s not in a cool superhero way, more of a “husband, if you don’t change your face cream I’m going to throw up all over you.” Seriously, your nose picks up every scent and it’s not pleasant because couple it with morning sickness and you’re now a walking tummy wobble.
5. Power nap FTW. Ever run the comrades? No, I haven’t either, but I think I might know how it feels to finish the race and want nothing more than a long, hard, sleep followed by someone massaging my entire body. Really folks, the tiredness is real. Come 6pm I can hardly string sentences together. I’ve had to change my exercise routine to incorporate as much Child’s Pose as possible.
6. Why does my mouth feel weird? Cotton mouth is so not cool. I find myself craving really salty or acidic foods to try and offset this feeling of eating a Persian rug that’s been rolled around a dozen Persian cats. I think Santa’s beard is in there also.
7. I should probably just move my bedroom into the toilet. I go to the loo about 8+ times in the night and that’s not even with drinking anything. Where once my bladder was the size of a pea, it’s now the size of a sesame seed.
8. I will not need to buy tampons or pads for a very long time. That is a joyful thought….until I think about after the birth and all that horror. Eek.
9. I am lying too much. I have had to lie to a lot of people in order to keep this a secret and I feel terrible about it but I’m placing it in the “necessary” category. So I’m very sorry my friends. I can completely understand why people who tell everyone as soon as they found out.
10. Air Balloons. If we got all the pregnant women in the world together and placed them in one room, we could probably power a large city. #gas #bloating
11. Will I now have to find other pregnant women to hang around with?
12. I cried when I heard the heartbeat. There is another life inside of me and it’s mine. Tears are forming again.
13. Fear. The fear that grabs at you in the dead of the night, when you’re driving to work or watching TV – is the baby still there? What if there is something wrong? I know that it is mostly irrational because the human body is an amazing thing but it’s impossible for me not to get overtly excited about scans so that I can see that my little bean is doing okay.
14. I miss my family. My parents and siblings are coming over in March next year until early April and I’m devastated that they won’t be able to stay longer and see their first grandchild. I’m a little annoyed at myself for not timing this properly. I have always envisioned having them around.
15. The baby is currently called Skipper until we know the sex. (Skipper because he/she is charting their own destiny and riding his/her own ocean…the ocean of womb). That sounds weird.

And there you have it, a honest list of what I am currently experiencing, hopefully the second trimester is kind – I’ve heard rumors that it’s called the honeymoon period…here’s hoping.