Pregnancy update; First trimester. {Baby Elf}

I am currently about 15 1/2 weeks pregnant, which means I have recently finished the first trimester – hallelujah!
Now I thought I would do pregnancy update blog posts – I don’t think I’ll be doing videos at this point. I wont say I will never do them, but at this point in time it just isn’t right for me.

So let us get into this I need to bring you all up to speed, a lot has happened!
Lets rewind…
I found out I was pregnant, before I had missed my period… But I did not think at all I was pregnant. Confusing, I know!
Firstly we have been trying for a baby for a fair bit of time, more on that another day though.
Anyway, I have the ‘Maybe Baby’ ovulation saliva microscope, the whole of March it told me I was not ovulating, so I just chalked that month up as a loss & was planning to see my OB about fertility advice in the coming weeks – but then when my period was almost due it showed the ovulating result, “ferning”… I thought that was incredibly strange and after some googling done by my sister & I we discovered that it can actually be caused by pregnancy! I didn’t want to get my hopes up at all, but my sister was very confident I was. This was around the 13/14th of April.
The morning I was due for my period (15th of April) I did a test & sure enough – positive!
I booked in immediately for a doctors appointment that day & requested 2 blood tests over a few days. This is not always necessary, but I needed to check my hCG levels were rising at a good and acceptable rate before getting too excited. (The levels all came back very good) 
I had 1 blood test that Friday & the following on the Monday.
The very next Wednesday (20/April) was my first obstetrician appointment with my new OB. My first OB that I went through with LuLu has since retired unfortunately.
After that obstetrician appointment I was put on daily doses of megafol, aspirin & progesterone. I had fortnightly check ups until 12 weeks & I also had regular blood tests.
This was all done to ensure Baby Elf was staying strong & healthy & that my pregnancy was progressing well & normally.
At our 12 week appointment we had our nuchal scan, which we passed perfectly. Baby Elf is looking like a very strong, healthy and active little baby who should arrive just before Christmas, around the 22nd or 23rd of December.
As for gender of our baby, one doctor said boy & the other said girl – so we’ve narrowed it down to those 2 options. So hopefully at our next appointment we will find out!
In the past few weeks I have been incredibly unwell with cold/flu symptoms and also had bronchitis which required a course of antibiotics. I got over one lot of being unwell just to become unwell again. I feel like when I am pregnant my immune system just turns to rubbish! So being actually sick, plus all day morning sickness & exhaustion just wore me down a fair bit. I am much better at the moment, mainly just sinus & my allergies seem to flare up super easy.

Symptoms;

• If you followed my pregnancy journey with LuLu (Rexy) you may remember I was very unwell with her pretty much the entire time and this pregnancy is shaping up to be the same. The first trimester was rough with all day “morning sickness”, I still am unwell with all day nausea & I throw up pretty much every morning at least once, but it is getting slightly better. I have been on anti-nausea medication zofran mainly and occasionally maxalon. Maxalon though makes me very drowsy so I try to avoid having that.
• I’ve also experienced pretty severe exhaustion in the first trimester which for me is incredibly frustrating. I am someone who loves getting a lot done each day & being a very active Mum, but I have had to take some time to look after myself and be a bit easier on myself so I can rest. Often it is just LuLu & I during the day, she knows when I need to rest and sit down and also is incredibly caring if I am being sick. She has such a kind heart for such a young child! But I have been going a bit stir crazy with just sitting around, I like getting stuff done or doing activities! But thankfully now my energy levels are improving!
• To go along with the exhaustion I occasionally have a bit of insomnia, where I just lay there in bed at night wide awake. Which drives me insane because I am so incredibly tired.
• Another sleep related symptom is I have been having some crazy dreams.
• I have had a few minor nose bleeds.
• I occasionally feel light headed & dizzy, but I think that goes along with me throwing up and feeling weak.
• And just in the past week or so I have started to have reflux at night time.
• I’ve also recently been getting massive headaches which are very close to migraines.

Cravings;

• I have not had a ton of cravings. Mainly food aversions.
• Cooked vegetables make me feel sick – like peas, corn etc. I can eat salad fine but hot/steamed/boiled veggies just make me want to hurl! I still eat them but it is not pleasant! (I had the same issue while pregnant with LuLu)
• Similar to LuLu one of the main things that helps with my nausea is hot salty chips, this time from Super Rooster (a local take away store). 
• I’ve also been enjoying chicken & gravy rolls and spuds in the park! Not necessarily healthy and these aren’t everyday foods, but they are meals I really look forward to eating!
• Also very early in my pregnancy I really loved hospital sandwiches (more on that soon)
• Similar to when I was pregnant with LuLu, I don’t feel like big hearty meals – more light & summery foods. Often all I can think about for dinner is BBQ chicken & coleslaw burgers! It is the middle of winter, I should be cooking hot meals and I do for Trent and LuLu but I don’t enjoy them at all!
• I am also very uninterested in cooking dinner, it actually makes me feel very nauseous at times.

Emotionally;
I feel ok. We had a bit of a rough time getting this baby and I will go into that in a separate post, so there is an incredible amount joy & excitement about this pregnancy, but there is always that thought of fear – like is everything ok? LuLu is so sweet & very excited, she talks to Baby Elf daily. She will make a beautiful big sister. I still worry about how little Elf is doing because at this point I am still not really feeling any movement, I think once I feel some movement I will be a bit more “at ease”. I have found myself a bit emotional at times, I’ve taken somethings to heart a bit more than I usually do. I’ve also found myself even more protective with LuLu, like even more than normal! Mumma Bear instincts!

Other pregnancy news;

• I was actually pregnant at the same time as my sister! I was very early but it still was nice. I was 7 weeks pregnant when I helped her with her labour & was in the delivery room photographing her birth. It was a very special time. And I spent a fair bit of time at the hospital with her and ate a lot of hospital sandwiches! Which was great, because at the time they were one of my main “cravings”.
• We heard the heart beat for the first time on the 10th of May 2016.
• LuLu has come to many of the OB appointments with us, she loves seeing Baby Elf on the “TV” when I get a scan. We also try to schedule all my appointments around Trent’s roster so he is always there.
• We have already set up the baby room. We moved the nursery from beside the playroom to the opposite end of the house. Basically we swapped my study/craft room with the nursery. For LuLu when she used the nursery this set up was ideal, but with a new baby & a toddler playing a toy room it maybe too noisy. It isn’t decorated or anything yet, we will wait to find out the gender first. But all the furniture it set up down there.
• Our Christmas in May celebration was actually the day we told my brothers about Baby Elf.

Belly shot;
Here is the belly progress…

I think that’s all of it, pregnancy+Mum brain is a nightmare for trying to recall information!
If you have any questions please feel free to ask & I will try my best to answer them in my next pregnancy update!
Also if you are pregnant too, I would love to hear how you are doing!
If you would like to stay up to date with our day to day happenings please check out my social media;

Have a lovely week.