I can’t believe I’m pregnant with baby number two! I feel so incredibly grateful and thankful every single day for the privilege of having another precious miracle grow inside of me. In this blog post you will find a little summary of the first 12 weeks of my pregnancy.
How I found out I was pregnant
In February 2018 we decided to start trying for another baby. I’d always hoped to have my children around two years apart since that is the age gap I have with my 2 sisters and I love it! We are super close and I know Mum says we played together really well. Straight away I had a feeling I was pregnant! I thought I could feel conception taking place and a few days later implantation taking place. I felt a bit crampy (although I often do around ovulation anyway), bloated and felt unusual sensations in my lower tummy (gurgles and sharp pains). Also I occasionally felt a little queasy (yes even though I was only a few days pregnant! I guess the hormonal changes do start to happen immediately.) These things were extremely mild but I noticed them because I am very in tune with my body and was looking out for signs of conception.
I tried to not get my hopes up because it was our first try and I thought it could have just been ovulation symptoms I was experiencing. I took my first pregnancy test on day 21 of my cycle. It came back negative. No surprise, it was ridiculously early to be able to detect the pregnancy hormone. Then on day 28 of my cycle I took a test again and found out I was pregnant! I felt so shocked and so undeserving of such a wonderful gift. I surprised my husband with the news the next night when we went out for date night at the beach.
My goals this pregnancy
This pregnancy I really want to embrace the special season that pregnancy is and enjoy it. I am finding that I am a lot more relaxed this time having been through it all before. The two main concerns I had last pregnancy I don’t have this time which is nice (they were what would the pain of childbirth be like and would my body be the same again!)
Here is my health and fitness goal:
To look and feel amazing this pregnancy.
My reason for this is last pregnancy I often felt down and anxious and didn’t enjoy being pregnant. I dressed in $3 baggy kmart clothes not wanting to spend money on clothes I wouldn’t get much use out. I now disagree with this mentality and think pregnancy is a very special time in your life and I want to enjoy it and not look back on this time in my life with any regrets.
Here are the mini-goals I am setting so I can achieve my long-term goal:
- Weigh 2kg less at 40 weeks this pregnancy. I’m aiming to weigh 76kg instead of 78kg. This means I will be aiming to put on 14kg in total. Last pregnancy I also put on 14kg but I weighed 2kg extra to start with!
- Do 3-4 workouts and 1-2 walks every week. Last pregnancy I didn’t do much exercise other than walking in my last 10 weeks so I’m hoping I can keep exercising right to the end this time (with plenty of modifications of course).
- Indulge in new clothes and beauty products. I’m going to allow myself to splurge on a few maternity outfits I feel great in.
- Keep up regular health/beauty/self-care treatments. e.g. chiro appointments, massage, hair, brows.
As I always do when setting goals I have written my main long-term goal and mini-goals down on paper and put them somewhere I can see them regularly (my bathroom mirror).
6 weeks pregnant – baby is just the size of a lentil aww!
Pregnancy symptoms/ Changes to my body
I’ve felt similar to last time experiencing the usual pregnancy symptoms: crazy bloating, emotional, extreme tiredness (I would nap during Summer’s nap time every day), nautious but never actually throwing up (sometimes all day), cramps, spider veins on my legs, light-headed, dizzy and overall just a bit off. One difference to last time is I’ve been experiencing the little sharp cramps in my lower abdomen known as round ligament pain. Last time I only started to feel these from the second trimester onwards.
The things which helped give me relief from feeling sick were lying down and resting, ginger powder and lemon in ice cold water (or if I was short on time just swallowing a ginger tablet was almost as helpful) and sniffing peppermint oil straight from the jar (this really helped me if I felt an overwhelming urge to throw up).
By the end of the first trimester I weighed exactly the same as I did at the start – 62kg. I do weigh myself once a week to make sure I’m not putting on too much weight in one week. I’m definitely showing earlier this time thanks to everything being pre stretched from last time.
Exercise
Most of the time I was able to meet my goal of 3 workouts and 2 walks a week. During pregnancy exercise is extremely important for my mindset as I can get down and overwhelmed with the extreme hormonal and body changes occurring. I know exercise is also important for keeping me healthy and ready for hopefully another amazing labour. Of course there are also numerous benefits to baby if Mum regularly exercises during her pregnancy. For my workouts I have been doing 2 weights workouts from my program Lean & Well and 1 Body Attack class. About half way through my first trimester I switched Body Attack for Spin. Some weeks it was hard to find the time to exercise since I was so tired so could no longer exercise in the early morning, during Summer’s nap time or evening (I needed to rest during all these times!) So I got back in to taking Summer to the gym creche which has been going really great. I really enjoy working out around 9/10am in the morning as that is when my energy levels are the highest.
Diet
I experienced exactly the same food adversions as last time. Basically over my first trimester I have a decreased appetite and the only things that are appealing to eat are salty, rich, fatty foods like eggs, ham, cheese, hot chips, bacon, peanut butter and Vegemite; lots of fresh cold fruit and carbs! (Bread, cereal, crackers etc.) Sweet foods, vegetables, protein powder and hot drinks are not appealing until I get into the second trimester. Of course I tried to eat healthy food whenever I wasn’t feeling off. I didn’t stress over this not being very often as I knew once I got into my second trimester I could go back to eating my usual healthy balanced diet.
Supplements
Every morning I’ve been taking Elevit (a pregnancy multivitamin), fish oil, vitamin D and magnesium.
I hope you have enjoyed my first blog on this pregnancy. Thanks for following my journey and please do not hesitate to ask any questions you might have.
Holly xx