Hey you lovely lot.

I’ve been a bit quiet around these parts lately due to what can only be described as excessive napping. However, there has been lots going on at the house and now that I am safely into Trimester 2, I’m working hard to play catch up!

Firstly, because so many people have been lovely enough to ask where the updates are (still amazes me to this day how interested people are in our house updates) and secondly, because I started this blog as a way to document our house progress. And with me being a little more ditzy lately than normal (is it acceptable to blame the baby yet?) it’s now more than ever that I want to get things recorded.

Along those lines, I’ve also been asked if I’ll be documenting my pregnancy, and whilst I’m not planning on doing weekly pregnancy updates like I know a lot of bloggers prefer to do, quite simply I want this space to remain focused on our home, but that will of course include the nursery – plus, I can’t be arsed! Haha Now there is brutal honestly for you.

Now that I’ve waved goodbye to Trimester 1 a few weeks ago, I thought it would be nice to stick in an update to mark the occasion, hoping that it may be a good reference point for any future pregnancies I may encounter, and for those that aren’t into this kind of thing, don’t you worry, I’ve got loads of house updates lined up… as soon as I find the cable for my camera. D’oh!

So let’s get into it.

Symptoms

I think I’ve been really lucky in early pregnancy. Really lucky. I’ve only been physically sick a handful of times, but nausea was rotten in the first few weeks. I think the best way of describing it is like having a long ass hangover. Just that rough feeling y’know? Apart from that, I think I’ve been asleep for the past 3 months (can we have a better word for ‘tired’ please? It’s not enough!) and the only real surprise that came with pregnancy was the dizziness and fainting – no-one warned me about that! Nothing that a scoff of banana couldn’t cure though.

Food aversions

Not necessarily food, but for me, brushing my teeth would make me heave. Which is frustrating because what do you want to do when you’ve been poorly? Brush yo’ teeth!

Cravings

Ready Salted crisps. Oh my gosh, I can’t get enough. Particularly long crisps like French Fries. I have limited myself to 1 pack a day though in a bid to try and eat reasonably well and not become Shamu. Also, if any of my UK readers find Ready Salted Chipsticks please stock up. They are really rare and I need them. NEED. Apart from this, I just feel awful when I’m hungry but haven’t been able to eat many full meals, actually losing weight in month 2. What has worked for me is eating mountains of dry cereal, nibbling on it like crisps throughout the day, more bananas and apples than is probably acceptable, and noodles covered in parsley.

Difficulties?

For me, it wasn’t any of the physical symptoms as you may expect. It was the waiting. Whilst I don’t like to wish my life away, the wait for the 12 week scan was horrendous. You know what, I was glad of every single horrible symptom, even though there weren’t many. Every pang of nausea. Every stretch of my lower abdomen. Every midnight toilet break. They were all welcome. Because it was a sign that it was real. And when you’re in the middle of your first trimester with weeks still ahead of you until you receive any concrete proof of your pregnancy except a drugstore pregnancy test, it’s easy to convince yourself that it isn’t real. Passing the 12 week mark, seeing our baby give us a wave for the first time and being able to share our happy news with everyone was a tough wait, but so worth it. And to celebrate, we bought our first baby items – some cute outfits.

Oh, and I also miss medium cooked steak so much more than I thought I would. I’m putting my order in for December now. I’m going to act like an absolute animal after this baby is born. FEED ME!

The Bump

Not really anything in trimester 1. From about week 10, I may have looked like I had started to show, but really I was just heavily bloated (see exhibit A below). If you saw me attempting to cradle a bump, sorry, but I was probably just trying to help my lazy stomach digest some food. Grim. From about week 11 & 12, my waist disappeared completely. I’ve always been curvy but I just turned into a plank in what seemed like overnight. My ribs expanded and my hips have already started shifting. Probably due to being reasonably petite. It’s weird looking in the mirror now and not recognising your body, but this is just the beginning!

Overall verdict

Growing a baby is hard. Why didn’t anyone TELL me? It sounds obvious but I just assumed I’d puke in the morning and be right as rain for the rest of the day. How wrong I was. I’m finding Trimester 2, like everyone says, is so much easier, although I still need a nap a day and I’m waiting for that lovely glow that I’ve heard such glorious things about. I am however finding that I have a tad more energy than I did before, and Joe and I have been decorating the house as normal – with a new focus on the nursery. Can’t wait to share it with you.