Hiiiiiii! Oh goodness, it’s been so long since I’ve written on here but I genuinely don’t feel I’ve had the time. However, some pretty exciting things have happened in the last 12 weeks or so, so I thought it was about time I got them down on paper  screen.

SO where do I start? The first 12 weeks. I hate to be clicheic (is that how you spell it?) but I knew I was pregnant wayyyy before I did the test. I’m lucky and when I’m due on I get zero symptoms, bar the obvious, which is why I was so curious as to why my boobs were suddenly so sensitive on honeymoon. We must have only been in Florida 10 days or so but they were just different to usual. Not painful by any means but, well.. just different. I told Sean on many occasions but he just threw it off and kept on telling me not to convince myself I was pregnant as I would be upset if I wasn’t once we were home. Anywayyyyy, thinking I may have been didn’t stop me from flinging myself around on every roller coaster and drinking every strawberry daiquiri in sight.

(Goshhhhhhhhhhhhh, to be that skinny again, even though I thought I was fat! I WILL get back to this sharpish after baby… more on my plans to come in a separate post).

Once we were home, we got back into the normal swing of things. We both went back to work and I knew (but Sean didn’t) that I was due on on the Thursday we returned. I did a test that morning but nothing showed. Friday morning came and still no sign of anything but again, I tried to tell myself that me being abnormally late (even though I usually run like clockwork) could be down to the mini-pill that I took on the days leading up to the wedding to delay the inevitable. I woke on Saturday morning at 5am and decided to do my third test on my first wee of the day (because that’s when you have the highest levels of HCG). Again, nothing showed. Starting to be a little down hearted, I told myself I wasn’t going to do another test until Monday morning. But obviously that was a lie. I couldn’t wait and on the Sunday, unbeknown to Sean, I did my fourth test. I brushed my teeth and vividly remember saying the Hail Mary whilst pacing up and down. When i turned it over, there were TWO pink lines. My heart went into my mouth and I could hardly breathe. Sean was there when I opened the door and handed him the test and he too, couldn’t believe it. We stood in stunned silence.

Sean didn’t think the home bargains 99p tests were credible (I’m not sure why) and so insisted on going and buying the most expensive clear blue test he could find. Lo and behold that too came back positive. We didn’t really know what to do with ourselves. Never in a million years did we think we would be so lucky as to conceive on the first go. The honeymoon was obviously very successful!

A few days later I also checked the 5am pregnancy test from the Saturday which also showed a really faint pink line but my weary eyes weren’t going to see that so early in the morning!

I couldn’t hold in my excitement and a good 12 months earlier had already planned how I wanted to tell our parents. I had bought some cute little knitted boots from Ebay and found the sweetest poem online to attach. Our wedding present to our parents failed epically, as I hadn’t checked everyone’s diaries, so we popped round to my Mum and Dad’s with a little brown box and told them it was their belated gift. My Mum said she would open it after she had eaten her dinner (no rush Jane) and as she did, we carried on chatting about the honeymoon etc. My one regret is that I didn’t capture their reaction on camera. My Dad at first wasn’t taking much notice until my Mum nearly started choking. Because I usually wrap up gifts the same, she expected it to be a night in a hotel somewhere. They were both so happy and I think a tear rolled down my Dad’s cheek (crying twice in the space of a month is so not like him). Sean’s parents were equally as pleased and so the waiting began.

The little book ‘Letters to my Granchild’ I also thought was super cute and I ordered that whilst I was on honeymoon (so eager to be pregnant) from Ebay too.

Gosh, it was the longest 8 weeks of my life from that moment. During the 12 weeks I did tell a couple of my friends, but not many, and that’s really hard when you’re so excited you could burst. In all honesty, I think I was given an easy ride in early pregnancy. Bar the exhaustion (which wiped me out), I was lucky and was only sick a handful of times although, I did feel sick most mornings and nights. It was nothing I couldn’t deal with so long as I was getting a good 10-12 hour sleep each night.

At our first midwife appointment, I was already around 11 weeks and still hadn’t been given a scan date which worried me. The following Tuesday of October half term the hospital rang asking if I could come in for a scan. Obviously, i worried thinking that they had found something that they didn’t like in my bloods which is why they had rang so suddenly instead of sending out a letter as normal (classic over thinker).  But thankfully everything was fine and baby played ball showing up on the screen as soon as we went in. She dated me at 12+2 and gave me a due date of the 13th May. Finally, we can announce our happy news!

Since then, life has been pretty normal. I’m not as tired and I found a new love for drinking gravy. Cravings wise, I just want anything savoury. Cheese in particular. My diet has settled down in the last week as I went crazy for the first 2 months. I had already gained a stone after honeymoon (lived the dream in 3 weeks) so I’ve gained an extra 18lb from my pre-pregnancy weight in just under 19 weeks. I am trying to control it now, though it is hard at Christmas. I’m hoping that I won’t gain much more if I do try and reign it in, so that I haven’t got a mountain to climb once Baby H arrives in May.

So, yeah! That’s where I am up to. I’ve been off school for the last week as there was a virus going round but my bloods came back today and I’m immune so all is good and I can go back tomorrow! Only 4 and a half days left of term! How crazy is that?! We also fly out to New York next Friday (best wedding present award goes to Sean) for Christmas and then we have our 20 week scan as soon as we are back.

Anyway, I’ve rambled on for far too long but I’ve actually really enjoyed writing. Hopefully, although I’m making no promises, I’ll be back soon to update you all on our exciting bump adventures to NYC and beyond!

I hope you all have the BEST Christmas with your friends and families.

Love,