Morning sickness, narcolepsy, scans and a trip to A&E

By 7 weeks, all the pregnancy symptoms under the sun decided to pay me a visit all at once. Nausea (the worst!), exhaustion to the point where I was falling asleep at my desk pretty much everyday (my colleagues were threatening to make a poking device out of rulers to keep me awake!), bloated (or the start of a bump as I liked to call it), constipation followed by a bout of the runs (TMI...), acne, sore boobs....I had them all. I'm not going to lie, it was uncomfortable to say the least...I didn't have cravings as such, but the only thing I could stomach was bland food, mostly microwaveable mashed potatoes. I moaned, I complained, I cried. My work buddies got sick of me saying I was sick. My friends listened to my grumbles and offered womanly advice. My family (jokingly) told me this is what happens when you have sex. My partner bore the brunt of my mood swings. It was not pretty.

I honestly thought this was the worst, I wallowed in self pity. Don't get me wrong, I was hugely grateful I was pregnant and knew this would be part of the process, I was still excited and knew how lucky I was, I just don't handle feeling like crap very well. I also now think if I knew what was going to happen back then I wouldn't have complained at all. I would embrace all the horrid symptoms and deal with them if it meant Harry was here and well.

At 9 weeks on a Thursday I had a slight bleed...very slight...but it was enough to put me into a panic and rush myself to A&E. It felt like forever sitting in the waiting room, I was nervous, I knew there was a possibility there was a problem but somehow knew in my heart that bubs was fine in there. Better to be safe though? I was checked over, everything looked fine "down there", BP was good, bleeding had stopped, blood tests later came back fine. I was given an appointment for an early scan in any case for 4 days later just in case and open access to the gynae ward. As it happens, I also had another slight bleed on the (very hot!) Saturday and whisked myself away to hospital again to be checked. It was explained to me about miscarriages and how it could be a likely option, which obviously upset me, but I still knew little one was ok. Mother's instinct. I put it down to stress and doing too much (we had a strenuous day at dancing doing a parade in the boiling sunshine) so put my feet up and rested until my scan.

Monday came, and although I knew this scan was to check baby was ok I was still excited to see him in there. At the clinic it turned out I knew the sonographer and she helped to put me at ease, I was amazed how quickly she found bubs and as soon as I saw that little jelly bean with little stubs for arms and legs I fell in love. It was amazing. The heartbeat was strong and he was bouncing around upside down like an acrobat. I also knew instantly that he was a boy. Again...a mothers instinct I'm sure. He measured 9 weeks and 3 days, which put us back by 1 week than we originally thought, but it didn't matter. He was fine and active.

With us having our early scan it wasn't too long for us to wait for our 12 week scan. This came just 4 short weeks later and I couldn't believe how much he had grown! The spine was so clear and his arms were flailing about, his legs tucked up under his bum, he even looked like he was giving us a little smile. Everything again looked perfectly fine, he was growing well (along with my tummy!) I was so happy.

I invested in a Doppler to check in on bubs now and then, I loved it. It helped me to bond with my baby and no matter how crappy a day I was having, the galloping sound of his heartbeat always cheered me up.

My symptoms slowly started to disappear.....my bloat was blooming into a lovely bump.....I was happily content and blissfully unaware of what the future held for me and my OH, my family and friends and our precious little Harry.