Telling people feels… hard. Because you have to watch their excitement, and then what if you have to break their heart in a few weeks???
We told our parents around week eight, after seeing the heartbeat in the dating scan.
I told a few friends early on, but I waited until I was in my second trimester to tell work and my wider social circles. It felt right for me, but I hated it.
I hate secrets. I suck at them. Thankfully, I could easily hide my sickness, but having to turn up to work and pretend like something huge wasn’t happening to me, it was really, really, really hard. I am the kind of person who deals with things by speaking about them so for me, it’s probably been the hardest part.
Reflecting on it, I keep thinking about the age-old saying: “You never know what someone is going through. Be kind. Always.”
I needed that default kindness from others more than ever during my first trimester.
4. Your uterus will start doing some very weird things.
My Google history is whack.
I feel like everyone is familiar with what bloating feels like, and there’s a lot of that during pregnancy.
But not long after I found out I was pregnant, around week four to five, I started to feel this odd ‘tugging’ feeling in my tummy.
It wasn’t painful; it was just noticeable. Like a tiny little man was standing in my uterus and pulling at the walls.
Apparently it’s just normal growing uterus stuff, but I was definitely not prepared for that.
Towards the end of my first trimester, I started to get round ligament pain which for me feels like growing pain, up and down the sides of my abdomen. There’s been a few days where I’ve had to take painkillers because it’s been so intense.
Once again, weird. I was not expecting that.
5. Every woman’s body is different and grows at different rates. Stop comparing.
I am a tall gal – 173cm tall to be exact.
I was also very lean and fit when I fell pregnant.
By the time I had reached 12 to 13 weeks, I barely looked pregnant. But I was obsessed with ‘looking’ pregnant, because women on the internet did.
I lost myself in TikTok hashtags like #8weekspregnant and #12weekspregnant and found myself getting worried because lots of those women had proper obvious bumps already.
But as my doctor explained, I have a long torso and a baby therefore has a lot more room in my uterus before I have to start growing outwards.