Yes we’re pregnant again (more like I’m pregnant and Gavin is tagging along again), with baby number three.  We found out in May that we were expecting and couldn’t have been more shocked!  Just like with Hamish’s pregnancy, I had only stopped breast feeding at the end of March and didn’t think I would have been so fertile. Turns out even without periods I was ovulating and able to conceive!  This was a very big surprise to us, even though I’ve always said I wanted a big family, we had agreed to not start trying until the end of 2019!  That been said we couldn’t be more excited and giddy for the next tribe member to join us!  It was only because I hadn’t come on my period that I took a test at my mothers house, definitely expecting a negative result.  In fact the result was so faint that I took eighteen tests over the next week to see if anything changed, it was so faint because we found out at three weeks!   

In the first five weeks I had no symptoms expected of being pregnant but the sickness soon started, together with the intense fatigue I experienced with Tobias’ pregnancy.  I honestly feel like this pregnancy is a combination of both my previous pregnancies together with lots of new symptoms too.  I have been suffering since then and it doesn’t look like it’s going to subside any time soon! I’ve also noticed daily nose bleeds, lots of gas (both ends), daily headaches, motion dizziness, feeling hot all the time, elevated amounts of going for a wee, diarrhoea and massive mood swings. Thankfully I haven’t experienced any heartburn yet, so there’s always a positive to everything!

Because I was unaware of my last period date, I randomly got asked to go for an early scan, which confused me but I went and that’s when the red flags went up.  A placenta was found but nothing else was seen so I was asked to go back two weeks later.  When I went the second time, everything was fine, there was a heartbeat found but the dates they gave were two weeks out from the tests – in fact they said it was 4-5 weeks, which left me puzzled as I shouldn’t have got a positive pregnancy test reading if that was correct.  I was advised to wait until the 12 week scan for a specific due date.  

I was booked in with the midwife at eight weeks (by their records), she took my bloods, weight and height and also went through all of my pregnancy histories, oh and both Gavin and my family histories too.  It was an hour long appointment, but I’m going to eat my words – I’ve had the same community midwife with each pregnancy so far and I disliked her a lot with my first pregnancy but each time meeting with her, she grows on me and now I enjoy catching up with her.  

On the 31st July 2019, Gavin and I went for our dating scan together.  There was a lot of prep before hand to sort out where the boys would go, Tobias stayed at nursery for a couple more hours and Hamish came with us.  The experience wasn’t much dissimilar to the other pregnancies.  No “Congratulations” just straight down to the business of checking everything medical-wise. In fact on a side note, when it comes to your third pregnancy, most people forget or chose not to say congratulations, which (in my opinion) is just rude!   The baby was very shy and had its back to the scanner mainly, but the technician took lots of measurements and listened to the heartbeat.  I was also asked to take more blood tests, so they could check for down syndrome and other issues that can be present at this stage of pregnancy.  The due date was confirmed as 29th January 2020, meaning I was fourteen weeks pregnant.

I have since bought a memory book so I am able to jot down key dates and keep all the memories of our growing bean. I can’t wait to share my journey with you all.

Much love
Rebecca