It is now the 16th week of Gemma’s pregnancy.
The “morning” sickness seems to be now easing on some days. Gemma is still having some bad days, but these are a now becoming less and less, which will be a relief to her. Fingers crossed in the next couple of weeks it will have subsided completely.
We went to see the midwife yesterday so they could take some blood for the “Triple Test”.
The Triple Test is a screening test for Down’s Syndrome and also spina bifida. The test measures certain chemicals in the blood and using these results a level of risk is calculated. The risk is given as high or low risk, this is dependant on the levels of the markers in the blood and also the mother’s age. More information can be found here.
It has been a pretty quiet week, pregnancy wise.
The pregnancy is now at the week 15 stage.
In the time since the last post, there still doesn’t seem to be an end to Gemma’s “morning” sickness. There was a small period where it all seemed to be easing. This was a welcome respite to it all.
Then about ten days ago, the nausea came back with a vengeance. This was a huge set back for Gemma, who was feeling much better about the progress of her pregnancy. She is now feeling quite down about it all, and is worried that she is going to have the sickness throughout the pregnancy. I hope for her sake that this doesn’t happen. There’s nothing worse than feeling really crap all day, every day. Fingers crossed that it eases off very soon.
We have our next midwife appointment next week, which will be a welcome relief to Gemma. Its been an anxious time since our scan at 11 weeks and now. The pregnancy is at the stage where we are not able to feel the baby moving about, so are unable to determine if everything is progressing as it should. And with midwife appointments not very often, it leaves us with the time to dwell and think about what is going on inside Gemma.
It is also the point in the pregnancy when Gemma will have some blood taken for the Triple Test. This is the screening test for Down’s Syndrome, to give an indication whether the baby is a high probability of having the condition.
One good point. Gemma’s belly has begun to show itself. She’s very proud of her little bump.
Gemma’s pregnancy has reached the 12-week stage, nearly the end of the first trimester.
I took Gemma to her first proper appointment with the midwife last Wednesday. This went fairly well, the only issue Gemma had was that she had to have some blood taken. Gemma’s not too good with needles. Oh, and the fact that the midwife couldn’t get her weight right! The midwife read the scales wrong, assuming that the figure was kilograms rather than pounds that was actually shown.
We have had our first ultrasound scan this week, as revealed yesterday. Everything is looking good at this stage, there is a strong heartbeat, and only one thankfully! Don’t know how we would cope if we were expecting twins.
It is a huge relief to the both of us to know that everything is alright. Things will be easier when we can feel the baby kicking. It will be easier for calming the nerves and stop any fretting.
Our next scan is not until the beginning of February, which will be a much more thorough event. Before that though, Gemma will need to go back to the midwife to have more blood taken, for more tests. I can hear the groans now, and feel her blood pressure rising.
Gemma’s “morning” sickness has not eased as of yet. If anything it has probably got worse. I feel so sorry for her, I can’t really imagine how bad she feels. We can’t quite see the light at the end of the tunnel yet. If it carries on too much longer, Gemma will have to go back to the doctors. Something will have to ease the nausea.
I don’t envy Gemma feeling sick over the Christmas holidays.
Gemma is now in the 9th week of the pregnancy.
Saying she is having a bad time with “morning” sickness is an understatement . Every day is a struggle at the moment. The problem is that most of the time she is not actually being sick, it is a feeling of severe nausea.
It is so hard on her, she feels so down. I am doing my best to support her and try to keep her spirits up. She cannot wait for this part of the pregnancy to be over. As long as the sickness doesn’t carry on as long as it did when she was pregnant with Ellie. It was around the 15-week mark when Gemma began to feel better.
We went to see the midwife for the first time last week, and she told us that the sickness was a good sign. Apparently it means that the placenta is working really well. Not really a consolation to Gemma though. It was only a brief meeting this time. We’ll have to go back in 2 weeks for a more thorough appointment.
At this stage of the pregnancy we are both very happy, but in the back of our minds we are worrying whether anything will go wrong. When Gemma was pregnant with Ellie, we had a couple of big scares. Both times Gemma had some bleeding and was admitted into the hospital for observations. This was really hard on the both of us, Gemma especially. The doctors told us to prepare for the worst, as they had discovered a small haemorrhage above the foetal sack. Thankfully though, the haemorrhage closed itself and the pregnancy continued.
Until we get past that magic 12/13-week hurdle, we are still going to be on tenterhooks. We are due to have a scan between weeks 11 – 14. This will remove some of the worry in our minds.
We’ve told Ellie that Mum is pregnant and is going to have a little baby. When we first asked her if she would like a little brother or sister, she replied with a very definite “No!” Since then she has been really happy about it. She points at Gemma’s stomach and says “Ellie’s baby”, it is so cute. Gemma and I can’t wait to see how she gets on with the baby. I think she’ll be great.
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