Yousra The longest 5 minutes of your life is over . You have rubbed your eyes a few times to make sure those two lines are real and you are not just seeing double. You probably still can’t believe it, but I want to say a huge congratulations, You are Pregnant!
I can’t wait to take this beautiful, sometimes stressful, but SOOO worth it journey with you. You are already picturing the little adorable mini you, waddling around in the dangling nappy.
False Positive Pregnancy Tests
If you are thinking about it, it is probably not the case, but false positive Pregnancy tests do happen; although you are probably more likely to win the lottery first, as the chances are 1%. If you are like me and your anxiety is telling you this isn’t real, just consider that although very rare, possibilities of you not being pregnant would be due to :
- Recently having a miscarriage or an abortion
- Taking certain medications like anti- depressants, anti-nausea, or anti-anxiety tablets (oh the irony)
- A broken/expired test
- Extremely rarely – an underlying medical condition.
If the maths is not adding up, you can visit your GP.
Contact a Health Professional
It is important that you contact your GP who will refer you to the local hospital. You could alternatively self-refer directly by having a look at your nearest options on www.nhs.uk/service-search/other-health-services/maternity-services and going with your preferred hospital choice.
Ideally, initiate contact before you are 10 weeks pregnant, so that you can get all the support and information you need as soon as possible,
I personally self-referred to the second closest hospital as it had a better reputation, facilities and was still within good distance (you don’t want to be going on a road trip when you are in labour).
You can work out how many weeks pregnant you are from the first day of your last period, there are plenty of online resources that can help you with this like www.uptodate.com/contents/calculator-estimated-date-of-delivery-edd-patient-education
If you don’t know when your last period was, you will have to wait until your dating scan at 12 weeks. This is the official dating scan that will identify the estimated due date based on the size of the foetus.
The only reason I knew about tracking my period was because my husband wanted to know when to expect my pre period mood swings and if you are reading this, its too late to start tracking now!
Some apps, like Flo, will start tracking your pregnancy for you if you are interested in that. You can find out the size of your little bean week to week and the development stage they are at, as well as helpful articles.
Telling your Partner you are Pregnant
My husband and I glamorously found out about our first born in A&E after a 5 hour wait with severe back pain… which I obviously did not know was a clear early symptom of pregnancy…duh
Such are the circumstances of an unplanned pregnancy and I speak more about that in my unplanned pregnancy article.
If on the other hand, it was planned, and you are looking for a way to break the wonderful news , here are a couple of great ideas I would have liked to try if I had the chance😊:
- If your partner likes to open your packages, why not leave him a surprise package with a cute little baby related gift.
- As an avid coffee drinker, I love the ‘I am Pregnant’ mugs right at the bottom once they finish their drink, you might have to wait a while for that reaction though.
- The next thing you are going to hand him, sneak in the little surprise test!
- Take a selfie together and instead of cheese say I am Pregnant!
- If he is on his phone all the time, send him a text while he is with you.
- A two in one announcement and celebration with a sweet treat and little note included.
- Gift wrap the test in a PLAIN BOX -I have watched too many shows where they stick the test in a really fancy expensive brand box like Rolex, but that is a such a set up for disappointment now that you have geared them up for a Rolex no matter how amazing the news is.
Whatever it is you decide, good luck and let us know how it went!
Symptoms of Early Pregnancy
Pregnancy gives all sorts of weird and wonderful symptoms, I will go into the extensive possible symptoms list separately, but for now here are the early ones to be aware of so you don’t end up in A&E like me, bear in mind everyone has different symptoms and different levels of severity:
- Nausea/ Vomiting
- Bloating
- Fatigue
- Lower back pain
- Change of taste (yes, it is not that you have forgotten how to make yourself a tasty coffee)
- Changes in breasts (Tenderness, size, colour of Areola darkening)
- Mood Swing (Similar to the Pre-menstrual kind )
- Spotting
- Cramping
If you are need of pain relief , please use Paractemol instead of Ibuprofen. Doctors do not recommend taking Ibuprofen during pregnancy.
I am glad the last couple of weeks is now making a little more sense to you. Stay with me if you are looking for the rest of the stuff and good luck with everything.
If you need advice or have a question that I didn’t cover, please feel to email me.
