Starting a family questions

[Star16J]

We are about to start trying for a baby and i just wondered what peoplea experiences were with:

• coming off the combined pill and starting trying straight away
• when do you need to start taking folic acid
• how you managed with morning sickness/hiding pregnancy until you wanted to tell people (most likely at 12 week scan)

Thanks

Start taking folic acid from 3 months before starting to ttc. I didn't get morning sickness so not always a given. It is easier to date the pregnancy if you have a natural period before ttc.

My partner and I decided at the end of September to start trying. I came off the pill there and then and began taking folic acid straight away, it then took us 5 months to conceive.

Unfortunately, if you're anything like me, hiding it won't be an option, I found out just gone 4 weeks - all ok, week 6 minor sickness started, by week 7 and through to 14 I was sick daily and ended up in hospital twice from dehydration as some days I was sick none stop for over 12 hours every 20 mins or so!

I had an early scan just before 8 weeks and we told close family then and work as I was constantly having time off and needed them to know why/have some understanding

Wishing you an easy conception and a happy/healthy/sick free pregnancy! X

Start taking folic acids straight away

Get a period app (I period is good) to track your periods- after a few months it will be able to work out your fertile periods

Have lots and lots of sex when you ovulate (ovulation sticks are good, my advice would be don't scrimp and get clear blue :))

See how you feel 12 weeks. It tends to be a bit grim. I had no morning sickness but was scared and embarrassed to tell anyone and only did so Under duress. I was so nervous I cried through my 12 week scan. I had no reason to be nervous, but sometimes you lose your mind a bit with pregnancy! Also despite no morning sickness the first trimester can be quite tiring and miserable- like a 12 week low grade hangover. You might find you don't want to be around people much so telling people doesn't matter. We told parents at 8 weeks.

Your cycles may take some time to become regular again after coming off the pill so start recording the dates even if you are not going to start trying straight away. Taking the folic acid supplements 3 months before is important but also look at getting plenty of folic acid and other nutrients through your food as there are concerns about the bioavailability of supplements.

In relation to morning sickness it can help to eat smaller meals at more frequent intervals. On days when you are feeling your worse exceptionally bland food, like plain egg noodles, can seem like ambrosia. I felt worse when I didn't eat anything. Sometimes it is the last thing you feel like doing but eating can help you feel better. Keeping hydrated is also really important. Ginger is supposed to be good for nausea so try things like ginger tea and ginger biscuits. If you are travelling anywhere take iced water with you (freeze half a bottle of water the night before and top up with cold water in the morning). Some people use acupressure bands as well.

It's not a given that you'll have symptoms you'll need to hide. I'm currently 12 weeks with no. 2 and never had any sickness with either. The only symptom I had was being really tired. Good luck!

Be aware it can happen very quickly after coming off the pill. When we were first starting to think about TTC I came off it 6 months prior to allow my body time to find it's 'rhythm' as I'd been on it for the best part of 13yrs. We were using condoms instead. 2wks after stopping the pill and one condom failure later I was pregnant (although didn't find out for another couple of months as didn't cross my mind it might be a possibility!).

In terms of coping with the sickness and exhaustion in the first tri, I told my line manager as soon as I knew so he was able to make allowances for it and risk assess me as I do a job that could be hazardous. I work with all men so the rest of the team were fairly oblivious to any 'signs'.