- Morning sickness covered by PPs but you may not be aware that towards the end of the first trimester around the time the placenta is forming you may feel bloody exhausted even if you have good iron levels. This means you will come in from work eat and go to sleep. Make sure your husband is aware so you don't get hassle from not cooking and doing house work.
- Covered apart from telling your employer. When you tell your employer depend on the job you so. If you are in a role where members of the public may hit you e.g. teacher, police, paramedic , it involves heavy lifting, factory work or exposure to hazardous chemicals then you need to tell them now. They need to carry out a risk assessment then either alter your duties to avoid the hazards if possible or put you on paid leave if not possible. If you are in an office based job then you can tell them when you like though if you end up being sick, having to go to the toilet lots, eat randomly and you are being watched then you may want to tell them earlier to avoid them discriminating against you.
- Most maternity clothing is only available online and so you have to factor in delivery times. Also be aware you may have one part of your body changing shape long before another part and maternity clothes are too big in the beginning so you may be able to size up normal clothes. In my case I found sizing up didn't work for sports leggings so just wore maternity sports leggings from 14 weeks even though they were also too big. However at 36 weeks I'm still wearing the same size knickers and jogging bottoms.
I've borrowed lots of baby stuff. Babies grow quickly and so there is no point buying loads of new stuff. I will pass it back to the owners or pass it on if they don't want it, with any additional stuff I've brought. I've also been passed unused stuff e.g. different types of baby bottles. Both my OH and I went out to look at travel systems at around 22 weeks both separately and together as we both will be taking parental leave. We needed to find one that suited our basic needs and the right height for both of us. We brought one at about 26 weeks as it was on sale and has a long guarantee. Most people I know end up using a different buggy instead or as an addition from around 8 months, and some use slings as well from the beginning.
One thing I should say is don't rush to do a nursery for a baby, design it for a toddler/small child. It is recommended that babies sleep in the same room as their parents for 6 months due to SIDS. Plus in the 20+ years I've noticed family, friends', neighbours and acquaintances having children most of the children, particularly first borns, don't sleep in their own rooms until they are nearly 2 at the earliest.
- You may not be able to exercise in the second half of the first trimester due to tiredness. The most important thing is listen to your body.
After that simply tell your instructors you are pregnant. Some exercise in particular body combat, HITT and some forms of circuits aren't recommended for pregnant women due to the jumping and hormones relaxing ligaments so increasing injury risk.
Body pump is fine to do through out pregnancy as long as you modify exercises and are prepared to lower weights. I push myself so ended up giving up at 20 weeks.
Running, cycling and spinning are fine to do if you are use to doing it and as long as you are able - just remember you are in maintenance mode. I couldn't cycle on the road after 16 weeks as it was uncomfortable and I couldn't be bothered to alter my bikes. There as one of my friends', who had a smaller bump, was cycling at 27 weeks. I also went to all my normal spin classes taking it slighly easy until the gym changed the timetable when I was 34 weeks, there as a couple of other pregnant women who weren't use to exercising didn't realise some of the classes I was doing were the harder ones the gym does so immediately dropped out.