Your First Pregnancy: Is there anything you wish you’d known and/or done differently?

[TryingToBeHappy92]

If You could put the clock back, what advice would you give to your former self?

Get sickness drugs earlier! I just put it off but so much I ended up in hospital from vomiting! They didn't solve the sickness but I could function!

@sobermum23 Sorry to hear that. Sounds awful.

Not eat as much as I did. I gained a lot of weight when I was pregnant because I figured it’s the only time I can eat what I want. And then I didn’t lose it post partum as I was one of those that was constantly hungry when breastfeeding.

I got pregnant with my second whilst still breastfeeding and whilst I ate normally in my second pregnancy and was back at my (second) pregnancy weight within days, I am again constantly hungry so even bigger than I was before.

You always hear the weight drops off when breastfeeding but it can also go the other way if you’re someone who is hungry a lot, which I didn’t know was a thing. Before I got pregnant with my first just under 4 years ago, I was a size 10/12. I’m now a size 16.

So yes, the one thing I would do differently is not assume I can easily lose the pregnancy weight and eat more wisely.

@rosepetalbee I’ve heard so many women say this. It’s sad that so many end up having to feel that way. xx

@TryingToBeHappy92 Wish I'd avoided all the newborn apps that track feeding, sleep etc like the plague - they only lead to anxiety. NEVER use your phone in the middle of the night googling paranoid thoughts. And IGNORE all the rubbish about wake windows and how much your baby 'should sleep'. Once I learnt to embrace contact naps, feeding to sleep and following my babies cues we were both much happier :)

I was also concentrating so much on not reading 'negative' things about birth, that I was also a bit underprepared for how much/how long you bleed post-delivery, and some (temporary) issues with my bladder after birth. I wish I'd been a bit more informed in a (non-scaremongering, but factual) way on post-birth body and potential complications

Not so much during pregnancy but during labour I would have advocated for myself more. In the early stages of labour my waters were slowly leaking and I had meconium in them. I was told for 3 days that I had 'probably just wet myself' and that I shouldn't come into labour ward until I had regular contractions despite my concerns. I not only ended up with a nasty infection in my uterus and was very poorly afterwards but my contractions never did become regular and I needed a drip to speed them up, ended up with an EMCS. It's very easy to get fobbed off as a first time mum but if something doesn't feel right then you act on that regardless.

This in spades!!!

My other piece of advice would be - if you have a partner, to parent as a partnership right from the start.

Don't worry about routines - baby will find their own routine by 7/8 months.

Go about your day and don't be wedded to nap times in the early days. You do you and bring baby with you. They are so portable in the early days - when you have a toddler you will know what I mean! Infinitely harder to do things

Oh another one!

Don't fall into the trap of feeling you need to pay for expensive baby sensory classes. If you want to do them, great! But they are absolutely not necessary. I paid for a term in advance with my first baby... left the first class in tears as didn't fit in with other mums (and felt embarrassment I was the only mum formula feeding!), so never went again. Baby slept through anyway

@TryingToBeHappy92 know ups and downs are normal, sleep is not linear, if you breastfeed it will hurt at the beginning, but it absolutely will get better. Enjoy how much a new born sleeps and get out and about. You will at times feel tied to the house as they get bigger. I found it really hard to eat enough / have my hands free to make good nutritious food so I made up enough daily smoothie for 3 big cups whenever I had 5 mins and it was always there in the fridge if I got hungry / thirsty. Accept help when it's offered! Enjoy each stage, it really won't last long!

Not worry about routines or any of that.

Find out as much as possible about breastfeeding and have support in place ready beforehand.

Have a doula for the birth.

Refuse sweeps.

Worry less about showing up/powering on and instead put me and baby first.