Pregnant!! Now what?

[hopeful4us]

Over the moon to have just tested positive this afternoon! It’s been a whirlwind couple of months as my fiancé and I got engaged at the beginning of July and I turned 30 yesterday!!

Sounds silly but I’ve been so focused on ttc/getting to this point, I’m not entirely sure what comes next - I know I need to let my GP know, will ring them tomorrow. When will they want to see me?

Any advice/nuggets of wisdom appreciated!

Congratulations!! It depends where you live. In my area we self refer directly to the hospital so you could look on the hospitals website for advice.

they'll set you up with appointments with the midwife and congratulations yay!!!

Congratulations! Some areas you can self refer directly to the midwives. I didn't need to tell my GP just went and registered online at my chosen hospital. May be worth checking your local online.

The midwives then contacted me within the week to arrange my booking appointment at 8 weeks.

Thank you @WhiskeyInTheJar33 @cannynotsay @jellyfish2 - I’ve managed to find the referral form on my local hospital’s website 😊 They say I’ll hear from the midwifery team within 3 weeks; seems like such a long wait for something so momentous!

Unless there is a specific reason there's no need to see the GP. The first trimester is broadly anticlimactic!
I filled in the form for the midwife and she phoned me a few days later and arranged the booking appointment at 7 weeks. As I am on regular medication she emailed me my maternity exemption certificate. If you have regular medication you might want to speak to the GP surgery about your certificate. She arranged my scan after the booking appointment

@Superscientist I can see that it might be anticlimactic, with lots of waiting. So much harder when nobody else knows too!

Congratulations! Get yourself on folic acid supplements ASAP if you haven’t started them already, eat a balanced, nutritious diet if you can (or whatever food you can manage if you’re feeling sick!) and have a look at the NHS guidelines around what food and drink is best avoided in pregnancy, rest and sleep as much as you need, because you’re probably going to be feeling pretty tired very soon!

Download some apps: Emma’s Diary (for freebies), Peanut (for making new friends), Pregnancy+ (for learning about what’s happening in your body each week) and just try and enjoy what you can! It’s also fine if you don’t enjoy it - I hated the first 14 weeks.

Congratulations!

They'll book you in for when you are 10 weeks gone. At that point you'll be in the system for scans etc.

After having horrendous sickness through out my first pregnancy followed by a year on a restricted diet due to breastfeeding a baby with allergies. The first thing I did when I found out I was expecting my second was eat some of my favourite meals! The nausea and sickness showed up at 5-6 weeks and I was glad I had some good food experiences in the run up!

I have to tell work straight away as I'm a lab user. It has helped to have them already knowing when the horrendous sickness showed up. Telling people is a personal decision. We have made the decision not to tell family prior to the 12 week scan but I am willing to tell people at work on a case by case basis. I have told two colleagues. One a close friend who was concerned after hearing me vomiting at work and another colleague asked me to do some work ahead of a meeting and there was a very good chance I wouldn't be able to do it/even be at the meeting due to pregnancy sickness. For me when the options are lie and it be obviously bullshit and thus reflect badly on me or tell the truth I opt for tell the truth. In my last pregnancy I told 3 colleagues prior to making an announcement. 2 as I needed them to do some work for me and the third as I had kept having to rearrange meetings because of appointments.

@CaptainCabinets Already taking prenatal vitamins as we’ve been ttc for a few months. Thanks for the app recommendations!!

@Superscientist I’m definitely on board with eating yummy meals now! Absolutely zero pregnancy symptoms thus far but I’ll eat some of my faves just in case. What you say about telling others resonates with me. DP doesn’t want to tell family until 12 weeks as this will be first grandbaby on both sides but I can see myself telling close colleagues if I’m struggling (I’m a teacher so thankfully on summer holidays currently).

Congrats! My DH also wanted to wait until 12 weeks but I caved earlier. The thing is, your body is going through massive changes, first trimester is a whirlwind, whereas it's a bit less real for the men, so a very different experience. I needed my mum's and friends' support earlier than 12 weeks.

Feel free to ignore this but I wish someone had said this with my first pregnancy which ended in miscarriage . Don’t get onto the apps or anything at this stage; and I wouldn’t even rush to refer for maternity services. Being pregnant does not mean having a baby. Having to cancel appointments and delete apps was awful. They won’t see you til at least 8 weeks anyway so no rush. Getting an email from one of the apps “congratulating” me on my due date, which never came to be, was awful.

Can totally see this @HuggingAnIcePack887 - I know if I have a MC, I’d definitely want my mum to know. Neither my DP or I are very good at keeping secrets so it might happen earlier!! Everything feels very surreal at the moment.

Thank you @Peonies12 - I’m definitely aware that it’s very early days; which is probably contributing to the weird mix of feelings (excitement but let’s not get ahead of ourselves etc). I find it somewhat comforting yet also terrifying that it’s mostly out of your control whether the pregnancy is successful. Fx for this lil one