Second Trimester

Second Trimester over already...

What?! How am I now in the third trimester! As I am writing this I am 34 weeks pregnant, just 6 weeks to go until baby 2 is here (roughly anyway, it is 6 weeks till my due date who knows if baby will arrive on time, early or late). When I was pregnant with Ella-Grace it felt like I was pregnant forever but this time round it has just flown past. I am so ready to have baby 2 with us, it is so exciting but at the same time I am really trying to enjoy the last part of pregnancy because I do not plan on doing this again. 

In this post I will be talking all things second trimester (weeks 13-28 of pregnancy). From feeling better, then worse to going on a little baby moon and an unfortunate hospital visit (not to worry it all turned out okay) everything will be explained in this post. 

13 week scan and saying no to Down syndrome test...

So, kicking off this post with my 13 week scan. This was supposed to be my first scan/booking scan but if you read the previous post about my first trimester of my second pregnancy you will know I had an emergency scan at 11 weeks. That scan turned out fine thankfully and so this was my second scan. Having the scan at 11 weeks I was not nervous for the 13 week scan, I was just very excited. I went with Reece and Ella-Grace (the hospital said it would be better to get a baby sitter for her when we went to the scan but our friend ended up being sick so we ended up taking her last minute, they were very understanding however). 

The scan went perfect! Baby was growing as expected, the placenta and cord were fine and my due date did seem to be correct. I did have to do a little wriggle to get the baby in the right position for the sonographer but everything, like I said, was fine. 

Something I should mention is that Reece and I decided against testing for down syndrome. This test involves a blood test and the sonographer measuring the fluid under the baby's neck (nuchal translucsancy) on the scan. Although they do still measure this if you decide not to test for down syndrome they do not tell you what the measurement is and they do not put on your medical records anything about the measurement or test, it is just routine. 

The reason we decided not to have the down syndrome test this time around was because when we got it done during Ella-Grace's pregnancy for us it did more harm than good. This is just personal preference, we are not telling anyone else how to handle this situation or what tests to get, we just felt for us second time round this would be better for us. 

As some of you may know, Ella-Grace was 1 in 5 of having down syndrome. Her nuchal translucancy measuring too big at the first scan and the blood test came back with her being 1 in 5. From this we had no further testing 1. because we knew if she had down syndrome that would not change the way we feel about her and 2. The tests were invasive meaning they did hold a slight risk to the baby and even possibly losing the baby which we did not want to risk. Through out Ella-Grace's pregnancy the 1 in 5 of down syndrome statistic came up a lot and I was even asked early on if I wanted to terminate the pregnancy (again this personally was something we were not comfortable with and never even crossed our minds). Although the pregnancy was straight forward pretty much we were constantly reminded about this 1 in 5 risk and it made bringing Ella-Grace into the world a bit more stressful than we wanted. One of the first things that a midwife said when Ella-Grace was born was 'she doesn't look like she has down syndrome by the way' which I understand is what she may thought we wanted to know but in that moment all I wanted was to feel happy and have congratulations, I felt there was plenty time to talk about that considering she was healthy when she was born. Anyway so this time round we knew that the result of a downs syndrome test would not sway our decision to continue with the pregnancy, we would once again deny invasive testing and we wanted to avoid the stress and so we said no this time round and do not regret it. If you want to know more about my first pregnancy you can go back and read those blog posts. 

So yes that was (officially) my first scan, a lot more stress free than my first pregnancy and it was a very special family moment. 

Week 14, sickness subsiding...

FINALLY! After being very sick in my first trimester, definitely more so than I was in Ella-Grace's pregnancy, I was finally starting to feel better. No more sickness tablets and now gaining back the weight I had lost. Food aversions were subsiding too and I was managing to eat full meals. Thank goodness because we were now on the run up to Christmas. Getting my appetite back, starting to get cravings and feeling all round more energetic. 

Cravings and Christmas...

Ella-Grace's second Christmas, mine and Reece's 7th together (first as a married couple) and our last as a family of three; it was the best Christmas yet!

Ella-Grace got loads of presents from our loving families, my Dad made a very yummy Christmas dinner (vegan for us of course). We stayed at my parents from Christmas till New Year and it was such a lovely time, always my favourite time of year. 

While we were there I also experienced some of my first strong pregnancy cravings, some of which were quite strange. For example I was craving pickles, ice cream and mustard? Not together but I would eat them relatively close together. In my Mum's words 'your clearly pregnant' haha. I am so glad my morning sickness subsided in time for Christmas and it is fair to say that I made up for all the food I didn't eat in the first trimester over Christmas- I ate so much! 

New Year, our second child will be born this year...

Like I said we spent New Year at my parents house and on New Years eve I turned 18 weeks pregnant- almost half way through my second (and most likely last) pregnancy. 2019 was here, the year our second child would be born! Things were getting even more real and more exciting! 

20 weeks pregnant = half way...

As tough as the first trimester was it really went in a flash! I could not believe I was 20 weeks, half way through my second pregnancy already. At this time one of my best friends was coming to the end of her pregnancy with her first baby (picture above is me all dressed up for her baby shower) and so there was lots to celebrate. 

20 week scan...

For my 20 week scan my Mum came with myself and Reece. My mum played a big part in my first pregnancy and accompanied me to many scans (for those who don't know Ella-Grace's middle name is Angela, which is my Mum's name) and so it was important to both of us that she get to be involved just as much in this pregnancy. And so, this was a lovely moment that she got to come to a scan for the first time this pregnancy and not just any scan but the 20 week anatomy scan! 

This pregnancy has differed in so many ways to my first pregnancy, one of them being the amount of appointments/scans I have had. With Ella-Grace they found a hole in her heart when I was 19 weeks pregnant and so I was getting scanned by a Dr every other week to check if it was a heart problem or if that part of her heart was just taking a little longer to develop; luckily we had the positive outcome and Ella-Grace was fine. This made me slightly more nervous for this scan in case this baby also had a hole in their heart but there was no such hole, everything was developing as should and so we were sent on our way with another scan not until April (at this point we were in January!). So strange not having more scans when I had so many with Ella-Grace but relieving that this pregnancy is going well so baby doesn't need checked on as often. 

Such a lovely experience and it was so lovely to see our little baby for the third time! 

More cravings...

Of course most women get a lot of cravings when they are pregnant, for me it was more I wanted to eat the same meals ALL the time. This is not like me usually, I like to make something different every meal, every day, give myself and Ella-Grace (and Reece of course but a lot of the time he is at work) variety in our diets but for a while I could only cook/would only want to cook the same meals. These were either baked potato and salad or pasta with green pesto and sun-dried tomatoes- don't forget the sundried tomatoes! Reece was not happy with the fortune I was spending on sundried tomatoes hahaha. I was also craving fizzy sweets for a snack- which is so weird for me because when I am not pregnant I do not have a sweet tooth at all but apparently when it comes to pregnancy, both this time and last time, I love sour sweets! These can be hard to come by vegan but our local shop had a big pack of fizzy sour dinosaurs on offer and they were vegan- these I could not get enough of! 

While on the topic of cravings I often get asked if I ever crave anything non-vegan and if I did would I indulge in it? My honest answer is no I don't, for example if I crave a burger I will crave a bean burger. If I was to crave something non-vegan I would definitely not have it for both moral and health reasons that most of you will know from my other blog posts/instagram. I would find a vegan alternative to solve that craving. 

Bump popped at 21 weeks...

At the start of pregnancy you obviously don't have a bump so I expected that but everyone told me you get a bump sooner second time around. I got to 16/17 weeks however I didn't think I looked that different apart from my post-partum mum tum and a bit of bloating. 21 weeks is when my bump clearly popped. It was really interesting because when I was pregnant with Ella-Grace I had a bump at 16/17 weeks and although this time I did get a bump at this time too as I mentioned I felt like it still looked more like a 'mum tum' until I got further on, not that there is anything wrong with a stretchy mummy tummy (I love mine) it is just interesting how a woman's body looks different with each pregnancy. As you can see in the picture above 21 weeks was definitely when I popped and bump was most certainly there for everyone to see, making it all that bit more real if it wasn't already!

Feeling faint followed by food poisoning...

The first trimester sickness may have passed but as February rolled around, just as I was celebrating my Dad's 60th birthday, sickness came back with a vengeance. 

Firstly, around this time (22/23 weeks pregnant) I had started feeling very dizzy and if I got up to quickly I would feel as if I was going to faint. This was then followed by severe stomach cramps and sickness! Not food aversion sick or anything to do with pregnancy actually but more like a sickness bug which was just my worst nightmare. With no idea what it was I consulted the doctor who tested for a few things and it turned out I had food poisoning! I was prescribed anti-biotics and my symptoms improved quickly! I am just glad baby was not affected! Gutted I couldn't stomach much of the yummy food at my Dad's 60th though haha. 

Baby name dilemma...

This will most likely be brought up in each pregnancy update until baby is here because this is one dilemma that I do not think will be solved until baby 2 is in my arms! That dilemma is baby names! 

As I explained in an Instagram post, we had Ella-Grace's name picked out before she was born. Pretty much as soon as we found out she was a girl we picked her name and that was that. This time round we decided not to find out the sex of the baby (not that I think this matters because no names really belong to a specific sex, this is just what society has convinced us) and we also decided not to officially name the baby until he or she makes their appearance. We did however want a few names we liked picked out, this has been a challenge to say the least! I like VERY unique names (such as Journey, Bravery, Lavender, Wednesday) and Reece is more mainstream (Bethany, Cody, Joey), so finding names we both love is hard! One minute we will have a few we both like and the next minute we will both change our minds and hate them all! Perhaps baby 2 will be called just that.. baby 2... or one of us will have to cave! Only time will tell... 

Kicks getting strong...

By 24 weeks pregnant I had been able to feel baby for a long time, since about 16 weeks, but it was now that others could really feel him or her move! Reece was feeling kicks frequently and even Ella-Grace managed to feel one or two when she kept her hand on my belly long enough (although I don't think she really knew what it was, but she would say 'baby kick!'). 

All very exciting and a lovely bonding experience for the three of us and bump, connecting as a family of four already! 

My mum and sisters also felt the baby kick a few times which was nice. If only they stayed pleasant little kicks, soon enough they began to be painful which I never experienced with Ella-Grace. Either this baby is stronger or my muscles are just ruined from last pregnancy, who knows? Worth it for my beautiful second child. 

Ella-Grace understanding more...

The further a long in this pregnancy I have gotten, the more Ella-Grace has started to understand what is going on.. as much as a 2 year old can anyway. She loves to hug my bump, kiss my bump, sing and talk to bump and ask me all about the 'baby' in my tummy. It is so sweet! 

Through this and her understanding on what a baby is she has become very interested in playing with her baby dolls, looking after her little friends like babies and reading books about being a big sister. This is so sweet to see and although I am sure she will have her jealous moments when baby is here I do think she will thrive as a big sister and take on a caring role (or at least try to). So yeah, baby 2 even if your big sister annoys you she does love you so much! Even before you entered the world. 

Pelvic pain and more...

I am so grateful to be pregnant again and to be able to carry a healthy child but that does not make it easy and the further a long in this pregnancy I get the more I realise that (symptoms wise) I had it pretty easy in the first pregnancy. As I neared the end of the second trimester some not so fun things kicked into gear including pelvic pain, insomnia and braxton hicks contractions which don't hurt but they are very uncomfortable. Unlike when I had these with Ella-Grace, this time round it has felt that whenever I do anything that involves moving I get a braxton hix contraction. My midwife has suggested that perhaps I have an irritable uterus and to take it easy but when you have a toddler at home that is just not possible sometimes. So these symptoms were not so fun and they have only kicked up from there but I am getting a head of myself. 

Baby moon...

Now to stop the moaning and talk about something fun. Reece and I went on a little baby moon! Our two close friends got engaged and so with our other two friends we travelled down to Edinburgh for one night (my Mum took Ella-Grace for a sleep over) and celebrated. This was the first time I had left Ella-Grace since the honeymoon (that was extremely hard for me and I think made my separation anxiety worse) so I was very nervous but she had a great time with my Mum and it was nice for Reece and I to get dressed up and have some time to ourselves and with our friends before baby 2 arrives and we never get peace again hahaha. We also got a cute photo out of it so that's nice. 

Low fetal movements and fast heart rate...

Unfortunately when we arrived back in Aberdeen after our short trip to Edinburgh I barely got to see Ella-Grace for an hour before I was told to go up to the hospital due to baby having reduced movements. I was just about 27 weeks at this point, entering the third trimester with a hospital trip, not ideal. Once I got to the hospital baby started moving again thankfully (midwife said the travelling may have thrown baby off) but the heart rate was high so I was kept for an hour for monitoring. Heart rate was still on the higher side but not to the point where it was worrying so I was let away home. A scary experience but on the up side my close friend had given birth to her first little one less than 24 hours before this and I got to go up and hold her sweet baby and congratulate my friend. Good ending to a stressful experience. Made me all the more excited to have baby 2 here too. 

Weeks 27-28...

And so that brings us to the last week of my second trimester which was pretty uneventful. So all I have to share is a bump pic. This trimester was by far the easiest of all three (which is usually the case) although it did come with it's challenges. 

Third trimester post coming soon ...

And so that was my second trimester. I am now well into my third trimester and have so much to tell but you will all have to wait another week or two for that update and then before I know it I will be writing my birth story! Although these last few weeks feel like they are dragging, this pregnancy has seemed to go by in a flash! 

Thank you for reading...

As always thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed hearing all about my second trimester. Please feel free to comment below any experiences you are having or have had with your pregnancies, are they similar to mine? Lets start a conversation. Hope to update you all again soon on the rest of my pregnancy as well as posts on how Ella-Grace is doing and more. So much to write but this pregnant mama also needs her rest so please bare with me. Thank you all again for following my blog and I will speak to you all soon. 

Stay Happy Everyone! :) 

Potty Training Under 2

Writing about potty training already... 

How did this come about so fast? Feels like yesterday I changed Ella-Grace's first nappy (or more accurately watched a nurse change her as I could not get out of bed due to being numb from c-section) and now here I am, 28 weeks pregnant with baby number 2 watching her run around in 'big girl pants' and saying "Potty mama". Time goes way too fast, she is such a big girl now! 

Before I even get into the topic of potty training and everything that has come with our experience so far I would like to say a few things. First of all, I am no expert when it comes to potty training (I don't think anyone is?) this is simply a post explaining how potty training is going with Ella-Grace and advice as far as what is working for us- this is not to say what we do works for every child as every child is different. I do not think children HAVE to be potty trained at a certain age or anything like that, you as a parent decide when you think is the best time. Once again all children are unique, all learn at different paces in different ways and please in no way take this as me telling you what you should be doing because that is not what I am doing- half the time I don't even know what I am doing. We are all winging it at the end of the day. I have found reading other parents experiences very helpful and comforting in times I have struggled during this potty training process so I thought I would ask you all if I should share my experience and an overwhelming amount of you said yes so here it is. Also you all know I use this blog as a personal diary to get out my inner thoughts, I just choose to share these thoughts with the internet, that is all this is. Also apologies it has took me so long to get this posted, between pregnancy insomnia and my laptop crashing (losing my work SEVERAL times), it has been tricky to get it done but here I am!

Now that long (probably unneeded) explanation is out the way let us get on with the blog post...

(Side note: There will be no images of Ella-Grace on the toilet or in her pants etc. I personally am not comfortable with that)  

Past experience in potty training and thoughts going into it...

Like most first time parents- I would assume- I had no experience potty training and was quite apprehensive about approaching the whole thing. As someone with anxiety I control this with routine and schedule and being in a routine (in this case I am talking about nappies) it really stressed me out the thought of messing with that and now having to start a fresh, teaching Ella-Grace a whole new way of life pretty much. She has spent her whole life doing her 'business' in nappies and I have spent her whole life changing them, it is a big change for both of us. I also get very anxious about tasks that do not have instructions which of course potty training does not, mothering in general does not come with a handbook or 'wikihow' page you can just look up so whenever I enter a new experience in Motherhood I get a little (or a lot) stressed out. So needless to say, potty training was not something I was in a rush to do nor excited about doing. 

When Ella-Grace was 18 months old however (literally I think medically this is the earliest a child will be able to be potty trained due to physical development that needs to happen) she started showing signs of being ready for potty training. She hated her nappy and would always try to pull it off, she would hide to do a number 2 and she became very interested in the bathroom- specifically me going to the bathroom. So reluctantly I thought I would buy a toilet seat insert and see how she liked it. She sat on it no problem and seemed to want to be on it. As proud as I was, I was also in shock, I was not thinking about potty training her until she was 2 or 3 years old but she was telling me she wanted to sit on the toilet. It was at this point I went out and bought her some pants and set a few days aside to try this potty training thing (no idea what I was doing). This was my first ever experience trying to potty train and it did not go well. Although she did go to the toilet a few times and was interested in it, she was just not ready to understand the concept of 'I need to tell Mummy I need to go to the bathroom'. So after a day or two of accidents everywhere we decided she was just not ready. This was a very stressful two days with the change of routine and as you probably guessed there were many tears from me. After this we did keep the toilet seat out and if she asked to go on it then we would let her but we were not actively potty training her. So that was that for a few months. 

Trying again and signs of potty readiness...

Honeymoon past and Christmas came and went, it was now January- at this point life had gotten so busy that the potty seat was put away in the cupboard. This is when we decided to try again (Ella-Grace now being 21 almost 22 months old). We decided this for a number of reasons: 

1. Ella-Grace showing more signs of readiness 

Of course the most important thing to consider when thinking about potty training is, is my child ready? And once again, Ella-Grace started showing signs of readiness even more than before. As well as the signs I have already mentioned Ella-Grace also started to show the signs such as going number 2 at a certain time of day, telling me when she needed her nappy changed, understanding simple instructions, understanding words and what they mean (such as potty, pee pee etc), mimicking behaviour and waking up dry from her nap. All these were signs that she was ready and armed with this knowledge I had to consider other aspects of life to see if it was the right time for us as a family as well as for Ella-Grace and that nothing else would get in the way. 

2. Baby number 2 due in June 

This was more of a perk than a reason to potty train because of course if Ella-Grace had not been ready I would of never even considered starting potty training for this reason, but due to Ella-Grace showing signs this was something that popped into my head. As most if not all of you know I am due to have another baby in June and what a treat it would be to have to change half the amount of nappies. No nappy changes for my toddler only for the new born. Of course I would still be assisting Ella-Grace in the bathroom but not having to change her nappy along with baby two would be nice. 

3. No big changes or events for a while

As I said Christmas and New Year had just passed and now we were into January which for us is quite a slow month as I am sure it is for many families. Ella-Grace's second birthday was in March and baby was due in June which meant for a little while now we had no big plans, changes or events. Potty training too close to or during a big event or change can make the process more difficult and stressful for everyone involved so the fact that we had nothing really happening for a while made me think that it could be a good time. 

4. Second trimester and feeling good 

As I said, you have to make sure your child is ready for potty training and that there is nothing happening at the same time that will stress out your child during this transition but as well as this you as a parent MUST be ready for this process as it takes a lot of energy out of you, it takes up a lot of your time and as for the attention you already pay to your child, you need to triple that. The constant monitoring, the constant reminding, the constant watching them and more. It is a lot for a parent and a huge task you have to make sure you are at your best to be able to help your child through this transition. For me around this time I was into my second trimester, finally out of the sickness of the first 12 weeks and I felt myself getting a burst of energy. Although pregnancy can be a difficult time if you are going to do anything like this, the second trimester (at least for me) is the sweet spot and exactly when you want to do it. The start of pregnancy I would never have been able to do it as I was far too tired and sick, the third trimester I would definitely be too tired and forget about when I have a new born baby. I am not saying you cannot do it during these times but I am saying that for me, my mental health would not handle it and physically I feel I would struggle but the second trimester? Yeah lets do this!  

Researching and our chosen method...

Everything is lining up... Ella-Grace is ready, I am ready and now what? Time to do some research. Looking back on the first time we attempted to potty train I decided I did not do enough research. I looked at one method and thought, there I will try that, but there are so many different methods and opinions when it comes to potty training that I wanted to view more and fill myself with information. I looked at 3 day potty training methods, some that did day and night potty training at the same time, some methods that taught going number 1 and number 2 at different times, elimination communication potty training, potty training using pull ups, naked potty training, and so on and so forth. There are SO many different forms of information out there about all different types of potty training and from all this information I put together my own method combining the aspects I thought was important to my child's progress and what she needed. The main guidelines I used when potty training (which I pulled from all the different methods I looked at) were: 

1. Have a staying in period 

Although potty training does also have to be done out of the house it was important for us to establish it first at home before tackling public areas. Going to the bathroom is a vulnerable and private time and so we were prepared to get through the first part of the process at home. 

2. No more nappies 

Some methods use pull ups or potty train using nappies but for us the best way we could see to do it was to go 'cold turkey' as they say on the nappies (with the exception of nap time/bed time). 

3. Potty every half an hour 

Most methods say to remind your child often to go potty but it is up to you how often. We decided to put her on potty every half hour, quickly going to every hour. We probably asked her every 15 mins or so if she wanted to go.  

4. Nappy free time followed by pants 

The first day we let Ella-Grace run around bare and after this we introduced pants. 

5. Teaching words 

Teaching key words such as 'potty', 'pee pee' and 'poo poo'. This was very helpful when it came to understanding the process of potty training. Later she also caught onto words such as 'tissue', 'flush' and 'wash hands'. Once your child understands these words/phrases communication and teaching is so much easier. 

6. Praise and reward 

With it being just after Christmas we had so much left over chocolate/gifted chocolate so we used this as a reward if she went potty. As she got better as it though we just used praise which is all they really need. 

7. No punishments 

We knew we would be teaching her this way before I even researched anything. We did not want her to feel as if she had done something wrong when she had an accident as this would likely stress her out and we did not want to teach her that doing her business was bad because it is not. We simply acknowledged any accidents and patiently explained to her where to go next time. 

8. Teach privacy

Reece and I think teaching privacy is very important and this also includes when it comes to going to the bathroom. So we were not comfortable having anyone over during the times when she was running around in just pants, we wanted to teach her going to the bathroom was something private and she can have Mummy or Daddy helping her or have some alone time. We did not want her doing her buisness on a potty in a public area in front of others, we wanted to teach her to go to where it is private just as we would never change her nappy anywhere but nappy changing areas because this was private. A very important lesson I think to teach from the start. 

9. Tackle Day Time First 

As I said, we decided to tackle through the day first and nap time/evening time later. We found this to be best for Ella-Grace and according to what I have read as well as observed with Ella-Grace so far, night time readiness is very different and almost naturally occurs.

10. Only 5 - 15 minutes sitting on potty 

I read that letting your child sit on the toilet/potty for too long can affect their veins etc in that area and can be strenous for them so the recommended cut off time was 15 mins. After about 15 mins as well Ella-Grace would be more than ready to get off. 

Supplies..

1. Pants 

2. Toddler insert for toilet and/or small potty (we ended up needing both)

3.' Bambino' Potty training pants (NOT pull ups, the kind we got were cloth so more like pants so Ella-Grace did not get confuse it with a nappy)  

4. Nappies for bedtime and naptime

5. Cleaning products 

6. Wipes

7. Moisturiser (Ella-Grace's hands got really dry from the constant washing hands so moisturiser was important) 

8. Rewards (optional, praise can work just as well) 

9. Timer (I just used my phone) 

Staying in Period...

And so it begins. 10th January 2019 was Ella-Grace's first day at a new toddler group so of course we did not want to miss this. We had sort of introduced potty training a day or two prior to this and so we took her to the group in pants not wanting to confuse her by putting her back in a nappy (there were many accidents as it was just the beginning stage- I wish we had the potty training pants at this point haha). It was after this day though that we 'officially' started potty training and decided to stay at home for a good week and so this is where I will start the potty training story for you all. 

So treating the first day of the staying in period as the first full day potty training I decided to let Ella-Grace do this day pants and nappy free- so nothing on her bottom half. This was part of a few methods I read. By doing this I wanted to see just how many times a day she would go pee and hopefully see how well she regulated her bladder. It was less about trying to get her to use the potty- which of course I did- but more the last check to see if she was truly ready for potty training, From what I had read if a toddler urinates constantly their bladder is not mature enough for them to regulate it but if they are going every hour or so this is a sign they are regulating their bladder making potty training possible. I am not a medical professional but this was what I read and so we tested this theory. Ella-Grace often woke up from naps dry or we noticed she was staying dry in her nappy for longer periods of time and so it was not a shock to me that after the first day of potty training we came to the conclusion she was regulating her bladder and we were confident in our decision to potty train. She had many accidents on the floor (and one on the sofa, I think I counted about 8 accidents on the first day but this was expected and like I said not the big aim of the day. The aim was so see if she was ready and it did seem she was. We were not using the small potty at this point but rather we introduced the toilet seat insert as this is what we were putting her on as this is what she shown interest in, the big toilet that Mummy and Daddy use. We were putting her on every half hour to an hour on that first day, constantly reminding her/asking her if she needed to pee. The first few times this was exciting but then she got a bit bored of going on and so bubbles, her wash off nail polish, stories, we brought out a few things to keep her entertained during her time on the potty. We would sit her on the potty between 5 and 10 minutes each time, restarting the 30 min timer each time she would get off. If she at all seemed distressed about going on/being on the potty we would take her off- we wanted to avoid stressing her out or making her scared of the potty at all costs. We were very much trying to let her lead us. She may have peed once on the potty on that first day but the rest were accidents. So as the first day goes it went as expected, the constant reminding her to go to the toilet, every half an hour putting her on the toilet, cleaning up accidents and trying to teach her the key potty training words- fair to say both Ella-Grace and myself were shattered at the end of the first day and I still knew we had a long way to go. 

Progress followed by UTI...

The staying in period continued and on the second day we introduced pants. I explained to her what her pants were and how she was not to wear nappies now just pants. I told her that she should try to keep her pants dry and tell Mummy or Daddy if she needed the toilet. Then again our potty training method began (Reminding her about the toilet, putting her on potty for 5/10 mins every 30 mins, trying to teach her the potty words, if she did anything on the toilet she would get a little dairy free chocolate treat and of course constant hand washing). This was pretty much how the staying in period went, day in and day out we would do this routine. There were stressful times for both of us, many accidents and a lot of washing (I advise you buy a lot of pants and maybe keep them in just t-shirts or dresses) but we got through it. 

By day 3 Ella-Grace had gone from eight accidents to just on or two accidents, peeing on the toilet almost every time (going number 2 was still quite daunting for her and although she did go a once or twice in the toilet most of the time she would go in her nappy during nap time as this was the time she had regulated her body to go anyway). Now she was getting better at going to the toilet we had changed the method slightly. Instead of every half an hour we set the timer for every hour and this is where it stuck until she learnt to tell us herself. I was very proud of the progress she was making and thought to myself the hard part was over she is almost accident free... and then a UTI hit her. Very common during early potty training with girls according to our dr and although it is not a sign of not being ready to be potty trained (which is what I was worried about) it is something that needs treated with antibiotics. 

I used to get regular urine tract infections when I was younger and so I knew as soon as Ella-Grace said 'ow' when she peed that she had an infection. Thankfully with her being so good at peeing in the toilet now we were able to get a urine sample from her quickly meaning she got antibiotics very quickly and recovered within days. Surprisingly this did not hold her back as I thought it would and once the infection cleared up she had her first dry day!!

First dry day...

This had now been a full week of staying in and potty training. It had been difficult, it had been messy but it had been so worth it. I actually read one Mother's story about how she potty trained her child and one thing she said really stuck (I am going to try and find the exact post and credit it at the end of this post), she said 'wait for the first dry day' this is what I told myself in times where I was finding the potty training difficult as I knew the first dry day would be amazing and it was. Looking in the washing basket and only seeing the one pair of underwear she had worn that day to go in the wash and seeing how proud she was to have dry underwear, it was so precious. We were still putting her on every hour so it was very much her being on a schedule than us leaving her to it and her being able to tell us but still this was progress and from 8 accidents on the first day to none in just over a week! That was amazing. Very proud of our little girl and also proud of us for helping her get there. Now time to get out the house! 

First full day out...

Now, accomplishing potty training in your house is one thing but potty training outside the home, outside of your child's comfort zone, that is a whole different kettle of fish as they say. 

We had been on small outings before; doctors appointments, my 20 week scan, trips to ASDA, but 1. These were short trips and 2. We used the potty training pants and although they were always dry and she would go to the toilet when we were out, it was like a security blanket because we knew if she did have an accident that the cloth potty training pants would hold some amount of urine before any clothing etc got wet. It was time to take that security blanket away. Ella-Grace was ready and so were we. What better place to test this theory than a birthday party at a soft play haha no point starting small right? 

Dress on, hair done and pants on out the house for the first time, I was petrified and desperately did not want her to have an accident. Not because there would of been anything wrong in that, totally normal in fact but I knew Ella-Grace would get upset (by this point she was very aware that she wanted her pants to be dry) and did not want her to feel embarrassed. The party lasted 2 hours and Reece and I were on our game tracking how much she drank and how often we were putting her on the toilet (still every hour) and so with two successful trips to the toilet that was our first big outing with dry underwear NOT in training pants. Another milestone had been hit and we were ecstatic. This was the 26th of January so about 2 weeks after we started potty training. 

Introducing small potty...

So we have no accidents through the day at home, we can now go out of the house with pants on also, what was left? To trust in Ella-Grace. By now she knew the word 'pee pee', 'potty' and 'poo poo' and she had a good understanding of what they meant but yet she was rarely telling us she needed to go and rather waiting for us to put her on the potty. She was clearly regulating her bladder as every time we would put her on the potty she would pee, she knew every hour we would take her to the toilet. But we wanted to stop the schedule and let her lead us, it was now time for her to let us know when she needed to go and so to help with this we introduced a small potty in the living room. The reason for this being the big toilet she could not get on herself and so the small potty encouraged independence as she could sit on it herself. We taught her how to pull up and down her pants and trousers and explained when she needed to go 'pee pee' or 'poo poo' to let Mummy and Daddy know and to go on her potty. Still reminding her but now not putting her on every hour and once again (thankfully) she picked this up rather quickly. Sometimes by telling us and sometimes she needed the question of 'do you need to go potty?' to prompt her but she quickly got used to telling us when she needed to go. I think we had one or two accidents during this time of teaching her to tell us but over all she got it fairly quickly. Following this we moved the small potty into the bathroom as we still wanted to encourage privacy and that the bathroom is where she goes to do her business and we no longer timed how often she went to the bathroom, no more timer. Which brings us to right now. 

Where we are now...

So, as of now (March 2019) I can confidently say Ella-Grace is fully potty trained through the day. If she does go longer than 2 hours without peeing I will prompt her to go to the potty which she always does but majority of the time she lets us know when she needs to go. She does still wear a nappy at nap and bed time but we put her on the potty before she sleeps and so she often wakes up dry. Going number 2 on the potty is still somewhat of a task as she would usually do this during nap time (so in her nappy) as this is the time of day she seems to of regulated her body to do so but if she does need when she is awake she does tell us and with some prompting will go on the potty. Not as confidently as she does when she goes pee but she will still tell us and she knows where number 2 goes. We are working on making her more confident at this however. Ella-Grace has full understanding  now that her waste goes into the potty. She understands the whole process from knowing when she needs to go to the bathroom to washing her hands after. She gets up every morning as tells us it is time take off her nappy, go potty and put her pants on. She is proud when her pants are dry and likes to announce to everyone after she has gone 'pee pee' haha exclaiming yay every time! Still small progress to go and potty training through the night to tackle but so far so good and we are very proud of how she is doing.  

Method in a nutshell..

That may have sounded a bit all over the place so I am going to bullet point it for anyone that just wants the steps:

• Stay in period 1 week 
• First day- no pants or nappy, look for waste regulation and cues that child needs to go potty (holding private area, running around, hiding). Learning these cues will help you catch when they need to go potty and help them learn their own cues. Potty every 30 mins. 
• Second day- explain underwear. Potty every 30 mins, use knowledge of cues from day before. Teach key words. 
• Continue this for the remainder of the week. If child is having less accidents and seems to be doing well try potty every 1 hour. Teach key words. 
• Attempt an outing (no timeline just whenever you feel ready)
• When child is going to potty every hour and understanding key words try encouraging them to tell you when they need to go/go by themselves. 

Top tips...

1. Don't pressure your child

BIG no in my opinion is putting pressure on your child to be potty trained. Of course encourage and explain to them why an accident is an accident but never embarrass, never shame, never punish and never force. Changing from nappies to potty is a HUGE lifestyle change for any child no matter the age you start and during this time your child needs support, praise and compassion. You do not want to scare them away. 

2. Mother knows best 

I spent the whole time I was potty training (even now) questioning myself and if I was right for potty training Ella-Grace now. Was she truly ready? Can I do this? What should and shouldn't I be doing? I googled this until I was at my wits end and the only answer I could come up with was that nobody knows. Each parent does what they think is best for their child and although I could read other peoples experiences and opinions, I had to find my own and trust myself as a Mother that I know my child, what they are capable of and what is best for them. I believed that Ella-Grace was ready and I believed this was the right time to start potty training and so that is what I did. No one knows your child like you do, you have to trust yourself to make the right call. 

3. Ignore haters 

This kind of goes hand in hand with the last tip. I had some people telling me Ella-Grace was 'too young' and that I was 'forcing her', these did get me down for a bit and had me questioning myself but to be 100% honest, these people are not there to help you. Unless you ask for their opinion they have no right to tell you what to do and not do with your child, they have not seen the signs and they have not been the one raising them from the ground up. A stranger will see your child have one accident and suddenly proclaim that your child is 'not ready' to be potty trained but yet they did not see the 3 other times that day that your child successfully went to the potty. Although I know it is hard not to overthink what others opinions are as you yourself are not an expert please remember, like I said, you know what is best for your child and it is up to you to make the decision. Ignore any negative energy. 

4. Take it day by day

Just like most things in life you are going to experience good days and bad days, it is the same with potty training. One day your child will seem to be making immense progress and then the next they will have a few accidents, that's just how it is at the start, it is an adjustment for them and potty training definitely does not happen over night. So whether it takes days, weeks or months, just take it day by day. Your child has a day with little or no accidents then amazing, if they have a day where the potty has not been used then try again tomorrow. It is easier said than done but try not to stress, you will potty train your child eventually and then you will be sad that this is another experience checked off your list. Just take it day by day and you will get there. Remember accidents happen, it is part of potty training. 

5. Enjoy the small victories

Again linking to the last tip- enjoy the small victories. The potty training process is messy, tedious and frustrating for both you and your child, so when there are little victories really focus on them and celebrate them. Don't feel like you are doing a bad job because your child had 3 accidents, feel proud because you helped them make it to the potty at least once that day. Your child poop on the floor? That sucks! But you taught them what the word 'potty' meant today and that is progress. Little victories mean a lot and celebrating/praising these is what will encourage both you and your child to keep going. 

6. Don't focus on how long it is taking 

This was a hard one for me. Like I said, I am a person of schedule, routine and organisation (or at least I try to be as this keeps me sane) so I tried to have a time line in my head as to how long potty training would take. Lucky for me Ella-Grace has seemed to catch on relatively quickly for the most part but what I have come to realise is that potty training is a long process. When I was researching different potty training methods there were so many 'clickbait' titles I would say such as 'potty train in 3 days' or 'how I potty trained my child in 1 week'. Not to say that these parents did not manage to do this but it just pre-set a feeling in my head that the potty training process must have a time line. Once researching even more though and gaining some more experience myself I realised that it is really a continuous process for months or even longer sometimes. Yes, Ella-Grace caught on quickly and after I would say about 2 weeks I could say yes she is potty trained through the day so 'technically' that was my time line but the potty training does not stop there. She may have an accident some time in the future when she is excited, upset or just forgets to tell me she needs to go. She may have accidents when in a new sitiuation or one she is not used to- for example she had not had an accident in a long time but then she went to stay with my Mum for one night and she had one accident the next day because it was someone else putting her on the potty. She may have accidents once the new baby is here, it is often that children regress in a big life change but she may not. Of course we still have the night training to come so that is a factor too. Or none of these things will happen and she will have no accidents again, who knows. Potty training is a process that goes on for a long time, it is a life change and they take a while to get a hang of so my best advice would be just to make it part of your lifestyle and your routine. Going on the potty is a routine for us, we have accepted it as part of our day and whatever this means for Ella-Grace and what she needs as support for potty training is what we will continue to do- no timeline. 

7. You will find your own method 

My BIGGEST tip by far is do not focus or try to follow to the T someone else's potty training method. Of course be as informed as you can if that helps you and through researching potty training methods you can try to follow one but be prepared to find your own method. No children are the same and they will all learn and grow in their own unique ways, so following another parents method that worked for their child may not work for yours. The way we potty trained Ella-Grace was not a magical method I found on any website, blog, book or you tube video, it was all different methods and what I liked from those methods all mashed together to make the perfect potty training method for my little one. You may go through lots of methods before finding the rhythm that works for you and most importantly your child, it just takes patience and time. Just remember you will only potty train your child once (even if it does take a long time) and they will get there! You are going to blink and they will be living their own adult life so try and enjoy this experience as much as it will drain you. Also for those parents who feel pressured to start potty training- please don't, you will know when your child is ready and when you are ready to take this leap. It is not a race and there is no right time to do it.

Thank you for reading...

Wow that was a long post! I don't know if that all made sense- like I said I am no expert or childcare professional- but I hope it helped someone out there who is embarking on the potty training journey with their child or thinking about it. I am so proud of how Ella-Grace has dealt with the big change that is potty training and although there has been hard times it has gone relatively smoothly (we still have to tackle the evening potty training however). This massive fear that I had of potty training was in the end irrational and as well as being proud of my wonderful daughter, I am also proud of myself as a mother who battles with anxiety for not having a total relapse/breakdown- a few mini breakdowns sure but overall my mental health has stayed afloat. I have Reece to thank for supporting me through that and of course playing his part in  the potty training experience. If you feel I have missed anything or you have any questions about my experience in potty training please feel free to message me or comment below and I will reply asap! As always thank you for reading and you will hear from me again very soon with a more blog posts. 

Stay Happy Everyone! :) <3

My Favourite Soup: Carrot and Coriander Soup Recipe (Vegan)

Carrot And Coriander Soup (Vegan)

Ingredients 

4 Carrots (Peeled and Chopped) 

2 Large Potatoes (Peeled and Chopped) 

1 stick of celery (Chopped) 

1/2 Large White Onion 

500ml of Veg stock 

Knob of Dairy free Butter 

1/2 cup of Oatly Barista Edition (or any other plant based milk) 

2 tsp Garlic granules (add more to taste)

2 tsp Coriander leaves (add more to taste)

Salt and Pepper (to taste) 

Method 

• Wash all vegetables and prepare as stated 
• Heat knob of butter in large soup pan and saute the veg (Do not allow to burn)
• Add salt, pepper, garlic and coriander (I do not add salt and pepper when cooking for Ella-Grace but otherwise I would add) 
• Add plant milk and veg stock 
• Bring to boil then leave to simmer until veg is soft 
• Blend until smooth 
• Taste, add more seasoning if required 
• Enjoy! 

Quick, simple and SO yummy! Perfect for a cold day (which we have a lot of in Scotland!) 

Let me know if you try this soup and what you think of it. Comment below your favourite soup. 

Stay Happy Everyone! 

Rough First Trimester! (Second Pregnancy)

Happy New Year Everyone.. 

New Years Day 2019

We are in 2019! Happy New Year Everyone! I hope you all had an amazing Christmas and New Year or even if you didn't that does not mean you cannot have an amazing 2019, I wish all good things for you guys, my lovely readers. 
Reece and I have been so fortunate to of had an amazing 2017 and 2018 with so much amazing things that have happened from Ella-Grace being born and growing into such an amazing toddler to us getting married, moving and more- as you will all know from previous posts. This year, 2019, we will be completing our family with baby 2 which brings me into today's post.  

Another pregnancy post...

Back with another pregnancy post! Most of my readers I know love these and are excited I am writing them again but I am also aware they are not for everyone. So, to those of you who prefer non-pregnancy related blog posts, do not worry! The next post will not be about pregnancy! But this one is so if you are not into pregnancy stories then click away and come back another time...if you are still here I assume you are here for the pregnant content so HI! Thank you for being here to follow me on my pregnancy journey with baby number two (still cannot believe I am saying that) I am so happy to share my experience with all of you. This post will be all about the first trimester (week 1 - week 13 of pregnancy)

- can I just add how weird it is writing about my first trimester now we are in 2019 as it was back in 2018, while writing this I am 19 weeks pregnant so just feels strange backtracking.. know what I mean? Sorry pointless side note back to regular programming- 

and I think it is fair to say that this time around has been tough for many reasons as you will read but once again I do want to stress that I know this is NOTHING compared to what some women have to go through and no matter what I am very grateful for carrying a new life, all obstacles and hardships are worth it. This is just my experience that I want to share with you guys, please know I am grateful and I am very aware that things could be worse. That however does not make it easy. 

So, without keeping you waiting on the edge of your seat any longer here is all the information on my first trimester...

Side note again: Just had a realisation that baby 2 could be reading this in the future! I just want to say I love you and I forgive you for making me so sore and sick hahaha! Just kidding, it's not your fault you were just a tiny fetus. I would go through it all again for you and I love you so much all ready.

4 - 6 weeks pregnant....

Positive test and 5 weeks pregnant on Honeymoon 

The last pregnancy related post that was up on my blog was all about how Reece and I conceived baby number 2 - link here : TTC Journey/LauraJane:Life

I left you all at me taking the pregnancy test (on the 27th September 2018: 4 weeks 3 days pregnant), it being positive and me telling Reece he was going to be a Daddy to two babies! Very exciting times. After this I told my family and close friends and then... oh yeah we were going away on our honeymoon DAYS after we found out (30th September 2018: 4 weeks 6 days pregnant). Felt like such a crazy thing to do when you have just found out your pregnant but hey ho, that is what we did and I know there is nothing dangerous about flying in early pregnancy (that I have been told anyway).

So, 30th September 2018 we set off on our honeymoon to Marmaris, Turkey. 1st October 2018, our first day on our honeymoon, I was 5 weeks pregnant. 

(I am still to share our honeymoon experience and all we did, how I coped with separation anxiety etc so I am not going to go into that in too much detail on here as that is a separate post but just to let you guys know that it is coming. Sorry it is so late.) 

We had an amazing first few days, I missed Ella-Grace beyond belief- again I will be going through that in a separate post- but we did enjoy our first few days on our honeymoon. Eating lots of food, enjoying the sunshine, taking part in loads of excursions (pregnancy safe ones), it was amazing. Then it got to day 4 and the sickness and anxiety set in. We still had 3 days left!  

Reece, bless him he really is the best husband ever. He has been talking about going away with me since we met pretty much, he has been abroad before and loves hot, sunny weather. Knowing I had never been to any other country bar the UK he has always been keen to take me away. It had never worked out for us really and now finally after 6 years together we had the chance to go away not only on holiday but on our honeymoon. Probably the only time we are ever going to go away just the two of us and of course I have terrible morning sickness from pregnancy and anxiety just over half way through our week away. I felt guilty but also knew another baby is what he wanted to so supporting me during the sickness was just something he had to deal with as a part of that. He was an angel and as I was sick in bed in our hotel room, air con blasting to cool me down, he ran to the closest shop to get me some crackers (that being the only thing I could stomach, literally even now just thinking about this time makes me feel sick). 
Now being about 5 weeks and 4 days pregnant I had come to realise that this morning sickness was way worse than last time, foreshadowing the rest of the first trimester. As for anxiety it was a combination of being away from home while feeling very sick and missing Ella-Grace more than words can even describe, making me even look into changing our flights home but it just was not feasible. Tears and sickness aside however we did push through and enjoyed the rest of the honeymoon, mostly by the pool in the hotel so I could still go back to our hotel room if I needed to but it was still so wonderful and we made so many good memories. 

8th October 2018 I was 6 weeks pregnant and we were on our way home from our honeymoon. I do not recommend travelling long distance when experiencing extreme morning sickness it was pretty tough. 9th October 2018 we were back home and reunited with Ella-Grace which made me so happy and cured my separation anxiety but obviously not my pregnancy sickness which kick starts the next set of weeks in the first trimester. 

6 - 9 weeks pregnant...

First sign of little bump and 9 weeks pregnant on Halloween

So as I said 6 weeks pregnant, back from Honeymoon, Reece back to work and me reunited with Ella-Grace which I was extremely happy about but felt horrendously sick and still very on edge and anxious. Mixed emotions. 

Looking back now I think it was a mixture of pregnancy hormones, my forever looming anxiety and all the change in routine (which I DO NOT do well with at all, my anxiety and panic attacks are kept at bay because of routine and planning) that made me feel quite down, not to mention the sickness. On top of that as well because I had just come back I wanted to do so much with Ella-Grace but because of the extent to which I felt sick I felt like I could not do anything and did not want to leave the sofa never mind the house, I did now and again and tried my best to go to the park or on walks but to be 100% honest the TV was my best friend and a lot of those early weeks were spent in our pyjamas on the sofa, So the Mum guilt of course set in as I hate not being active with Ella-Grace and too much TV is a personal pet hate so yeah; sickness, anxiety now add a dash of guilt. That was week 6 and 7 of my second pregnancy in a nutshell and week 8 started out the same except now Ella-Grace was ill too.. nightmare! Struggling with a chest infection and her asthma, our poor baby was having a tough time too. Meaning more time inside, more TV and a very stressed out Mama! I was seeing the TV time affect her behaviour and it was breaking me. These weeks were most definitely tough! Thankfully Halloween gave us a bit of a boost! As I turned 9 weeks pregnant Halloween came around and our little angel had a blast dressed as a bat and I shaved my head once again for charity. The sickness had not gone away but at least these events put my spirits up. Routine was coming back, anxiety was going down slightly and I tried to ignore the sickness and return to normality which was less TV (2 hours a day max), attending groups and sticking to a routine. I may have went a bit over board with this as you will see. 

10 - 13 weeks pregnant 

Ella-Grace seeing scan picture for the first time 

10 weeks pregnant now, into double digits (the date now being 5th November 2018). The exact day I turned 10 weeks pregnant I remember clearly because it was the day I had my booking appointment with the midwife, spent the day with my parents and enjoyed sparklers with Ella-Grace that night for the first time- it was adorable inserting pic below! 

Bonfire Night 2018

All fun and games. The booking appointment went well the only downfall was that it was quite late for a booking appointment. I had phoned just before we left on honeymoon to make the appointment for when we came back and they said that booking appointments were usually between 8 and 10 weeks and my practice obviously only had availability around when I was 10 weeks (With Ella-Grace I think my booking appointment was made for 8 weeks). Fun fact- they actually booked my first appointment for 12 weeks by mistake and I had to phone back to change it because obviously by that point I should be having a scan not a booking appointment but anyways, my booking appointment was later than most which meant my scan would be later. My first scan was booked for after I would turn 13 weeks pregnant. Not a big deal at all but one thing that was really hard for me was keeping the secret that I was pregnant. Most of my close family and friends knew but it was still a secret and a 'taboo' in a way if anyone knew before the first scan. I spoke in my previous pregnancy about how much this stressed me out and how I think no one should be made to feel bad for talking about their pregnancy before they reach 12 weeks or have their first scan. Pregnancy is amazing whether it be 9 days, 9 weeks or 9 months and it should be allowed and socially acceptable to be spoke about at any stage. This being the reason that instead of keeping it a secret from everyone this time round I did almost the opposite and told many close friends and family members pretty much as soon as I knew I was pregnant. Social media is a totally different thing for me personally I just had no interest in announcing it until I knew everything was okay with baby especially after our chemical pregnancy scare when trying but that is just me, I think anyone can announce it whenever they want that was just what we decided.  However if people asked or mentioned anything about pregnancy/ the fact that Reece and I were trying in person I did share the news, I was a lot more open this time and it helped but it still felt taboo to tell people and certain people acted like my pregnancy was a big secret no one could possibly know but that's not what I wanted so it was still a slight stressor. Which is when I learnt that my scan date was a week later than expected it made me kind of sad because I wanted this 'hush, hush' time to be over. I am a talker, I talk about what I am going through and what is happening in my life. Literally it is what I am doing right now by writing my thoughts, feelings and experiences on the internet so yeah I wanted everything to be open and the later scan put a damper on that for me. Sorry that was a large tangent I just wanted to explain, leave a comment if you can relate to what I mean or maybe you kept your pregnancy a secret for much longer? I would love to know either way. 

Anyway, so between 10 and 11 weeks pregnant I was still feeling horrendously sick but powering through with my strict routine in an attempt to control my anxiety and do more with Ella-Grace. This meant lots of groups. Gymnastics, football, dancing, swimming and the occasional drop in toddler group. Ella-Grace loved every one of these classes, especially gymnastics but as week 10 of my pregnancy past and almost to the end of week 11 I started getting severe lower back ache and tummy cramps. Started off minimal but on 17th November 2018 it got really painful and worrying, I phoned the midwife and was told to go straight to the hospital. My heart sank. I phoned Reece and told him he needed to come home from work to be with Ella-Grace while I went to the hospital, I phoned family to tell them the situation and off I went. One of the scariest moments of my life. 

I got to the hospital around 5pm and by this point I was in a lot of pain and feeling very very sick (the sickness was normal by now but the pain was not). Hours later, checked over by a midwife and then a doctor I was admitted to hospital on strong pain killers and anti-sickness tablets. They wanted me to have an early scan the next morning meaning I was being admitted for the night which I was not prepared for. My lovely friend who is also pregnant due very soon, drove to my house to pick up a bag Reece packed for me, went to the shop for some snacks and dropped them off at my hospital room, keeping me company for a little while. It was very sweet of her and I am so thankful. Her company calmed me when I was so worried. 

Keeping everyone updated but now at this point my friend had left and I was very tired I was just going to close my eyes and try to get some rest through my worry then in came a scan technician and told me they could scan me right then and there. 

18th November 2018 at 10pm I saw my second child for the first time via an emergency scan. 11 weeks and 5 days pregnant, almost 2 weeks before my confirmation scan was scheduled, there on the screen was the little life growing inside me and he/she was perfectly happy and healthy (thank goodness!). I was so relived! After checking my wriggly baby they also scanned to check my ovaries (the original fear was that I was experiencing an eptopic pregnancy where the baby attaches in the Fallopian tube but luckily that was not the case) they looked fine too. Baby looked good so at that point I could technically have gone home but with it being so late and being quite sick and sore they told me to stay over night and I would be checked and spoken to in the morning. I sent Reece the picture of the scan, writing, 'Baby 2 is looking great!' at 10.05pm. Needless to say he was also very happy and releaved. . 

After a bad nights sleep due to sickness and pain it was morning and they brought me some breakfast (surprisingly a lot of vegan options which I was happy about) I managed to stomach that thanks to the anti-sickness medication, the first thing I had ate in probably 12 hours. It was after this that I spoke to the doctor and after our chat (about symptoms, my daily life, diet etc) she came to the conclusion that I needed rest. I had been pushing myself too hard especially when I had not really been eating much due to sickness so I really needed to get my energy levels back. I had lost weight (now being under 9 stone due to not being able to eat because of pregnancy sickness) and she said to basically cool it for a while on Ella-Grace's activities, take anti-sickness tablets every day so I could start eating again and be on bed rest for a week. It was good advice and definitely what I needed to get better but the struggles did not stop there and being realistic, when your husband works a lot and you are alone at home with a toddler you cannot really be on bed rest. But I did give myself a break. Anyways so Ella-Grace and Reece came to meet me at the hospital and it was then that Ella-Grace laid eyes on her sibling for the first time (19th Novemebr 2018).

To cheer us up after the big scare, now we knew everything was okay with baby and I was home safe and sound, getting some rest, we announced our second pregnancy on Facebook. Everyone was delighted for us and wished me well. Luckily Reece was off the remainder of that day and managed to get the following day off also to help with Ella-Grace (taking her to her football class) and allow me to at least have two full days of bed rest before he had to return to work. 

The bed rest helped my back ache a lot and it was no longer scarily sore. The anti-sickness tablets were really helping me get my appetite back which was amazing too but the big downfall was they made me extremely drowsy which is not great when you are looking after a toddler by yourself so I had to be careful when I took them. I could take up to 3 doses which I definitely needed so I went for first thing in the morning while Reece was home to help, when Ella-Grace had her nap and just before bed so I could sleep through the drowsiness. They really did help the sickness and helped me and baby as far as nutrients go because I could then eat but the drowsiness was dreadful. I felt so dizzy and faint, I would snap at Reece if he tried to talk to me and I could not get up to play with Ella-Grace while I felt so out of it. I could see Reece getting fed up with me moaning about how the tablets made me feel but I did not care, it was horrible I felt all drugged up 3 separate times in the day and I hated it. Apart from being admitted to hospital this may well have been the absolute worst part of the first trimester, I was at my lowest point. No longer sick but once again I was anxious, tired, emotional, out of routine and FULL of Mum guilt. I was not being the Mum I wanted to be for Ella-Grace and felt she was missing out which was so hard. I knew I was growing her a sibling and I knew I had to get myself back to normal in order to look after her but damn I felt bad. I am usually the hands on Mum, up for playing and thinking of activities and groups to go to. I love learning with her and teaching her things. I had turned into a couch potato who used the TV as a baby sitter (especially in the drowsy times) I felt like I was the worst Mum in the world. Very dramatic and clearly not true but you fellow Mums out there will know, Mum guilt is real and convinces you of crazy things. 

Fast forward to week 13 and it was time for my scheduled scan (which would of been the first scan if we had not needed the emergency scan). Once again everything looked fine and by now I was on the mend. Off bed rest, down to one or no sickness tablets a day and gaining weight like I should be. Heading for the second trimester and SO ready to leave weeks 1-13 of my second pregnancy behind. And that was that, the first trimester.

Thank You For Reading...

And that is the first trimester done and dusted. It was a lot more challenging than my first pregnancy and I had some down times during it as you have read but looking back now I cannot believe how fast it went. I am now, as you are reading this, almost half way through my pregnancy! I cannot wait to meet our second bundle of joy and for Ella-Grace to meet her sibling. I am so lucky to be carrying this little life and although I felt like crap most of the first trimester I would go through it all again for this little life. So excited about this last edition to our family. 

Thank you for reading everyone, it was a long post so well done if you managed to stick around until the end. Comment below how you have found/are finding the first trimester? Or if you are in a totally different boat- for example still trying to conceive, finished having kids, going down a different path such as adoption or not having kids at all/any time soon- comment down below too and lets all have a conversation. I can't wait to hear all your stories just as I hope you have enjoyed reading mine. 

I will have more posts for you soon that I am sure you will not want to miss so keep an eye out for my next post! Follow me on my social media handles (@laurajanelifex on Instagram and LauraJane Life on Facebook). Till next time...

Stay Happy Everyone :)!