What you need to know: First Trimester

Great news your pregnant! Now you have the difficulty of keeping your exciting secret, a secret for three months. However, it's a wonderful time to experience with your husband or partner, knowing you are both experiencing an amazing step in your lives.

What do you have to do in your first trimester?
Your pre-natal carer, in my case was my obstetrician, will conduct First Trimester tests. Your first ultrasound scan will be to check when your  baby will be due and make sure that there is a heart beat and is at the correct growth size for the pregnancy stage. Another test will be a first trimester screening test. This usually involves an ultrasound between 11 and 14 weeks.

This test picks up early chromosomal and structural abnormalities (including 90 percent of Down Syndrome cases) and identifies if your baby is a boy or girl, multiple pregnancies and identical twins. I had this test done with a specialist my obstetrician referred me to and I received a rating which showed that I was in a 1 in an infinite chance of our baby getting down syndrome. So we didn't have to consider the "amniocentesis" procedure, which is were a sample of your amniotic fluid is taken from the womb.

Considerations for "amniocentesis"
In my case I didn't have to consider this procedure. However, my husband and I seriously discussed the issue to see were we stood if we ever had to have this procedure with other future pregnancies. Some ladies over 35 have had this procedure done and are back exercising straight away. Others find it a concern as it can make the risk higher for a miscarriage and choose not to have the procedure. This may be even more of a concern if you had prior problems with miscarriage. From my experience, in having to confront the issue for not having the "amniocentesis", I believe, in this situation, you need to be comfortable with the outcome if there are abnormalities present on delivery. For me, if I had a result with my next baby that brought up red flags to have the procedure, I would prepare myself and have it done, but that is just me.

This decision to have the procedure is purely a personal one, my advice would be to get as much information as you can, read about the pros and cons, talk to your carer/doctor and friends who had to consider this. Once you have all the information, you may just go with your gut feelings or trust your doctors advice.

One thing is for sure, I really felt like I was growing up and having to make personal decisions, which I never really had to do. But in the end the journey to parenting is tough, but the rewards extremely huge.

Feeling tired and Morning Sickness
During your first trimester, you may feel fatigue and sick. Try and get some rest if you can, and get a little exercise, like walking or swimming when you feel okay. If you are working try and ask for lighter duties to limit the amount of stress you take on. In my experience, I remember just sleeping all the time.

With morning sickness, you may feel sick and become turned off from eating particular foods. Anything with ginger really helped my sickness which wasn't too severe. I did throw up though. Eat what your stomach can muster and don't worry, as consolation prize it's a good sign that you have high levels of pregnancy hormones in your system. This is great for baby. The first time round your body doesn't really know what is going on, so it's okay to take things easy.

As you progress through your first trimester, I remember feeling a little overwhelmed with 'too' much information of all the physical aliments and problems you 'may' experience. My advice here would be to take one piece of information at a time and at a time when you need to know it.

Congratulations on getting this far :)