In the beginning

I was a Lawyer, am a Lawyer. But for the next year I will be a full time Mother. Going from one demanding job to another.

It all began a little over a year ago when my husband (Mr B) and I decided we were ready to start trying for a baby. We had discussed this for some time beforehand as friends had announced their own pregnancies or arrivals over the years. During this time we were essentially trying to make the most of our free time – him, mostly cycling, me, mostly eating chocolate. 

The day you decide as a couple to start trying for a family is quite a milestone as you realise that once a baby comes along you will always be linked to each other. We knew that it may not be easy, it may not work at first, if at all, so we went into our decision trying not to put pressure on ourselves if we were not able to. As with most couples, we kept our decision to ourselves - like the first few days after our engagement, we had our own secret. We had time to reflect on our own. We weren't going to do any calculations on ovulation, checking temperatures etc...we would just see how it would go...the wait and see approach.

In fact, it only took us two months to get pregnant. We were both surprised, shocked and of course happy. It had happened a bit sooner than we had thought it would – knowing that these things can take time – so we had prepared ourselves for a longer wait.

The pregnancy was confirmed the week before Christmas of 2010. We decided to let just our immediate family know of our news, as we were going to be spending a lot of time with them over the following few days (and morning sickness had well and truly kicked in and lasted for the whole of the second part of the first trimester). Apart from this, I had a fairly straight forward pregnancy, despite growing what seemed to be an enormous bump (and yes there was just one baby in there!). I became a little uncomfortable, and mostly bored, towards the end, particularly as our baby eventually arrived two weeks overdue to the day after being induced – but that is for the next post.

During my pregnancy I decided to listen to my body and eat the things that I wanted (apart from the usual no-nos listed by the health professionals) but I also slowed down my exercise regime – something that I'm regretting a little now! I continued to do some swimming, walking and took up pregnancy yoga towards the end of the pregnancy – the breathing exercises really did help me through my labour!

Mr B and I decided to go to the NCT antenatal classes. Well, I decided and made him go not being convinced by his “how hard can it be?” school of thought. In any case, we made it through all the classes and were essentially “qualified” to look after our baby.

Now, the real waiting began...