Baby Dupont: First Trimester

If you don’t already know, baby Dupont is currently baking away in Nic’s belly, due in August.

If you’re in the know, how fun is the first trimester? Haha said no pregnant person ever. Every journey with pregnancy is completely different from the next persons, but we thought it would be fun to share our experience so far.

We found out we were pregnant in November, and it was honestly a shock when the test was positive. Being our first we had no idea if this was going to take days, months or years. Especially with PCOS not in our favour, most doctors anticipated a 6 month timeframe. We are so grateful that we were in the category of days trying, but equally it was a shock to the system. Nic had good intentions of surprising J with the news, you know, all instagrammy and cute, but the unexpected positive test first go meant that he got a pregnancy test waved in his face and a very shocked wife holding it. Tears were shed and hugs were had, and it was honestly so nice to not have to keep the news for more than 3 seconds in order to have that photo-worthy moment.

Unfortunately, shortly after finding out that we were pregnant, Nic’s anxiety crept up. This could be the cause of a lot of things: hormones, change, overwhelm, self-doubt, fear of morning sickness (Nic has emetophobia). If you’re feeling any of this, you’re absolutely not alone! Thankfully this settled down with time.

Nic had cramping in her lower belly from before we had the positive test, and unfortunately this followed with some light spotting at around week 5. After a call with the available GP at our regular clinic, it left us in an absolute pit of worry. He handled it very poorly, and left us in a position of thinking that there was a 50% chance that we were losing our baby, and there is nothing that we could do but wait to see if things progressed. This left us completely wrecked for the weekend, anxiety levels were through the roof. Thankfully, after an appointment with our regular GP the Monday following, we felt a little calmer about the situation. They got us in for an urgent ultrasound a few days later, and a blood test to check that baby was still there. The ultrasound was the best thing ever, baby was completely fine and we even got a heartbeat for the first time (this isn’t always a given in the early weeks of pregnancy). It was instant relief, though it did take some time to come down from the insane worry and anxiety. Wow, welcome to the overwhelming worry that can come to being a parent! We wanted to speak to our families and let them know what was going on (they didn’t know we were pregnant yet) for some support and comfort, but we didn’t want to tell them something so exciting on a bad note. I think deep down we knew baby was safe, but it definitely hits hard when you realise how little control you have.

Nic was really lucky to avoid morning sickness completely, though the anxious state caused nausea in itself and a loss of appetite in the early weeks. Thankfully no aversions to food, just a disinterest in tea (which is so sad as a regular tea drinker), and no particular cravings either. Just strongly salty over sweet, and carbs were most desirable.

The tiredness though, oh my goodness, no one can explain to you just how exhausted you will feel. Thankfully, being the end of the year with time off work approaching, the bulk of the tiredness happened when Nic had no commitments except for naps on the couch while watching Netflix. It didn’t make for a very exciting Summer, but the downtime was so needed.

We hosted our families for Christmas for the first time, with Nic’s Mum & Brother visiting from Queensland. We deiced it was the perfect opportunity to let them in on the news. We filled christmas crackers with a little note, and sparkles for extra excitement. They were all so excited and we were so happy to be able to tell our closest people in person. The rest of our immediate loved ones found out in a far less exciting way, either via FaceTime or texts, before we shared the news on socials at around the 12 week mark.

We met with our OB at around week 8, and were so happy we found her. She has been amazing. We also decided to do the NIPT test, which checks for certain genetic abnormalities, and identifies gender. We were so happy to find out that we were having a girl! J wins on that one, Nic thought boy before we found out the news. But we were honestly thrilled either way.

Some other fun things that happened during this time were the glucose test (so gross), and several blood tests to check various things. It’s all so worth it though, we can’t wait to meet our baby girl!

The first trimester is rough, you feel pretty average, there are a lot of thoughts and emotions floating around, and most people don’t know that you’re pregnant yet. But my goodness, it‘a so exciting and wonderful too.

Nic & Jules x

PS if you are currently struggling, or have ever struggled with fertility or loss, we are so sorry. While our journey so far hasn’t been without it’s own struggles, we can’t even imagine the pain of those who have needed to fight to create a family. We are with you, and are always here to listen if you ever need