Pregnancy

Don't worry, I'm not, again.
I just thought that it's a subject worth writing about and I wish I had kept a diary through the process. I had intended to start, but during my first trimester I had such bad migraines that reading or writing anything was virtually impossible. I've always suffered from them every now and again, but this was pretty much constant. If I was lucky enough to be pain free, trying to read anything would usually set me off.
The main problem was pain relief. When you are pregnant, the only painkiller you are allowed is paracetamol, something that has all the pain relieving effectiveness as smarties. So, my initial months of pregnancy were endured rather than enjoyed. I also had quite a bit of nausea, but I wasn't sick all that often as I discovered that a plate of oven chips for breakfast helped keep it down. Yummy! :-S
At this point he became known as "Peanut" because one morning when I was feeling particularly rough, I commented "How can something the size of a peanut be having this much of an effect on me?"
I did have a very nice midwife called Nicky, she was very patient with me, especially in my first appointment when I had forgotten most of my important paperwork. That was a result of the migraines I mentioned before.
Probably the best part of the first trimester is the last week of it!
No, seriously, it's when you have your 12 week scan, the first chance you get to see your little one. It's an absolute modern miracle and totally breathtaking. Baby is still absolutely tiny at this point and most women aren't starting to show in any real way and yet there it is - a perfectly formed little person, arms, legs, head, all there! The heart, which started beating at eight weeks is observable, even if it is little more than a tiny grey dot flicking from white to grey again at quite a startling rate.
Joseph, being something of a naughty boy right from the start, was not lying in the correct position for the nuchal measurement (downs syndrome check) to be made. To make him move, I was prodded quite hard in the belly and made to lift my hips up and bash them back down on the bed again. Joseph was having none of it and I was instructed to go for a walk and come back.
Even having studied foetal development at university, it still surprised me just how fully developed he was. Scientists say that at that age he wouldn't have a fully formed nervous system and wouldn't feel any pain, but he was clearly reacting to the stimulus of me being poked in the belly by kicking and wiggling about. 
That's the first trimester in a nutshell really - sickness, filling in forms (oh so many forms!) and a fantastic scan right at the end. I'll sign off now as Joseph is getting unhappy and talk about my second and third trimesters at a later date.