What To Expect

  • Hot flushes or feeling warm
  • Morning sickness
  • Abdominal discomfort/stretching

Your Baby This Week

Your baby is about 2 inches long, the size of a spool of thread.

Dear Diary

11 weeks pregnant. I can't believe this time next week I will be saying the words "12 weeks". It just feels like an eternity when you've been counting it down for so long. Especially at a time where days feel like weeks and weeks feel like years. Time has moved at a snail's pace. Or so it seems.

I equally find myself feeling a little bit not ready for the twelve-week mark because it feels so overwhelming. On some level, I've gotten used to this secret little bubble by now. I've found a way to avoid certain people, manage the tiredness and just survive during this first trimester.

Is it weird that I feel kind of protective over the pregnancy now? As much as I want to talk about it and share it all with the people in my life I'm just not ready to have to talk about it all the time. What if I tempt fate and something bad happens? What if people think we should have waited or that our situation isn't ideal? OK calm down Tracey, deep breaths.

We've been living in our new house for a couple of weeks now and we are settling in nicely. My four-year-old son is sleeping in his own bedroom more than he's sleeping in ours and I can't tell you how huge that is. We've co-slept for four years so it's completely normal to us but I feel really proud that he's taken this big step. It's the first time that he's properly had his own room and I think he likes it.

For two years we've lived in a small granny flat. We made the decision to bite the bullet and use it as an opportunity to save for a deposit. We were just so lucky that a family member gave us the chance to do something like this and here we are actually living in the house now. It's so surreal. If two years ago someone had told me I would now be eleven weeks pregnant and living in a house that we own I'd have died of shock. You just never know, do you?

I have a feeling the next six days are going to be the longest of my life.

"New house, new baby" seems to be a sentence we are hearing a lot about lately. It actually gives me a huge laugh because people genuinely have no idea that we conceived before we even signed the dotted line. There will be a lot of shocked faces next week.

Oh my, next week. I keep looking at the scan date and visualising myself lying on the hospital bed. I keep imagining them saying something good and then I remind myself that this might not be the case. It isn't for everyone, is it? I'm also embarrassed to admit that I'm quite nervous about having a blood test. I haven't had any kind of needle since I gave birth almost four and a half years ago. Trust me to be worried about a blood test when there are more serious things at play.

I'm also thinking about the godforsaken cyst. I genuinely feel like I'm pregnant with a cyst and a baby and I find myself worrying about both. It's been a few weeks now since the early scan so I'm kind of hoping deep down that the scanner doesn't even know what I'm talking about. These things can just disappear by themselves, even though I was told that's unlikely as this one is "complex" and blood-filled. A girl can hope.

I've started imagining how I'll announce the pregnancy to friends and family. I've even thought about the social media post. Sad I know but it's the truth. As soon as I start to get excited, another part of my brain reminds me that I've had no sickness now for a week and a half. None whatsoever. I've even started to tolerate yoghurt and coffee again. What if that is a bad sign?

I have a feeling the next six days are going to be the longest of my life. This time next week, we'll know either way and with that will come answers and a sense of relief. I just hope it's for all the right reasons. I can't wait to see that little heart beat.

A Partner’s Perspective

I feel like I am in a cowboy movie, baked beans are now on the menu for every meal and with that comes lots and lots of gas! Having consulted the book, I am glad to report that this is normal!

Speaking of the book, I read today that hair follicles are starting to appear on the crown now. My Dad was a redhead, I wonder will this the offspring to get the red hair?

We are slightly anxious about the scan for no other reason than it feels like forever since we discovered the news. Equal measures of nervousness and excitement.

Our Midwife’s Advice

Your baby's heart is flying along and beats at roughly 120bpm, nearly twice as fast as your own. It sounds like a little horse, galloping along. By the end of this week, your baby's boy or girl parts will start to develop, but the sex of your baby won't be possible to determine until about week 16.

Do you feel more warm than normal? That's due to a combination of hormones, your baby inside you and also all the extra fluid and blood your body is making to help your baby grow. It's normal as well for you to feel your tummy stretching. However, if you have any period like cramping or any blood spotting then you should get this checked out straight away.

It's important to eat plenty of fruit and vegetables and to keep your diet as varied as possible. It is normal to need to pee in pregnancy much more frequently. However, if you have any pain or burning when you are weeing then get this checked out. Urinary tract infections are more common in pregnancy.

Week 11

Our Wellness Tip of the Week

The weeks leading up to the 12-week scan be extremely stressful for both you and your partner. Make sure you are taking adequate time out to do things that help you relax. In other words, plenty of books, baths and walks!

Recommended Reading

WILL MY CHILD STRUGGLE WHEN THE NEW BABY ARRIVES?

10 WAYS YOUR BREASTS WILL CHANGE WHEN YOU ARE PREGNANT

HOW TO MANAGE A WEAK BLADDER DURING PREGNANCY

What is Family Friendly HQ?

Family Friendly HQ is Ireland’s trusted parenting community, dedicated to mums and dads, and families of all shapes and sizes.

Read more about us