{"id":29973,"date":"2018-07-11T14:47:31","date_gmt":"2018-07-11T12:47:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.faithful-to-nature.co.za\/blog\/?p=29973"},"modified":"2018-09-14T13:54:53","modified_gmt":"2018-09-14T11:54:53","slug":"month-3-first-12-weeksor-longest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.faithful-to-nature.co.za\/blog\/month-3-first-12-weeksor-longest\/","title":{"rendered":"Month 3: The First 12 Weeks (or so) are the Longest"},"content":{"rendered":"

Whether it\u2019s morning sickness, fatigue, the odd spotting or intense ligament pain. No 1st trimester is completely pregnancy symptom-free. I\u2019ve been one of the lucky few, only battling to stay awake after 2 pm. It\u2019s a struggle, especially with two other little ones demanding my attention and affection. Never has afternoon naptime been so important – it\u2019s a pregnant mamas lifesaver!<\/p>\n

Another pregnancy symptom no one can escape… weight gain! Mine was instant. By 10 weeks I was already showing and there was no way of hiding our news. I couldn\u2019t exactly stay indoors, away from the world for the next 2 weeks…<\/p>\n

The obligatory 12-week safe zone would have to be moved up.\u00a0Luckily, we had already done our pregnancy announcement photoshoot so we got our closest family together, made a little album and let Eliana and Lia break the news. Everyone was ecstatic and the girls felt so proud. It\u2019s a memory I hope they\u2019ll treasure forever.<\/p>\n

With me being a blogger, I had to write up a blog post as well. It was actually one of my first. We casually posted it to social media and one by one the\u00a0congratulations started pouring in. Reactions were mixed, surprise, excitement, disbelief,\u00a0of course, we had a few people who thought we were absolutely out of our minds wanting three kids but as a whole, we were overwhelmed by the amount of love and support we received.<\/p>\n

Now that everyone knew there was only one more big 1st-trimester milestone left; our baby\u2019s Fetal Assessment Test. To test or not to test. I know for some this is a difficult choice to make… What if we find something wrong with our baby? Do we want to know? Did we want to be confronted by moral dilemmas such as clinical illness, adoration and all those other taboo pregnancy topics?<\/p>\n

For us the Fetal Assessment Test has nothing to do with any of the above. It\u2019s yet another opportunity to see our baby and get to know him or her a little better. We simply wanted to be prepared, as best we can, for whatever our future holds.<\/p>\n

During this appointment, the doctor looked closely at very specific things such as the thickness of the baby’s neck skin as well as the baby’s nose. I had to go for some more blood tests a few days before. The results of the blood work, combined with other important physical aspects of the baby all contribute to determining the risk of Down Syndrome or other abnormalities.<\/p>\n

On the day of the Fetal Assessment, only hubby and I went, letting the girls spend quality time with their granny. There was a lot of measuring and scanning. By the end of it all the doctor explained that our baby was at very low risk for any abnormalities. We breathed a collective sigh of relief.<\/p>\n

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