I honestly can’t think of the last time I wrote something that wasn’t an email or a post on social media – it’s awful isn’t it! I was talking to my Sister in law last night, she is going travelling in February, she said she is going to write a blog whilst she’s away so she can remember all her incredible experiences whilst she’s away. It got me thinking… I absolutely love to write so I thought that my pregnancy would be the perfect time to start my very own blog too!

I apologise in advance, my grammar is pretty bad but I’ll give it my best shot – 10/10 for effort eh! My Mum’s friend Jo has been nicknamed the grammar police as she checks my grammar for me for all of the text on my business’ website – www.limelightentertainmentuk.com (cheeky plug there). So Jo, if you’re reading this, do forgive me hehe!

Well here we go…

So the 5th September was the day this crazy journey began. Not only is the 5th September my parents Wedding Anniversary, it’s also my God Mothers Birthday and, well, it’s the day we found our we were going to be parents!

My husband (I will probably talk about him quite a lot) was out golfing with friends and I had a sudden urge to take a pregnancy test after one of my closest friends, Vicky, had sent me a message to say her and her husband were expecting their third child. I was beyond excited for them but I also had a tiny smidgen of jealousy (sorry Vicky) as I hadn’t had my period for 73 days!

Let me rewind a bit…

I had come off my pill in May as Michael (the hubby) and I were hoping to start a family, in the very near future, after our Wedding which was the 20th October 2018. We’d heard stories of women not having periods for months and it taking almost a year for their bodies to regulate so I wanted to give my body a chance to regulate as I had been on the pill for approximately 8 years. We decided May would be a good time to stop taking my contraceptive pill because this was when I would run out of packets – was it fate?! My first period came after 37 days, the average cycle is 28 days, so it wasn’t too bad but equally I wanted to have a ‘normal’ cycle straight away.

After my first period (I think it’s called a withdrawal bleed but don’t quote me on that) I waited and waited and waited for my second period. When will it come I thought?! Obviously the first thing I did was get onto Google and self diagnose. That was it.. I had polycystic ovaries – just call me Dr Barron (I wasn’t married at this point). I booked an appointment at the doctors and they took my blood to test for polycystic ovaries, thyroid and something else that I can’t remember! I’ll also just add that when my period was first late, I did take about five pregnancy tests and all of them came back negative.

I was due to get my results back on the Friday (6th September) and Vicky had sent me a message on 5th September. It was Vicky’s message that made me think, I’m just going to do another pregnancy test. TWO LINES CLEAR AS DAY! This was just a little cheapy test that I’d ordered (a pack of 20 from Amazon to be precise) so I wasn’t 100% convinced on the accuracy!

The first thing I did was text Michael ‘I think I’m pregnant’ and whilst playing a leisurely round of golf he saw my text. I think it’s safe to say I can be just a little bit dramatic at times so Michaels initial reaction was ‘here we go again’ – yeah thanks for that Michael! So my response was something along the lines of ‘really, have you taken a test?’ At this particular moment, Michaels round of golf was more important – he didn’t rush home haha! So many thoughts were going through my head, I can’t tell my (then) fiancé I am pregnant over text, am I even pregnant, is the test faulty?! So with 20 minutes to spare until I started teaching my singing lesson, I darted it to Tesco for a Clear Blue test that tells you ‘how many weeks’. I can’t write/say that without doing the voice from the advert, please tell me I’m not the only one?! So… pee on stick, pop on side, teach singing lesson, finish singing lesson, check test, shit 3+ weeks. THREE PLUS WEEKS, say what?! I went downstairs to see Michael, obviously totally giddy thinking he must have seen the test in our en suite bathroom! Nope, he hadn’t seen a test and still thinks I’m being quite the drama queen! We both rushed straight upstairs and saw the two cheapy tests and the clear blue test – OH MY GOD! We both just stared and each other then had a huge cuddle not quite believing it was real. With my period dates it meant I would have been about 15 weeks pregnant – ohhhh wow.

We told both our parents straight away and they were both thrilled for us! When I asked my Mum if she was shocked, her reply was ‘no, not at all Amy’! After all, maybe six months prior to this, I had a dream that we found out I was pregnant and announced at the wedding. I am not kidding – I honestly had this dream. You can ask my Mum if you don’t believe me 😉 Maybe I’ve got a sixth sense!

We booked an early reassurance scan to gauge how far gone I was and it turns out I was only 6 weeks pregnant so I could relax knowing I would be fitting in my skin tight wedding dress the following month – could you imagine the panic if I didn’t! It appeared that I must have just ovulated at a totally random time with a cycle that wasn’t quite ‘normal’ having come off of my pill. This appointment was a weird one for us, we wanted to see a wonderful healthy baby but we also knew that this would probably not be the best timing with the wedding but we were then disappointed that all we saw at the scan was a blob aka rice crispie. The cyst on my right ovary was bigger than the blob of nothingness!

Oh my god, this is totally longer than I thought it was going to be, oops. I still have so much that I haven’t yet spoke about. My hen-do ie HOW TO COVER UP A PREGNANCY IN MARBELLA and our wedding!

So Marbella was absolutely incredible and in no way will I look back and think Marbella was amazing but it was a shame I couldn’t drink. NO WAY JOSE or hose?! No idea how you spell that one eek. I had the best hen-do ever. My bridesmaids and Mum did the best job of organising it and it was simply perfect. So Mum, Heidi (mother in law) and I were in discussion of what on earth to do, we needed to come up a plan! I was only 8 weeks pregnant when we went away and obviously the chances of miscarriage are pretty high in the early stages – 1 in 5 women miscarry within the first 12 weeks, to be precise. As much as I was so close with my friends that came on the hen-do, I wasn’t ready to tell everyone because of the high risk. After Mums rubbish idea of telling everyone I was on antibiotics, I mean seriously Mother, you think my friends would have believed that haha?! I may as well have gone away with a sign on my head saying ‘PREGNANT’!

I made the decision to tell my two bridesmaids who came, Chloe and Paige. I was also a big scardey cat and I texted them to tell them! I was so worried they’d be gutted because I wouldn’t be able to have a drink. Obviously, I couldn’t have been more wrong – they were both so excited! Totally feel guilty for not phoning them but I wasn’t feeling brave at the time! So Marbella consisted of drink swapping for the whole four days!! I’d have my vodka & lemonade whilst my mission impossibles (Chloe & Paige) ordered a lemonade. Dance and dance some more, swap the drink and carry on – easy (ish)!

We also have personal chef’s come and cook for us and make us cocktails, this was probably the highlight of the hen-do for me! We had such a laugh, played some games and everyone got a bit merry. I was merry on life, not alcohol obviously! I’m a proper goon anyway so I was always going to be silly with everyone else! The chef’s were very luckily English so Mum managed to grab them and tell them I was unable to drink, so they made a bucket of non-alcoholic Mojito. This was brilliant because obviously no one would be able to click on! The session with the personal chef’s ended with a caramel vodka shot, or a shot of cold tea in my case – clever eh! These guys honestly went above and beyond, if you’re ever in Marbella and need a personal chef, these are the guys – https://www.facebook.com/yourpersonalchefspain/

The part I was most worried about was the Plaza Beach party as we had a table and the waitresses took your drinks order from the table. I had to go with the ‘I have a hangover so not going to drink loads’ and I took the plunge and ordered non-alcoholic frozen daiquiri’s until I switched onto the ‘vodka’ lemonade. The first 11 weeks of my pregnancy was really awkward because I felt like I was lying to everyone (well I was I guess) but after the wedding everyone totally understands your reasons and is just super EXCITED for you!

Marbella was amazing and I had the best hen-do ever! Who said pregnant women can’t party until 3am?! Although, I’m pretty sure I slept for a week afterwards! No joke.

We had planned to announce our pregnancy at the Wedding and this was beyond exciting for us! Our 12 week scan was the Thursday after our Wedding so we hadn’t seen the baby since 9 weeks (we got a free re-scan after the lack of baby at the first one). Obviously, announcing at your wedding is a pretty big thing to do and I couldn’t help but feel I just wanted one more scan beforehand just to ensure everything as ok! Michael had booked a scan as a surprise for me – what a cutie! Unfortunately, he was unable to take the time off work so Nanny Barron and Nanna Crisp came along to see their Grandchild for the first time! This scan was absolutely amazing, I couldn’t believe! The baby was a proper baby, head, arms, legs – the lot! It’s safe to say the baby was showing off for Mummy & Nanny’s, it wouldn’t stop wriggling which was just amazing to see!

Onto the wedding…

The. Best. Day. Of. My. Life

Our Wedding Day was honestly incredible, everything went exactly as planned.  Two nights beforehand Michael and I went for dinner and I honestly must have made him say the baby announcement about 10 times before he was like ‘Amz, I’m not saying it again’! I was just so excited. Our venue were fantastic, I had to swap my starter as we’d picked pate (my absolutely favourite) and you can’t eat it when you’re pregnant – boo! If anyone wants to treat me when the baby is here, pate is the gift for me haha! For the toast’s I had appletiser instead of champagne so no one would have been able to see I wasn’t drinking! To be able to tell our entire family and friends on the best day of our lives is something that will hopefully be remembered forever by everyone!

 

I think it’s time I shut up now isn’t it?!

I can’t wait to keep writing about my (so far, so good) journey of becoming a family of three.

P.S. Baby Crisp is due 9th May!