The end of the fourth trimester

The early stages of pregnancy are a strange time. You need to change your behaviour and lifestyle (no drinking! no soft cheese! no heavy lifting!) but you aren't ready to tell everyone why. You can't help but relate everything to how your world is about to change, and yet you are afraid to discuss it out loud. Twelve weeks marks a huge milestone. The risk of miscarriage drops significantly, you have a scan to confirm things, and you feel confident enough to tell everyone. There's a long way to go, but you can start to make plans.

The early weeks with a new baby are a different sort of limbo. Life is turned upside down, and it takes time for the pieces to fall back down into their new positions. You exist in a world of constant feeding, nappies and rocking. It's difficult to think about anything else apart from what the baby needs and when the next feed is due.

Mia is twelve weeks old today, another milestone. Things have settled down, and our new family unit has stablised. I'm still breastfeeding, and Mia shows no sign of anything close to sleeping through. But I'm glad that those difficult early weeks are out of the way.