Speaker 1: You're listening to a Muma Mia podcast. Mom and Maya
Speaker 1: acknowledges the traditional owners of land and waters that this
Speaker 1: podcast is recorded on.
Speaker 2: I am pregnanty.
Speaker 1: Welcome to Hello Bump. We're making pregnancy less overwhelming and
Speaker 1: more manageable, hopefully. I'm Grace Riefrey, a writer, actor, podcaster,
Speaker 1: and I am also pregnant for the very first time.
Speaker 2: And I'm Yana Pittman. I am a former Olympian mother
Speaker 2: of six and obstetric and GANI registrar, which basically means
Speaker 2: I deliver babies for a living and.
Speaker 1: With our experience combined, each episode will be holding your
Speaker 1: hand week by week through the mysterious, perplexing, and sometimes
Speaker 1: scary miracle that is pregnancy, all the way from a
Speaker 1: poppy seed to a pumpkin. Week four. So we're starting
Speaker 1: this podcast series at week four because that's usually when
Speaker 1: you've found out that you are pregnant. There's not a
Speaker 1: lot that happens between week one and three, and they
Speaker 1: will backdate it from your last period. So, Yana, how
Speaker 1: big is the baby at this point?
Speaker 2: Well, your baby's about the size of a poppy seed
Speaker 2: at this point, or just like a speck of dust
Speaker 2: or glitter, Yeah, a little cheer seat or something very small.
Speaker 2: It's basically a small clump of cells that's just embedded
Speaker 2: into the lining of your uter's about two point five millimeters,
Speaker 2: so it's tiny. What what's happening to me?
Speaker 1: So tell me what's going on in our bodies this week?
Speaker 2: Well, implantation has just occurred, so your sperm has met
Speaker 2: your sperm, your partner sperm hopefully has met the egg,
Speaker 2: and then it's made its way down the floapin and
Speaker 2: you've embedded into the uterine wall. So it's just now
Speaker 2: that you'll be starting to get a positive pregnancy test
Speaker 2: because you're making that beta hCG hormone that's the hallmark
Speaker 2: of pregnancy. The placenter itself is actually starting to grow.
Speaker 2: Your baby comes from different cells from the placenter, so
Speaker 2: they grow at the same time, but independently. And right
Speaker 2: now your baby's actually only the size we actually call it, well,
Speaker 2: it's not even quite an embryo yet, but it's two
Speaker 2: layers at this point, and it'll slowly start differentiating into
Speaker 2: all the organs and the heart and the lungs and
Speaker 2: things over the next few weeks.
Speaker 1: When does that placenta actually start to take over. Because
Speaker 1: at the moment, our body is just feeding everything, giving
Speaker 1: it all of its life. When does that percent to
Speaker 1: actually take over.
Speaker 2: Well, it's funnily enough, it's actually not for several weeks,
Speaker 2: around between nine and ten weeks. That at this point
Speaker 2: the baby has what's called a yolk sack that's actually
Speaker 2: feeding it. So when you go for an early ultrasound,
Speaker 2: but guys, way too early, do not make an ultrasound
Speaker 2: booking yet, because that is one of the biggest problems.
Speaker 2: Women go now and they can't see anything and then
Speaker 2: they freak out that they're already having a miscaracter. That's
Speaker 2: just simply too early. But there is a yolk sack
Speaker 2: which will be one of the first signs on ultrasound
Speaker 2: that there's a baby inside your belly, and that is
Speaker 2: what feeds the baby for the first couple of weeks
Speaker 2: of pregnancy.
Speaker 1: What I found interesting about this stage is that everything,
Speaker 1: all signs kind of led to it being my period. Yes,
Speaker 1: I was very bloated and I had cramps, and so
Speaker 1: I assumed that it was my period until it kind
Speaker 1: of got to like maybe two more days that I
Speaker 1: normally maybe my period would have come, and it didn't,
Speaker 1: so I took a test. But why do all signs
Speaker 1: lead to it being your period?
Speaker 2: Unfortunately, they're pretty similar to the hormones of pregnancy. Obviously,
Speaker 2: eugen and progester in our main two big wammies changed
Speaker 2: quite considerably. Breast tenderness. I don't know if you've got
Speaker 2: that at all, but that was my first sign. I
Speaker 2: remember walking outside in the cold and my nipples killing
Speaker 2: me and thinking what is going on? So all of
Speaker 2: those signs that can often, as you say, indicate pregnancy
Speaker 2: are unfortunately fluctuating hormones, which happen the same when your
Speaker 2: period is due.
Speaker 1: So is that why they're backdate when you are technically
Speaker 1: your pregnancy starts, because it's all sort of part of
Speaker 1: the same journey, you know how Like when you find
Speaker 1: out you're pregnant already four weeks, you're already four weeks.
Speaker 2: By yeah, so we go gestational age or pregnancy age.
Speaker 2: So the age of the fetus is only like two
Speaker 2: weeks by the time you actually find out you're pregnant,
Speaker 2: But the pregnancy age, the whole lot of pregnancy starts
Speaker 2: from the first day of your last period. So theoretically,
Speaker 2: every month we're two weeks pregnant until our period comes
Speaker 2: and then we're not.
Speaker 1: It's I just find this fascinating about how much I
Speaker 1: didn't know about my body until I got to this
Speaker 1: stage and exciting, yeah, or like embarrassing.
Speaker 2: And for some daunting because obviously not all of us
Speaker 2: want to be pregnant, and some of us get a
Speaker 2: little scared and find out that we are so, and
Speaker 2: that's when it is tricky to sort of think, well,
Speaker 2: do I want to continue with the pregnancy? Is this
Speaker 2: something I planned? What is it going to do to
Speaker 2: my life? And I can tell you as a.
Speaker 1: Mother of six, it does a lot.
Speaker 2: So it's a hard conversation to have with yourself when
Speaker 2: you first get those positive lines. And most of us,
Speaker 2: like yourself, for I don't know whether you were you excited.
Speaker 1: Or no, not at all, Like even though it was
Speaker 1: like wanted and I was aware of what unprotected sex
Speaker 1: could do. Yes, there was no contraception, I think for
Speaker 1: anyone listening. I had had my account tested and it
Speaker 1: was on the lower side in the high nines, which
Speaker 1: I'm thirty five, so it was a maybe start thinking
Speaker 1: about it. So I know a lot of people who
Speaker 1: have struggled for years, so we did start and then
Speaker 1: it just happened very quickly, so I wasn't prepared.
Speaker 2: But I do think it's a really good point to discuss,
Speaker 2: because you know, some people do have the desire and really,
Speaker 2: you know, really want to get pregnant and then all
Speaker 2: of a sudden it's happened. And I know a lot
Speaker 2: of women, certainly some of my patients have discussed with
Speaker 2: me then in those first few weeks with all the
Speaker 2: hormonal changes, and started to feel pretty crappy that they think, well,
Speaker 2: this is not really I signed up for and do
Speaker 2: I even want to continue even though it was a
Speaker 2: planned pregnancy, And I think we need to honor that
Speaker 2: that's a normal part of this process. A huge life
Speaker 2: change is on the up. So please don't feel if
Speaker 2: you're listening to this, if that was you, that it
Speaker 2: doesn't mean later you won't bond with your baby or
Speaker 2: love the pregnancy, and you know, and it's also okay
Speaker 2: if you actually do change your mind. Like I think,
Speaker 2: that's a conversation that we're very lucky in Australia we
Speaker 2: can have and we need to highlight that all women
Speaker 2: feel very differently through this period of gestation. What's happening
Speaker 2: to me?
Speaker 1: Well, that leads us into what is actually happening and
Speaker 1: what might be feel like. What are some common symptoms
Speaker 1: that could happen around this time.
Speaker 2: Well, I think you highlighted them pretty well, thanks unfortunately
Speaker 2: to you experiencing them all. Breast tenderness, floated, feeling around
Speaker 2: your tummy, twingy pains, even some spotting. So sometimes we
Speaker 2: get to what's called an implantation bleed, and that's actually
Speaker 2: as that little weak more than parasites. Little parasite is
Speaker 2: basically nesting into your individual lining of your uterus. So
Speaker 2: eventually you know you'll make your little spiral arteries is
Speaker 2: part of your makeup, anatomically will join the supply so
Speaker 2: that you'll start eventually feeding your baby. But at this
Speaker 2: point they're pretty robust. Many people get pregnant very easily,
Speaker 2: particularly not wanting to earlier on in life.
Speaker 1: It's funny I call it a parasite, but for different reasons,
Speaker 1: which we'll get to is this normal?
Speaker 2: Is it normal?
Speaker 1: A couple of things about is it normal? At this time?
Speaker 1: There's the symptoms that are the ones we spoke about,
Speaker 1: the implantation pain or potentially bleeding. What you do think
Speaker 1: it is your period. But one of the first things
Speaker 1: I noticed was an aversion to alcohol. Okay, see I
Speaker 1: hadn't taken a test yet, and now looking back, it
Speaker 1: feels like that was a potential signing. Is that quite
Speaker 1: early for avergins to come in?
Speaker 2: No, Look, I mean I think you guys were trying
Speaker 2: so psychologically each month you are preparing it as possible.
Speaker 2: So there is that psychological factor that we avert foods
Speaker 2: we know will consider to be something we should avoid.
Speaker 2: In pregnancy, you're starting that whole monal change already, so
Speaker 2: your body's doing remarkable things. And for some women I've
Speaker 2: even had that, they've said they are starting to feelnauseous
Speaker 2: already at that four to five week markets. Not even
Speaker 2: though the BEATA hat CG hormones are not really high,
Speaker 2: which is obviously what triggers a lot of the nausea,
Speaker 2: it's not impossible. So if you're already feeling yucky, the
Speaker 2: last thing you want to go is, you know's neck
Speaker 2: a bottle of wine. So I mean, hopefully it's a
Speaker 2: good thing. You know, this is something that we're trying
Speaker 2: to continue to have the discussion around lots of people,
Speaker 2: by the way, don't know they're pregnant yet though, and
Speaker 2: are drinking and doing fun things in life, because you know,
Speaker 2: we need to live. I think it's so it's also
Speaker 2: important there to highlight that if you don't know you're
Speaker 2: pregnant yet, that we don't beat yourself up for the
Speaker 2: things that did happen prior to that. Yes, I think
Speaker 2: that's more common than not, you know, because I think
Speaker 2: there are a large number of pregnancies that are unplanned
Speaker 2: and people don't find out sometimes, so there are nine
Speaker 2: or ten weeks pregnant, so they've made lots of decisions
Speaker 2: during that time that weren't you know, pregnancy related. You know. Ideally,
Speaker 2: I think let's be medical here for a seconds. I
Speaker 2: put my little doctors had on you have had prenatal
Speaker 2: discussions with your with your GP. Ideally have had some serology,
Speaker 2: which is the blood tests looking at you know, in
Speaker 2: antenatal markers, infection markers, even things like your fole eight level.
Speaker 2: Your blood group's really important in pregnancy to know whether
Speaker 2: your hate negative which do you have a negative or
Speaker 2: a positive blood group?
Speaker 1: Is that where they test whether my blood is attacking
Speaker 1: the baby. Yes, okay, And it's.
Speaker 2: Kind of a little important because it's not at this
Speaker 2: four weeks pregnant. It doesn't matter because we wouldn't do anything.
Speaker 2: So if you came in, it matters, if you come
Speaker 2: in bleeding, it matters if you've had a car accident
Speaker 2: or something like that, because it's basically where your baby
Speaker 2: makes a different blood group to you, and your own
Speaker 2: body will make antibodies against your baby's blood group. Now
Speaker 2: it doesn't matter in this pregnancy at all. It's actually
Speaker 2: about subsequent pregnancy. So you don't want your body to
Speaker 2: make those antibodies against the positive blood group because you're negative.
Speaker 2: So what that means, though, is if you find out
Speaker 2: you are what we call rh negative, if you have
Speaker 2: an inciting event like a miscarriage or an accident where
Speaker 2: there could be some fetal cells that crossover, we need
Speaker 2: to give you an anti d So it's basically a
Speaker 2: medication that stops that from happening, and we consider that
Speaker 2: after sort of twelve weeks. So you just basically talk
Speaker 2: to your doctor about it and make a plan. But
Speaker 2: it's important to know it so you can at least
Speaker 2: raise the question, Hey, I'm RGE negative, do I need
Speaker 2: to do anything different from an RH positive mum, which.
Speaker 1: Leads me into the important things that we should be
Speaker 1: doing at this stage. You mentioned four A. A lot
Speaker 1: of people say folic acid and you should be on
Speaker 1: it if you're trying to conceive. Ideally, what does that?
Speaker 1: What are you actually trying to do? And is it
Speaker 1: bad if you haven't been taking.
Speaker 2: Again, A lot of us don't know we're pregnant, but
Speaker 2: ideally you start taking you know, a women's multi item
Speaker 2: about three months before pregnancy starts, or as soon as
Speaker 2: you find out you are pregnant, because so follo is
Speaker 2: actually to do with neural tube defects. So it's the
Speaker 2: way your baby's brain and spinal cord form prevents things
Speaker 2: like spiner befitter from occurring. So you know, many many
Speaker 2: years ago, so our mums and grandma's had much higher
Speaker 2: rates of that before they found out that follit can
Speaker 2: make a difference. So for most of it, you know,
Speaker 2: between four hundred and eight hundred milligrams is enough, but
Speaker 2: you need to triple check if you're at higher risk.
Speaker 2: So people with a high BMI, people who have are
Speaker 2: on antiepolectic medication, people have had previous miscarriages or spiner
Speaker 2: befitter may need a higher dose. So I think it's
Speaker 2: a conversation to have. But the best thing you can
Speaker 2: do is just get started as soon as you find out,
Speaker 2: so you'll plan.
Speaker 1: It's never too late, never too absolutely no correct.
Speaker 2: Never too late.
Speaker 1: And what are some like nice to do things, things
Speaker 1: to think about, maybe not necessarily about our body, but
Speaker 1: things to start having a think about in the future.
Speaker 2: Yeah, great, Ay, Look it's very early, but I would
Speaker 2: actually say start thinking about what model of care you
Speaker 2: want to do, because you have obstetric which is what
Speaker 2: I'm training to be, so coming with the doctor's program.
Speaker 2: You have what I love and I went with my
Speaker 2: last pregnancy, which was actually my second last pregnancy MGP.
Speaker 2: So whether you want to be MIDWI free group practice,
Speaker 2: low risk pregnancies lovely holistic care, and I know my
Speaker 2: midwives out there will love me for saying this day.
Speaker 2: I'm much better at counseling around birth and making it normal,
Speaker 2: you know, making normalizing what birth and pregnancy is. But
Speaker 2: you do an unfortunately to be relatively low risk in
Speaker 2: that program, and they fill up so fast, so they're
Speaker 2: the ones that you get a positive pregnancy test and
Speaker 2: you're like, contact your local hospital and say I'd love
Speaker 2: to go on the MIDWI free group practice program and
Speaker 2: getting early. So that's why it's important now, even this
Speaker 2: early in gestation, to have a think about what you
Speaker 2: want to do.
Speaker 1: Okay, we're going to need a lot of help along
Speaker 1: this pregnancy. It's only week four, so what can we
Speaker 1: put in our talkkit for this week? Did you pick
Speaker 1: an app?
Speaker 2: Because I think having an app, particularly for a first
Speaker 2: time mums, can be really helpful to sort of track
Speaker 2: babies development in some of the things you might be experiencing.
Speaker 1: Have you, Oh, yes, I have the flow out. Yes
Speaker 1: I like it, but I was using it to track
Speaker 1: my period, so I sort of had it already and
Speaker 1: then once you log that you're pregnant, it switches into
Speaker 1: this whole new mode.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: What I like about this is it gives you, like
Speaker 1: the stats, Yes, what week you are, here's the size
Speaker 1: of your baby, Here's what's happening to them, and then
Speaker 1: here's what's happening to your body. So you're kind of
Speaker 1: covering these sort of major things which I like.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I mean you can also use it in
Speaker 2: pregnancy too, and as you're trying to get pregnant. I
Speaker 2: think what I liked about Flow Pregnancy Plus is another
Speaker 2: really good one.
Speaker 1: I have both.
Speaker 2: I have to say I liked both and I checked
Speaker 2: between them to see if there was differences. And Baby
Speaker 2: Centers is another good one as well.
Speaker 1: We hope you enjoyed this episode of Hello bumb. We
Speaker 1: have so many episodes of this series filled with tips
Speaker 1: and stories from women and experts who've been through it
Speaker 1: all before.
Speaker 2: You can go back and listen to everything else Hello
Speaker 2: bub related in this podcast.
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Speaker 1: give us a five star rating and maybe leave us
Speaker 1: a review, or even shared this episode with a friend.
Speaker 2: This episode was produced by Courtney Ammenhauser with audio production
Speaker 2: by Tom Lyon.
Speaker 1: We'll catch you next time. This episode of Hello Bump
Speaker 1: was made in partnership with Huggies. Bye Bye