Speaker 1: You're listening to a MoMA Mia podcast. Mamma Mia acknowledges
Speaker 1: the traditional owners of the land. We have recorded this
Speaker 1: podcast on the Gatagoul people of the Eora Nation. We
Speaker 1: pay our respects to their elders past and present, and
Speaker 1: extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.
Speaker 2: Hello Producer Courtney here, coming into your ears with a
Speaker 2: special treat because we have launched a brand new season
Speaker 2: of our pregnancy podcast, Hello Bump. This season is a
Speaker 2: week by week guide to pregnancy, holding your hand as
Speaker 2: your baby grows from the size of a tiny poppy
Speaker 2: seed all the way to the size of a pumpkin.
Speaker 2: And in this new season, it's hosted by Olympian mother
Speaker 2: of six and training obstetrician Yanna Pittman, as well as writer,
Speaker 2: podcaster and first time mum Grace rope Ray. So if
Speaker 2: you or someone you know is pregnant were just interested
Speaker 2: in learning about pregnancy, then this podcast is for you.
Speaker 2: We'll leave a link in the show notes so you
Speaker 2: can listen to every single episode of Hell Bump wherever
Speaker 2: you get your podcasts, and for now enjoy. We hope
Speaker 2: you love this episode of Hello Bump.
Speaker 3: I am pregnanted.
Speaker 4: Welcome to Hello Bump.
Speaker 5: We're making pregnancy less overwhelming and more manageable, hopefully. I'm
Speaker 5: Grace Riefrey, a writer, actor, podcaster, and I am also
Speaker 5: pregnant for the very first time.
Speaker 3: And I'm Yana Pittman. I am a former Olympian, mother
Speaker 3: of six and obstetric and gania registrar, which basically means
Speaker 3: I deliver babies for a living.
Speaker 5: And with our experience combined, each episode will be holding
Speaker 5: your hand week by week through the mysterious, perplexing, and
Speaker 5: sometimes scary miracle that is pregnancy, all the way from
Speaker 5: a poppy seed to a pumpkin.
Speaker 4: Week four.
Speaker 5: So we're starting this podcast series at week four because
Speaker 5: that's usually when you've found out that you are pregnant.
Speaker 5: There's not a lot that happens between week one and three,
Speaker 5: and they will backdate it from your last period. So, Yana,
Speaker 5: how big is the baby at this point?
Speaker 3: Well, your baby's about the size of a poppy seed
Speaker 3: at this point point, or just like a speck of
Speaker 3: dust or glitter, yeah, a little cheers or something very small.
Speaker 3: It's basically a small clump of cells that's just embedded
Speaker 3: into the lining of your uter it's about two point
Speaker 3: five millimeters, so it's tiny.
Speaker 2: What what's happening to me?
Speaker 4: So tell me what's going on in our bodies this week.
Speaker 3: Well, implantation has just occurred, so your sperm has met
Speaker 3: your sperm, your partner sperm hopefully has met the egg,
Speaker 3: and then it's made its way down the flopin and
Speaker 3: she you've embedded into the uterine wall. So it's just
Speaker 3: now that you'll be starting to get a positive pregnancy
Speaker 3: test because you're making that beta HGG hormone that's the
Speaker 3: hallmark of pregnancy. The placenter itself is actually starting to grow.
Speaker 3: Your baby comes from different cells from the placenter, so
Speaker 3: they grow at the same time, but independently. And right
Speaker 3: now your baby's actually only the size we actually call it,
Speaker 3: well it's not even quite an embryo yet, but it's
Speaker 3: two layers at this point, and it'll slowly start differentiating
Speaker 3: into all the organs and the heart and the lungs
Speaker 3: and things over the next few weeks.
Speaker 5: When does that placenter actually start to take over Because
Speaker 5: at the moment, our body is just feeding everything and
Speaker 5: giving it all.
Speaker 4: Of its life. When is that plercenterally take over.
Speaker 3: Well, it's funnily enough, it's actually not for several weeks,
Speaker 3: so around between nine and ten weeks. I heard that
Speaker 3: at this point the baby has what's called a yolk
Speaker 3: sack that's actually feeding it. So when you go for
Speaker 3: an early ultrasound, but guys way too early, do not
Speaker 3: make an ultrasound booking yet, because that is one of
Speaker 3: the biggest problems. Women go now and they can't see
Speaker 3: anything and then they freak out that they're already having
Speaker 3: a miscarriacter. That's just simply too early. But there is
Speaker 3: a yolk sack, which will be one of the first
Speaker 3: signs on ultrasound that there's a baby inside your belly,
Speaker 3: and that is what feeds the baby for the first
Speaker 3: couple of weeks of pregnancy.
Speaker 5: What I found interesting about this stage is that everything,
Speaker 5: all signs kind of led to it being my period. Yes,
Speaker 5: I was very bloated and I had cramps, and so
Speaker 5: I assumed that it was my period until it kind
Speaker 5: of got to like maybe two more days that I
Speaker 5: normally maybe my period would have come, and it didn't,
Speaker 5: So I took a test.
Speaker 4: But why do all signs lead to it being your period.
Speaker 3: Unfortunately, they're pretty similar to the hormones of pregnancy. Obviously
Speaker 3: easy and progesterer. In our main two big wammies changed
Speaker 3: quite considerably breastenders. I don't know if you got that
Speaker 3: at all, but that was my first sign. I remember
Speaker 3: walking outside in the cold and my nipples killing me
Speaker 3: and thinking what is going on? So all of those
Speaker 3: signs that can often, as you say in the Kate
Speaker 3: pregnancy are unfortunately fluctuating hormones, which happen the same when
Speaker 3: your period is due.
Speaker 5: So is that why they're backdate when you are technically
Speaker 5: your pregnancy starts, because it's all sort of part of
Speaker 5: the same journey, you know how, Like when you find
Speaker 5: out you're pregnant already four weeks, you're already four weeks by.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so we go gestational age or pregnancy age. So
Speaker 3: the age of the fetus is only like two weeks
Speaker 3: by the time you actually find out you're pregnant, But
Speaker 3: the pregnancy age, the whole lot of pregnancy starts from
Speaker 3: the first day of your last period. So theoretically, every
Speaker 3: month we're two weeks pregnant until our period comes and
Speaker 3: then we're not.
Speaker 5: It's I just find this fascinating about how much I
Speaker 5: didn't know about my body until I got to this
Speaker 5: stage and exciting, yeah, or like embarrassing.
Speaker 3: And for some daunting because obviously not all of us
Speaker 3: want to be pregnant, and some of us get a
Speaker 3: little scared and find out that we are so, and
Speaker 3: that's when it is tricky to sort of think, well,
Speaker 3: do I want to continue with the pregnancy? Is this
Speaker 3: something I planned? What is it going to do to
Speaker 3: my life? And I can tell you as a mother
Speaker 3: of six, it does a lot. So it's a hard
Speaker 3: conversation to have with yourself when you first get those
Speaker 3: positive lines. And most of us, like yourself, for I
Speaker 3: don't know whether you were you excited.
Speaker 5: Or no, not at all, Like even though it was
Speaker 5: like wanted and I was aware of what unprotected sex
Speaker 5: could do. Yes, there was no contraception, I think for
Speaker 5: anyone listening. I had had my account tested and it
Speaker 5: was on the lower side in the high nines, which
Speaker 5: I'm thirty five, So it was a maybe start thinking
Speaker 5: about it.
Speaker 4: So I know a lot of.
Speaker 5: People who have struggled for years, So we did start,
Speaker 5: and then it just happened very quickly, so I wasn't prepared.
Speaker 3: But I do think it's a really good point to
Speaker 3: discuss because you know, some people do have the desire
Speaker 3: and really, you know, really want to get pregnant and
Speaker 3: then all of a sudden it's happened. And I know
Speaker 3: a lot of women, certainly some of my patients have
Speaker 3: discussed with me then in those first few weeks with
Speaker 3: all the hormonal changes and started to feel pretty crappy
Speaker 3: that they think, well, this is not really what I
Speaker 3: signed up for, and do I even want to continue
Speaker 3: even though it was a planned pregnancy, And I think
Speaker 3: we need to honor that that's a normal part of
Speaker 3: this process. A huge life change is on the up.
Speaker 3: So please don't feel if you're listening to this, if
Speaker 3: that was you, that it doesn't mean later you won't
Speaker 3: bond with your baby or love the pregnancy and you know,
Speaker 3: and it's also okay if you actually do change your mind.
Speaker 3: Like I think, that's a conversation that we're very lucky
Speaker 3: in Australia we can have and we need to highlight
Speaker 3: that all women feel very differently through this period of gestation.
Speaker 2: What what's happening to me?
Speaker 5: Well that leads us into what is actually happening and
Speaker 5: what might be feel like. What are some common symptoms
Speaker 5: that could happen around this time.
Speaker 3: Well, I think you highlighted them pretty well, thanks unfortunately
Speaker 3: to you experiencing them all. Breast tenderness, bloated feeling around
Speaker 3: your tummy, twiny pains, even some spotting. So sometimes we
Speaker 3: get to what's called an implantation bleed, and that's actually
Speaker 3: that little weaker than parasites. Little parasite is basically nesting
Speaker 3: into your individual lining of your uterus, so eventually you
Speaker 3: know you'll make your little spiral arteries is part of
Speaker 3: your makeup. Anatomically, we'll join the supply so that you'll
Speaker 3: start eventually feeding your baby. But at this point they're
Speaker 3: pretty robust. Many people pregnant very easily, particularly not wanting
Speaker 3: to earlier on in life.
Speaker 5: It's funny I call it a parasite, but for different reasons,
Speaker 5: which we'll get to.
Speaker 1: Is this normal?
Speaker 3: Is it normal?
Speaker 5: A couple of things about is it normal at this time?
Speaker 5: There's the symptoms that are the ones we spoke about,
Speaker 5: the implantation pain or potentially bleeding what you do think
Speaker 5: is your period. But one of the first things I
Speaker 5: noticed was an aversion to alcohol Okay, it was I
Speaker 5: hadn't taken a test yet, and now looking back, it
Speaker 5: feels like that was a potential signing.
Speaker 4: Is that quite early for avergins to come in now?
Speaker 3: Look, I mean I think you guys were trying so
Speaker 3: psychologically each month you are preparing it as possible. So
Speaker 3: there is that psychological factor that we avert foods we
Speaker 3: know will consider to be something we should avoid. In pregnancy,
Speaker 3: you're starting that whole modal change already, so your body's
Speaker 3: doing remarkable things. And for some women I've even had that,
Speaker 3: they've said they are starting to feel nauseous already at
Speaker 3: that four to five week mark. It's not even though
Speaker 3: the BEATA hat CG hormones are not really high, which
Speaker 3: is obviously what triggers a lot of the nausea, it's
Speaker 3: not impossible. So if you're already feeling yucky, the last
Speaker 3: thing you want to go is, you know's neck a
Speaker 3: bottle of wine. So I mean, hopefully it's a good thing.
Speaker 3: You know, this is something that we're trying to continue
Speaker 3: to have the discussion around. Lots of people, by the way,
Speaker 3: don't know they're pregnant yet though, and are drinking and
Speaker 3: doing fun things in life, because you know, we need
Speaker 3: to live. I think it's so it's also important that
Speaker 3: to highlight that if you don't know you're pregnant yet,
Speaker 3: that we don't beat yourself up for the things that
Speaker 3: did happen prior to that. Yes, I think that's more
Speaker 3: common than not, you know, because I think there are
Speaker 3: a large number of pregnancies that are unplanned and people
Speaker 3: don't find out sometimes, so there are nine or ten
Speaker 3: weeks pregnant, so they've made lots of decisions during that
Speaker 3: time that weren't you know, pregnancy related. You know. Ideally,
Speaker 3: I think let's be medical here for a second. I've put
Speaker 3: my little doctors had on you have had prenatal discussions
Speaker 3: with your with your GP. Ideally, have had some serroology,
Speaker 3: which is the blood tests looking at you know in
Speaker 3: anti natal markers, infection markers, even things like your fol
Speaker 3: eight level. Your blood group's really important in pregnancy to
Speaker 3: know whether your H negative, which do you have a
Speaker 3: negative or a positive blood group?
Speaker 5: Is that where they test whether my blood is attacking
Speaker 5: the baby. Yes, okay, and it's.
Speaker 3: Kind of little important because it's not at this four
Speaker 3: weeks pregnant. It doesn't matter because we wouldn't do anything.
Speaker 3: So if you came in, it matters, if you come
Speaker 3: in bleeding, it matters if you've had a car accident
Speaker 3: or something like that, because it's basically where your baby
Speaker 3: makes a different blood group to you, and your own
Speaker 3: body will make antibodies against your baby's blood group. Now
Speaker 3: it doesn't matter in this pregnancy at all. It's actually
Speaker 3: about subsequent pregnancy. So you don't want your body to
Speaker 3: make those antibodies against the positive blood group because you're negative.
Speaker 3: So what that means, though, is if you find out
Speaker 3: you are what we call RH negative, if you have
Speaker 3: an inciting event like a miscarriage or an accident where
Speaker 3: there could be some fetal cells that crossover, we need
Speaker 3: to give you an anti d So it's basically a
Speaker 3: medication that stops that from happening, and we consider that
Speaker 3: after sort of twelve weeks. So you just basically talk
Speaker 3: to your doctor about it and I'll make a plan.
Speaker 3: But it's important to know it so you can at
Speaker 3: least raise the question, Hey, I'm RGE negative, do I
Speaker 3: need to do anything different from an RH positive mum?
Speaker 5: Which leads me into the important things that we should
Speaker 5: be doing at this stage you mentioned fall a. A
Speaker 5: lot of people say folic acid and that you should
Speaker 5: be on it if you're trying.
Speaker 4: To ideally, what does that? What are you actually trying
Speaker 4: to do? And is it bad if you haven't been.
Speaker 3: Taking again, A lot of us don't know we're pregnant,
Speaker 3: but ideally you start taking you know, a women's multi
Speaker 3: item about three months before pregnancy starts, or as soon
Speaker 3: as you find out you are pregnant, because so FOLLO
Speaker 3: is actually to do with neural tube defects. So it's
Speaker 3: the way your baby's brain and spinal cord form prevents
Speaker 3: things like spiner befitter from occurring. So you know, many
Speaker 3: many years ago, so our mums and grandma's had much
Speaker 3: higher rates of that before they found out that FOLLA
Speaker 3: can make a difference. So for most of it, you know,
Speaker 3: between four hundred and eight hundred milligrams is enough, but
Speaker 3: you need to triple check if you're at higher risks.
Speaker 3: So people with a high BMI, people who have are
Speaker 3: on antiepolectic medication, people have had previous miscarriages or spliner
Speaker 3: befitter may need a high dose. So I think it's
Speaker 3: a conversation to have but the best thing you can
Speaker 3: do is just get started as soon as you find.
Speaker 4: Out so your plan. It's never too late, never too
Speaker 4: absolutely no correct.
Speaker 3: Never too late.
Speaker 5: And what are some like nice to do things, things
Speaker 5: to think about, maybe not necessarily about our body, but
Speaker 5: things to start having to think about in the future.
Speaker 3: Great, Ay, look, it's very early, but I would actually
Speaker 3: say start thinking about what model of care you want
Speaker 3: to do, because you have obstetric which is what I'm
Speaker 3: training to be, so coming with the doctor's program. You
Speaker 3: have what I love and I went with my last pregnancy,
Speaker 3: which was actually my second last pregnancy MGP. So whether
Speaker 3: you want to be MIDW free group practice, low risk
Speaker 3: pregnancies lovely holistic care, and I know my midwives out
Speaker 3: there will love me for saying this day. I'm much
Speaker 3: better at counseling around birth and making it normal, you know,
Speaker 3: making normalizing what birth and pregnancy is. But you do
Speaker 3: an unfortunately to be relatively low risk in that program,
Speaker 3: and they fill up so fast. So they're the ones
Speaker 3: that you get a positive pregnancy test and you're like,
Speaker 3: contact your local hospital and say, I'd love to go
Speaker 3: on the MIDWI free group practice program and get in early.
Speaker 3: So that's why it's important now, even this early in gestation,
Speaker 3: to have a think about what you want to do.
Speaker 5: Okay, we're going to need a lot of help along
Speaker 5: this pregnancy. It's only week four, so what can we
Speaker 5: put in our toolkit for this week?
Speaker 3: Did you pick an app? Because I think having an app,
Speaker 3: particularly for first time mums, can be really helpful to
Speaker 3: sort of track babies development and some of the things
Speaker 3: you might be experiencing.
Speaker 4: Have you, Oh, yes, I have the flow out.
Speaker 5: Yes I like it, but I was using it to
Speaker 5: track my period, so I sort of had it already
Speaker 5: and then once you log that you're pregnant, it switches
Speaker 5: into this whole new mode.
Speaker 3: Ye.
Speaker 4: What I like about this is it.
Speaker 5: Gives you, like the stats, Yes, what week you are,
Speaker 5: here's the size of your baby, Here's what's happening to them,
Speaker 5: and then here's what's happening to your body. So you're
Speaker 5: kind of covering these sort of major things which I like.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I mean you can also use it in
Speaker 3: pregnancy too, and as you're trying to get pregnant. That's
Speaker 3: what I liked about flow Pregnancy plus is another really
Speaker 3: good one. I have both. I have to say I
Speaker 3: liked both and I checked between them to see if
Speaker 3: there was differences. And Baby Centers another good one as well.
Speaker 5: We hope you enjoyed this episode of Hello bum. We
Speaker 5: have so many episodes of this series filled with tips
Speaker 5: and stories from women and experts who've been through it
Speaker 5: all before.
Speaker 3: You can go back and listen to everything else Hello
Speaker 3: bumb related in this podcast.
Speaker 5: Feed, and while you're there, we'd love if you could
Speaker 5: give us a five star rating and maybe leave us
Speaker 5: a review or even shared this episode with a friend.
Speaker 3: This episode was produced by Courtney Ammenhauser with audio production
Speaker 3: by Tom Lyon. We'll catch you next time.
Speaker 5: This episode of Hello Bump was made in partnership with
Speaker 5: Huggies Bye Bye