Although it’s very early in your pregnancy, it’s a very important period of your pregnancy. A lot happens during the first three months. The fertilised egg rapidly divides into layers of cells and implants in the wall of your womb where it carries on growing. These layers of cells become an embryo which is what the baby is called at this stage. During this first trimester, your baby grows faster than at any other time. By six weeks a heartbeat can usually be heard. 

The second trimester is the middle three months of your pregnancy: roughly months four, five and six. As you go through the second trimester, you will start feeling and looking more pregnant, and you may have more energy than you did in the first trimester. Later, you’ll start to feel your baby moving. By this time, your pregnancy should have been registered at Bestmed. We will monitor your pregnancy and identify possible high-risk pregnancies.

This is the last three months of your pregnancy. Feelings at this stage of pregnancy tend to range from tiredness and worry to excitement about the baby. During this phase, we will continue to monitor high-risk pregnancies closely and you will start to prepare for the delivery and all decisions regarding it. During this stage, we will support you with:

• Access to a 24-hour medical advice line
• Weekly emails with helpful tips about your pregnancy, your baby’s development and how to deal with unpleasant pregnancy symptoms
• Partners will receive emails too to inform them about the baby’s development and mom’s progress
• If during this period your pregnancy is unsuccessful, we will provide you with access to a nurse line, and psychologists or counselling if necessary
• A separate monitoring programme for high-risk patients

At this stage, expectant moms have the uncertainty of when labour will start or how they will know when to do what. You might be feeling worried about going out, making plans or being alone in case you go into labour. However, in most cases, labour starts slowly with contractions very widely spaced, leaving you plenty of time to get home. This is especially true if it’s your first child, so don’t feel like you have to stay in the house.

You might also be worried about knowing when you should go into hospital, especially if it’s not close by. When you’re having a contraction every five minutes which lasts 30+ seconds, call your midwife, birth centre or hospital labour ward if you are giving birth there. If you have chosen a home birth, the midwife will come to you. Around your due date, our maternity care team will call you to check up on your progress and/or whether baby has arrived. During this stage, we will support you with:

• Hospital authorisation
• Personal emails with helpful tips and how to deal with symptoms
• Separate monitoring programme for high-risk patients

You will be contacted again post-birth to check up on both you and baby’s well-being. We will also connect you with any associations you may need to assist you with any problems that you may experience.