Mum's First Moments - Guest Post from Gemma at 'Confessions of a Nagging Mother'

For this week's #MumsFirstMoments I'm delighted to introduce you to the wonderful Gemma. She has two children, a 9 girl and a 7 year old boy, and blogs over at http://confessionsofanaggingmother.blogspot.co.uk about her life and motherhood. You can also find Gemma on twitter @naggingmother1, on Bloglovin' and Google+.

I didn't have my normal scan at 12 weeks. I had mine at 17 weeks!! EEK!

It’s scary to think about it now, but I was still living at home when I fell pregnant at 21 and only a few people knew about it. It was all too scary to deal with and I was naïve, so when family found out when I was 16 weeks pregnant, that was when I first went to see a midwife. She was kind and understood why it took me so long to make an appointment and an ultrasound scan was booked for a few days later!

It was a sunny July day when my partner, my mum and I set off to the hospital an hour before my scan time. The hospital was only a 20 minute journey away, but we allowed for parking and getting to the right place etc. Driving to the hospital, it was unusually busy and the scan time was soon approaching. I remember getting stressed (which I do easily!) and quickly having to park and race to the ward. It was a nightmare journey and not the best of starts.

When we arrived, the receptionist could not find my slip/note from the midwife to allow me to be scanned! I felt myself getting more and more stressed, tears in my eyes trying desperately to understand what was happening. I could not be scanned without this piece of paper! The receptionist tried ringing my midwife, but there was no answer. After all that trouble I wasn’t going to be scanned today.

I spoke to the Doctor’s Surgery and a new date was booked for a few days later. This time it was just me and my partner who went. Everything went fine at Reception and I was told to sit down and wait. I remember waiting, watching people going in and out of the scan rooms while watching the clock. I clearly remember that feeling of desperately needing the toilet but knowing that I couldn’t go or baby would not show up clearly on the scan.

I remember being called in and partner being told to wait till he was called in. I laid down, tummy out and felt this cold gloopy gel on me and then the scanner being pushed over my abdomen (soooo uncomfortable especially as I needed the toilet so badly!) and all these silly questions went through my head, mainly “What if there’s no baby in there?!” Along with this I also thought “is everything ok?” “Does it have 10 fingers and toes?” “Is it a boy?” “Is it a girl?” “Crap, is there more than one in there?!” There is nothing to do while the lady is looking intensely at the screen but to think all these kinds of questions!

Finally, she turned the screen round and started pointing out parts of the baby’s body. It was such a relief to know there was a baby in there and everything was intact!! My partner came in and everything was shown to him too. I remember afterwards practically running to the toilet! We were given a photo to keep and I wished that I had asked if it was a boy or a girl.

Three long weeks I had to wait to have my question answered at my 20 week scan. We were shown in a lot more detail some of the body parts including the heart and the bottom, haha. We were told that the baby was more likely to be a girl than a boy.

Sooooo it was still another 20 weeks to wait to find that the prediction was indeed correct!

The 'Mum's First Moments' Blogger Series is all about embracing the first moments of Motherhood. Everything from the moment you discover you're expecting, through all those pregnancy firsts, into child-birth and those first moments as a new Mum and beyond towards the big milestone 'first moments' of bringing your little bundle home, seeing that first gorgeous smile on their faces and more.

If you'd like to get involved comment below, tweet me @shay_noble or email me at shaynoble@outlook.com for some more information :)