Choosing my care path (and going decaf)

I'm in week 7 now, and coming from my own country's medical habits, I really want an early ultrasound just to make sure everything is okay. We might not hear a heartbeat yet, but I need that peace of mind. Since Irish maternity hospitals don't start routine scans until week 12, I've had to look into private clinics for an early scan.

This also got me researching how the maternity system works here. It's split into public, semi-private, and private. In the public system, you're mostly seen by midwives, and whoever is on duty delivers the baby. Semi-private gives you a mix of consultant and midwife care. With private, you have one dedicated consultant who sees you at every visit, sometimes at a private clinic closer to your home. Since I'm working and hospital wait times can be crazy, saving time is a priority for me, so I've decided to go private. I've started looking for a consultant, though no luck just yet. For now, the priority is finding a clinic for that first early scan to ease my mind.

I also decided to give up coffee this week. I remember from my first pregnancy that up to 200mg a day is fine, but since I quit it for my first one, it only felt fair to do the same for this baby! I need to get myself used to decaf again. Luckily, no cravings or morning sickness have kicked in yet. I'm really hoping it stays that way, because working through nausea is no joke.

Following our second pregnancy, one week at a time 🤍