Firstly, a note from our founders, Alice and Rosie..

This blog comes with a little bit of a trigger warning

We support women at all stages in life and pregnancy is one of them... We are both Mums, and we are acutely aware of how lucky we are to be on this journey. we also know from our personal lives and professional lives (Alice works with women in her clinic) that for others, discussing pregnancy and fertility can be very difficult. This blog may not be for them, and for anyone struggling we send our most wholehearted good energy and love to you.

We still wanted to share this latest news and Alice's recent experiences, in the hope that some of our customers, who maybe experiencing something similar can relate to it.

Alice & Rosie x

It is with huge gratitude that we announce that Alice is pregnant with her second child, another boy, due early 2023.

We wanted to share a little update with you on how she’s been getting on through her first and second trimesters so far. No frills here.. just an honest diary of how she's got on with her second pregnancy... More below on nora-virus in her first trimester, her (much needed!) morning sickness remedies, keeping her iron levels up, pelvic girdle pain and the foods and products that are keeping her feeling energised, sane and sleeping well.

First Trimester

I was unloading the dishwasher at home (story of my life) when the pregnancy test I had taken 5 mins before flashed up saying positive. I dont think I moved for 5 minutes - ) just stared at the results in disbelief. Amazingly I managed not to break anything. I would say that it took a few days to get over this initial shock and surprise before the immense gratitude and excitement set in.

I experienced terrible morning sickness up until week 17 with my first pregnancy and had a feeling that I was heading in the same direction very soon, so I made sure to enjoy those first few weeks, eating as much as I could of what I fancied along with my Pregnancy Formula and Oil Edition which I got started with as soon as I found out the news. I took both of these throughout my last pregnancy and was so happy that my bloods were all at optimal levels normal throughout.

It was all going really well until true to form, I started feeling queasy around week 7 whilst on holiday, and annoyingly this was quickly accelerated when I caught nora-virus from my son! It wasn’t great and I was basically bed bound for about week with this, having to cancel flights home owing to being unable to keep any food or water down.

I bounced back but then sadly caught a UTI, and the antibiotics for this also made my sickness worse, and so by this point my diet really was very limited - basically just avocado on toast, crisps, fruit and some soup - hardly a nutritionists dream! I chat to so many women about their pregnancy journeys and many report to me that nausea is worst when they are tired, and this is definitely the case for me too. 6pm onwards is my witching hour and so my usual healthy midweek dinner was replaced with my husbands very buttery mashed potato, a shop bought pie or maybe a lasagne. What I've personally learnt the hard way is that if I'm not eating enough protein at meals I always feel super sick 2-3 hours later when my blood sugar dips.. so I really made an effort to have meat where I could stomach it, pancakes made with eggs and nuts and seeds in everything. I've never been so reliant on ready meals and takeaways but they totally got me through until I started feeling better around week 14. Luckily I also managed to take my vitamin and oils after my lunch so I felt confident my body was getting some key nutrients even though my diet wasn’t great.

After a rocky few weeks of colds, coldsores and feeling bit blue, I'm very happy to be feeling more myself now i’m out of T1. I have a tendency for low iron and my limited diet hasn’t helped here but thank goodness for Pregnancy Formula which has totally had my back. I’m managing to keep up my weekly pilates now I'm feeling better, and though I don't feel quite as energetic as usual, I’ll put this down to running around after a busy toddler.

People have asked me if I feel upset about the fact I’m having another boy - but honestly I couldn’t care less - I just feel lucky, excited (and of course a little apprehensive) for what’s to come!

Second Trimester

I’m almost at the end of my second trimester and my bump is growing by the day. Everyone told me I would be bigger second time around but I didn't expect to be feeling the strain in my hips and pelvis quite so early! I was trying to stay more active this time as in my first pregnancy I never really got round to exercise and felt a bit nervous about what I should/shouldn't be doing in classes. This time I've felt more confident but have been hampered by pelvic girdle pain, so I've really had to try and slow down, which with my 2 year old son around is much easier said than done. Regularly picking him up, charging around outside (i.e. stopping him from scooting into the road), kicking balls and going down slides at the playground probably hasn’t helped my cause much!

It took until about week 20 for my energy to come back, again so different to last time where I could take naps at the weekends, but overall I’m lucky to be sleeping really well, so I wake up feeling refreshed. Despite sometimes having the emotional resilience of toddler (can basically only cope with Friends on TV at the moment and even this makes me cry sometimes 😂) I’m also feeling quite mentally focussed and I swear my Pregnancy Formula and Pregnancy Oil are helping with that. I say this but come 7pm I'm done for and so my social life has taken rather a big hit but i'm telling myself i cant do it all - if I can hold down family, work and life admin then i'm doing alright.. but even this doesn't always happen.

Despite having the world's most itchy skin which I had this first time around too, my skin isn't dry or flakey, and I really think the extra omegas in the Pregnancy Oil are helping with this. That being said, if anyone knows of any great pregnancy brands for itchy skin I’m all ears!

I'm not a coffee drinker but I'm finding I have such a hankering for cups of tea in the day. Rooibos tea is keeping these under control - with a drop of milk it really feels like my regular cup of builders, and I also like to make this energising mood supporting tea (takes 3 mins) in the afternoons to have with a Deliciously Ella cacao flapjack bar - the perfect solution for that afternoon lull. I'm super busy in the day so convenience is key - some foods I’m relying on:

Buttery scrambled eggs for breakfast and warming (shop bought or leftover) soups for lunch with brown toast and mackerel/smoked trout pate. This is pretty much the only fish I can stomach!
For dinner I’m loving a batch cook Bolognese, three bean ragu, boeuf bourguignon or if i'm feeling whacked, a shop bought dahl with some spinach added.. or after a busy clinic day I go for some fresh fish fingers with veggies and a baked sweet potato.

A few other things I’m loving are my BB Hug Me pillow (critical for my hips!), Caudalie natural deodorant and Green People natural shampoo.

Disclaimer: As with all information on Equi London, this information is not a substitute for medical advice. No one diet or supplement regime works for everyone and you should always seek help from a GP and registered health expert before making changes to your diet, or before introducing any supplements especially when pregnant, taking medication or if you have a diagnosed health condition.