📷: Wendy Rakvica Photography
I’m 39 weeks into my second pregnancy, and this time around, my body has been going through it! There have been similarities between my first and second pregnancies, and there’ve been lots of differences too!
I found out I was pregnant again when my daughter was just 7 months old. I didn’t plan on getting pregnant again so soon, but I also knew I wanted another baby relatively close in age to my daughter. Well, that’s happening! My daughter and son will be just shy of 16 months apart in age.
Throughout my first pregnancy, once I got past the morning sickness, I actually enjoyed being pregnant. Towards the end of that pregnancy, people would often say something along the lines of, “I bet you’re ready, huh?” I would respond, “No, if I could have another couple months, that’d be great!” That would usually catch them by surprise. It wasn’t that I actually wanted more time to be pregnant, it was that I felt I needed more time to prepare. As excited as I was to meet her, I was also nervous, and the entire downstairs of our house was GUTTED! I know, lovely timing, right?! More on that later
This time around, I’m feeling ready. I’ve felt ready for awhile. I know it will be an entirely different situation taking care of a toddler and a newborn at the same time, and I know I will have my hands fuller than full, but my body is feeling ready. Now if we could just settle on a name!
Here are some of similarities and differences between my first and second pregnancies
Morning sickness
I had morning sickness in the first trimester of both my first and second pregnancies. The second time around, luckily, wasn’t nearly as bad as the first.
When I was pregnant for the first time with my daughter, the sight of any vegetable had me repulsively gagging. If I felt the slightest bit of hunger, I would dry heave non-stop until I got some carbs in me. I lived off bagels and toast with cream cheese. It was all I could put down. I constantly had to suck on ginger chews. I just wanted to lay on the couch with my head buried in the cushions. It was rough until about week 14. After that first trimester, things got better and I began craving fruit, having it with just about every meal.
This time around, I felt nauseas, and I was again turned off by pretty much any healthy food, but I wasn’t constantly gagging and dry heaving over the toilet. I craved cinnamon buns, and more bagels, and as long as I had food in me, I was able to keep going. I had a tiny human to take care of, so luckily, I wasn’t down as much as the first time.
I gave myself a lot of grace this second time around in my first trimester, in terms of my diet. The first time, I felt so guilty that I wasn’t consuming all of the vegetables, and was just chowing on carbs. This second time, I let that go. I was eating what I could, and that was good enough. Of course, I was making sure to take my pre-natal vitamin every night!
Body aches
The body aches have been REAL throughout my second pregnancy. I had some pain around my tailbone during my first pregnancy. It would come and go, and wasn’t much of a big deal. This time, I’ve had hip pain from the get-go that has sometimes felt debilitating. Besides the pregnancy weight that I’ve gained, I’ve also been carrying my daughter on my hip, so there’s that as one explanation. Constantly picking her up and putting her down, setting her in her crib, taking her out of her crib, bending down to pick up toys, and, when she was smaller, lugging her around in the infant car seat carrier… it’s taken toll. I’ve been seeing a chiropractor who specializes in pregnancy, and she has been a godsend for me these last couple of months!
Weight
I’ve gained close to the same amount of weight in both my pregnancies. I gained 40 pounds the first time, and 45 this second time. BUT, I also had 10 pounds left to lose after my first pregnancy to get back to my original weight. That didn’t happen before getting pregnant again, so technically, right now I’m 55 pounds heavier than my pre-pregnancy weight.
Body acne
I did not get acne anywhere on my body in my first pregnancy. This time, I’m not sure what the heck is going on! I have acne on my upper arm that wraps around my shoulder, and recently, I noticed it all over both my thighs. Like, little red bumps everywhere. Holy hormones. I’m sure hoping this goes away after delivery!
Stretch marks
When I was pregnant for the first time with my daughter, I didn’t notice any stretch marks. After she was born, I did see that I had a few on my lower abdomen, but they were barley noticeable. So, this time around, I thought I was in the clear. I mean, my skin had already been stretched, sooooo it was just in for it again, right? Kind of like muscle memory, but the skin? Nope. I have MANY stretch marks this time. Purple stretch marks that stripe up and down all over my belly. Tiger stripes, right?!
Stress
Ohhhh it’s so nice to feel so much less stressed this time! I think it may be this way for every parent…. leading up to the birth of your first child, you want everything to be perfect. By the time the second one comes, everything is “good enough.”
I had stress overload towards the end of my first pregnancy. Thank God I did a lot of prenatal yoga to help me deal with that!
The main cause of stress in my first pregnancy came from home renovations. We started doing renovations long before I got pregnant, but in trying to do everything ourselves, things were moving slow!
I was so stressed about having our house done before our daughter’s arrival. My biggest fear was bringing a baby home to a bunch of sheetrock dust, exposed insulation, and paint fumes. All I wanted to do was nest, but of course being pregnant, I wasn’t the one who should be vacuuming up all the construction dust. With my husband super busy with his business, all of our home projects were halted, just sitting there a complete mess for me to look at. Between my hormones and the stress of that, I was an emotional wreck, and sobbed at least once a day for the last month.
In the last couple weeks leading up to her arrival, the sheetrock got done, and our walls were painted. We still didn’t have our kitchen in or our hardwood floors down, but at least some things were getting done!
When she did arrive, despite not having everything done and ready, it was okay. Her nursery was done, and we had my and my husband’s bedroom to hang out in. I spent the entire first month with her bonding in our bedroom, cuddling her, feeding her, and just soaking her in.
This time around, I’m so grateful for having our kitchen in and floors down. Our entire house is functional… not perfect, but functional!
Baby Positioning
For both of my first and second pregnancies, at 32 weeks, I’ve gotten an ultrasound to check the baby’s positioning. By this time, they say most babies are head-down, or they like to see them head-down by now. Both times, at 32 weeks, my babies were transverse, laying sideways across my belly, not head-down. When I found this out in my first pregnancy, I kind of panicked, but didn’t lose hope that she would flip. I researched all of the ways to flip a baby naturally [a good source to reference for how to flip a baby is SpinningBabies.com]. I did the Cat-Cow yoga pose every morning and every night. I did bicycle kicks every night before bed. I went to the chiropractor. At my 36 weeks appointment, my girl was head-down.
When I got the same news this second time at 32 weeks, I didn’t panic. I trusted that he would flip too. I did the same exact things that I did the first time…. Cat-Cow pose, bicycle kicks, and visited the chiropractor. At my 36 week appointment, my boy was head-down too.
I’ve been so incredibly blessed to have had two healthy pregnancies. It seems as though they’ve mirrored each other in a lot of ways. My self-care has definitely lacked this second time around, but that has to be expected when taking care of a one year old! I’m looking forward to meeting my boy any day now 💙 Just waiting for those contractions to start!