Everything you wanted to know about Baby #2 and More

Thank you all again for your support on my annoucement last week!  We are very excited to be adding another member to our family!!  I wasn't exactly the best at documenting my pregnancy with Miller and while I had hopes of doing a better job the second time around so far I've failed.  Quite a few people have told me that your second pregnancy is nothing like your first and they are so right.   You just don't have the same time and energy to focus on it like you do your first.  I'm just too busy chasing an 11 month old around that it usually falls to the back of my mind.   

That being said I still want to do my best to document at least some of it so that I can look back on it, and of course if baby #2 ever stumbles upon this blog I don't need them thinking I completely neglected them from the beginning :)

Since a lot of people have asked me questions in real life and here I figured I would go ahead address some of those questions, plus this avoids me writing 100 paragraphs of run on sentences that I know would eventually bore you.  

How did you find out you were pregnant? Well I didn't have the classic missed period because my body was still all out of whack from birth and breast feeding.  After a week or so of insatiable hunger, random emotional crying spells, and bleeding gums I knew something was up.  I had one clearblue easy digital pregnancy test left from Miller and I took it at 9pm on a Saturday night.  I just knew it was going to be positive and I was right.   I probably spent the first week in complete shock.  Miller had just turned 8 months old, I still had a baby, how was I going to have another baby?!

Were you planning to have your kids so close together?   No not intentionally. We had just really started to discuss baby #2 and when would be a good time to try, I was thinking 2-2.5 years apart in age would be perfect.  Since it took us about 9 months total with 6 months of "real trying" to get pregnant with Miller I figured it would take us about 6 months again.  I was clearly wrong.  If I've learned anything in the past 2 years it's that I'm not in control and everything happens for a reason! Since Miller was born at the end of June and this baby will be the first week of November they will be about 16 months and 1 week apart. 

Is this pregnancy the same or different?  This is the #1 question I get from my friend's that have already had one baby.  This pregnancy is completely different from my pregnancy with Miller.  The first time around I had literally every symptom in the book.  My morning sickness/all day nausea lasted until around 15-16 weeks and my food aversions didn't let up until sometime after 20 weeks.  If I'm being honest I felt miserable all the time and hated being pregnant.  This time around I had 3 bad weeks of all day nausea- weeks 6, 7, 8 then it eased to only evening time and by 11 weeks I felt absolutely great.   I never felt this good with Miller so it's amazing and I don't actually hate it this time around. 

Any cravings or food aversions?  The only food aversion I've had is black beans which I happened to be feeding Miller right when my nausea hit but otherwise I've had no other aversions and my only "craving" is lemonade.  The exhaustion was much harder to deal with this time around.  I was in bed by 8pm most nights and I took naps when Miller napped.  Miller hasn't been the best sleeper and just started to sleep through the night around when I found out I was pregnant but it wasn't consistent so I think that compounded the exhaustion. 

Will you find out what you're having and do you have a feeling either way?  Yes!!!  We have our anatomy scan next week and I cannot wait!  First off I'm just hoping to find out that everything is alright and healthy with the baby and then I'm obviously excited to find out the sex.   With Miller I just knew he was a boy with this baby I really don't have a feeling either way.   If I had to pick one that I feel more strongly about then I'm leaning toward another boy.

Repeat C-Section?  I never shared Miller's full birth story but I ended up with a scheduled c-section at 40 weeks 4 days due to his supposed size, my small pelvic bones, increasing swelling, and blood pressure.  He ended up only being 7lbs 13oz so I probably could have had him vaginally but at the same time we will never know.   I had never considered a VBAC because historically my practice does not do them, there is actually only one Ob/gyn in my area that does.  Well a new doctor in my practice told me they do do them now but I had another doctor tell me that I would have to have a repeat c-section. Basically they don't all agree on VBACs and my risk of a uterine rupture is doubled since I did not wait the recommended two years between c-sections.  With both of those factors I've decided to stick with a repeat c-section.  The last thing I want is to go in thinking I can have a VBAC and the doctor on call be like "yeah right" and wheel me back to the OR.  So my repeat will be the first week of November. 

Do you show faster with the second?  Ummm yes.  I mean I got pregnant only 7 months after I had Miller so I never really got my ab muscles back into shape but at 18 weeks pregnant I look like I did at about 24 weeks pregnant with Miller.  The good thing is that I lost all my baby weight so I didn't start off with extra baby weight on top of gaining for pregnancy so that's good.   With Miller my hips widen really quickly and I was in maternity pants by 13 weeks.  So far with this one I've been in maternity shorts but I've been able to wear all my own jeans up until now, I have to use a belly band but I can fit them over my hips which is super exciting!  I know my hips went back down after Miller because I was back in my regular jeans by 6 months postpartum so maybe this time they just aren't going to get as big, I don't know?!

I think that covers the main questions- if you're curious about anything else feel free to ask.  In general I'm very excited but very nervous too.  I think it's a common reaction for second time moms.  I'm mostly just nervous about juggling two babies and how Miller is going to react to a new little creature in his territory.   I do worry that I didn't spend enough time concentrating on just him and that I'm making him grow up faster than he should :(   I also worry about living in absolute chaos with two babies- so if anyone has any tips or tricks let me know ;) 
Thankfully I have friends who have babies similar ages apart who have told me the first few months are tough but it will get better and Miller will never remember his life without the new baby and hopefully (fingers crossed) they will grow up to the the best of friends.