Tag: second child

35 weeks pregnant

Baby is the size of a Pineapple

My Weight: 66kgs (11kg gain)

Cravings: None – still everything tasting a bit blah. Could do with some fresh watermelon though.

Symptoms: Heartburn, lightning crotch, shortness of breath, increased discharge (TMI?)

I’ve been feeling: Emotional, sick and drained this week. Pregnancy has been far from top of mind.

I’m most nervous about: I worry a bit about how my first born will adjust to the big transition.

When I need to relax I listen to my labour music playlist

I can’t wait to be able to sleep lying down (even if it will be interrupted)

When I see my body I feel proud & confident, it’s quite incredible what it can handle

In preparation for the baby we are doing quick fire name suggestion evenings (to no avail)

If I could say anything to my baby right now it would be: As much as I’m getting more and more excited to meet you, please stay put for a few more weeks – there’s a lot to do still to prepare for your arrival, plus we need to agree on a name and I need to shake this cold! Keep up the kicks, each one is comfort and reassurance for me. Also if you could shimmy your way into prime position too that would be much appreciated. See you soon enough little man, you’re super loved and a big part of the family already.

If after reading this you’d be happy to share your own experience of pregnancy, please email me at megan@forgetmenotjournals.com to send you one of these pages (or you can send a photo of your own pregnancy journal).

Beautiful Mum Sophie shares her pregnancy journies, now pregnant with her second little one she shares parts of both pregnancies to show comparison and also shares what she’ll do different this time around, read on to find out more.

33 weeks pregnant

Baby is the size of a: Pineapple

How was your first pregnancy? My first pregnancy was horrible!! I was 5 weeks when I found out I was pregnant (I found out for my 21st birthday) and around 8 weeks I started getting the worse morning sickness. By the next week I was in hospital getting diagnosed with hyperemesis gravidarum and it was so bad I lost a whole bunch of weight and kept going back to the hospital because I couldn’t even drink water without vomiting and that lasted for around 25 weeks, then I managed to start vomiting once or twice a week till like 30 weeks. So, you could say I didn’t really get to enjoy my pregnancy at all considering it was full of hospital visits, IV lines, strong nausea medication that made me feel worse and just overall very lonely and not what I had seen on social media or heard others talk about. I never got to experience the “pregnancy glow” quite the opposite I always had red rashes all over my face from my veins popping from all the spewing, I didn’t get to get all glam and enjoy it because I lived in pyjamas in hospital. Which made me really depressed and not really grasp how amazing my body actually was for going through all of that. 

Did you always hope to have babies a couple of years apart, and did everything go according to plan this time? I always did hope for my babies to be close in age, maybe because I’m an identical twin and I obviously shared life with my sister which was amazing growing up with a best friend! So, when my husband and I talked about having another baby it was always in the near future. Everything has been according to plan this time around, everything that I experienced first pregnancy has not been an issue at all this time around, quite the opposite! I have had an amazing pregnancy which I thank God for! I could not imagine going through the same thing with a toddler. 

Can you briefly describe your birth, and has that informed your birth choices this time? This question is always bittersweet for me just because I’m so aware that there are situations so far from mine but I had an amazing birth! I started getting contractions at 5:30am on Sunday 22nd of December and I was all day just chilling, waiting, sleeping, bouncing on my exercise ball just letting my body do it’s thing and around 9pm my midwife came to see me at home, I was 2cm dilated and not in a whole lot of pain. Within the hour I was crying on my husband’s chest because the pain escalated from like a 2-7 real quick. My water breaks and we make our way to the hospital, we got there at midnight my midwife checks me again and I was only 3cm by this point I was inhaling the gas like my life depended on it. 

My midwife realised that my contractions were really strong and close together so she decided to give me a muscle relaxer that way I wouldn’t be so tense from the pain and within 20 mins I was 8cm dilated! Before I knew it we welcomed our little girl into the world at 2:32am just 3 hours after my water broke so that was amazing for me considering I decided to not get an epidural and just try to give birth as natural as possible. I think that I never had a “birth plan” I was really open to doing whatever it took in the moment and whatever was safest, I also didn’t expect anything out of it or didn’t set the bar so high for myself because honestly I had no idea what I was going into and I have the same mentality this time around. 

Have you found out what you’re having this time? Yes, we did find out what we’re having and this time around we’re having a boy  

What will you do differently now that you’re a wise and experienced Mum? Oh, I will bottle feed (pump) I kind of just let my daughter breastfeed and didn’t introduce her to a bottle till like about a month in and she hated it!! We tried everything under the sun for her to take a bottle and she never budged which was so hard because exclusively breast feeding is something else! I’ve never had such a challenging job as breast feeding was! Lots of tears shared, lots of lonely times as I couldn’t even leave the house which caused a lot of separation anxiety that I struggled for the longest time to overcome. 

If after reading this you’d be happy to share your own experience of pregnancy, please email me at megan@forgetmenotjournals.com to send you one of the pages (or you can send a photo of your own pregnancy journal)

Joanne shares her pregnancy journey with baby number two. Her little girls will be 11 months apart when she is due to give birth via planned c section. Read on to hear how she has been feeling this time round and how they are preparing for their next little bundle of joy!

I have a 10-month-old baby girl…so she was only 3 months when I found out I was pregnant again! I ended up having an emergency c-section with my little girl Cartier, so the hospital has recommended for me to have another c-section this time as it is so close to the last birth…so I have a c-section booked in 4 weeks’ time…I will have two little girls 11 months apart!

Baby is the size of a: Pineapple

I have been feeling: I have generally been feeling fine this pregnancy, but finding it hard looking after a crawling baby in these last few weeks! This pregnancy has been smoother than my first one so far, with Cartier I had high blood pressure towards the end and was in and out of hospital for monitoring and was also very swollen, I was on the verge of pre-eclampsia.  My midwife prescribed me an aspirin a day for this pregnancy and so far, I my blood pressure has been fine, and I am not swollen yet! 

I am most looking forward too: I am looking forward to having two girls grow up close together, but I know it will be hard work too!  My sister-in-law has the same age gap, so I have seen a bit of what goes on! My babies’ movements are more frequent and stronger than my first baby!  With Cartier I sometimes got worried that I could not feel her, but not with this baby!  I am hoping this baby won’t be the naughty/fussy one as Cartier was fairly good and I have heard lots of friends tell me not to expect them to be the same!

My favourite part about being pregnant would be: My favourite part of being pregnant is feeling the baby moving inside you, other than that I cannot wait for her to come out!

I feel most loved and valued by my partner when: My husband as a parent is great, Cartier is definitely a Daddies girl and once he is home from work, she doesn’t want him out of her sight!  He always checks on her before he goes to work and gives her a bottle if she is awake so I can get more sleep. He is a very busy director and salesman in his family business so it can be hard juggling the work/life balance, but I am grateful for how much he loves his girls and provides for us, before we had Cartier, he wanted a boy but now we have a little girl he thinks girls are just the best and loves being a girl Dad…apparently, he does want a boy one day though! My husband is the eldest of 8 kids and I am the eldest of 9 so we both know a bit a bit looking after babies and children while we were growing up!  We will both be 34 this August and were born 10 days apart… I am from UK and he is an NZ resident, we met nearly 4 years ago and got married 9 months later!

If I could say anything to my baby right now it would be: You have no idea what you are in for!!  I feel really bad that I am having another baby so close to her and don’t want her to feel neglected by me or jealous of the new baby… however I have heard from friends with similar age gaps that they are actually too young to worry and that you get a worse reaction when it’s a bigger age gap. I just can’t help feeling guilty and want to make sure we love them both as much.

Something I need to get done:  Pack hospital bags. I have started filling another wardrobe and drawers with stuff for the next baby – I have SO many baby clothes! All mainly designer clothes from the UK.  I need to clean the baby car seat and set up the pram for day sleeps downstairs… I have a new bassinet set up in our room and need to wash the sheets for it.  I have a double buggy on order which I am waiting for… would highly recommend going to a baby show if you can before your baby as we got the bassinet and pram then just a few weeks ago.  The bassinet I used for Cartier turned into a cot so she is still sleeping in that hence the new bassinet.  I have to be organised otherwise I will go mad when I have two little ones!  Each will have their own baby bags stocked ready in the car so there’s no panicking each time we go out.

Something I worry about: I am probably most worried about contraception after the birth… I have talked with a couple of obstetricians at the hospital now and the first one said, ‘do you remember what you were told after your baby about birth control?’ (Because after a c-section you are meant to give your womb a year’s break before the next baby) …. I laughed about it after but found it a bit rude as well!!  Like I can do anything about it now!  Anyway, I know I need to do something after this baby because we can’t go getting pregnant again for a while at least!  I have been recommended to have an IUD put in at the time of my c-section, but I am wary of it and not sure if it’s a good idea to put my body through that at the same time as trying to recover from the birth, and I don’t like the possible hormonal side effects.  I have only ever been on the pill for a short period of time, and it made me feel horrible and bloated so I am also not sure about that … I would be interested in other points of view although I know everyone is different. I’m actually not too worried about having another c-section. Cartier was a big baby, and I was induced because of my high blood pressure, the induction lasted for 4 days which ended in an emergency c-section as baby was posterior and got distressed, she was 9 lbs.  I didn’t find the recovery too difficult, and I can’t face going through another long induction or going overdue with a big baby, so it is kind of a relief that I have a c-section booked in about 10 days before my due date. My family in UK haven’t seen Cartier yet, so it’s another thing I feel guilty about having another baby when they haven’t even seen the first one!  Especially for my mum it is so hard for her not being able to see us and help me after the birth.  I am fortunate that I have very supportive in-laws who live just around the corner otherwise it would be very hard to get by with no family support. I didn’t get on very well with breast feeding last time… only lasted about 6 weeks as I didn’t have much milk and once Cartier knew the bottle was so much faster and more efficient than me she wouldn’t take the breast.  I want to try again this time but I’m not going to push it if it’s a struggle.  I did have to try a lot of different milk powders as she was intolerant to so many, and I ended up with prescribed extra hydrolysed milk which she is still having until she is 1 … so far, she seems tolerant of most foods including dairy so I am hoping she has grown out of any intolerance she may have had, and we can transition her to normal milk when she is 1.

Diet, exercise, sleep, stress….!  I really want to get fit after this baby… I put on lots of weight after I got married and have always struggled with my weight… this is always in the back of my mind, and I need to make it a reality and set some firm goals re food and exercise.

If after reading this you’d be happy to share your own experience of pregnancy, please email me at hello@shesaidyes.co.nz to send you one of these pages (or you can send a photo of your own pregnancy journal).

Baby is the size of a: Pineapple, apparently!

Cravings: None really, but I certainly have more of a sweet tooth than usual.

Symptoms: Insomnia, tiredness (probably the result of the insomnia), and a little bit of heartburn starting, but not bad at all. My skin is looking pretty good and my hair is really lush, neither of which I noticed last time. 

My weight: 80 kg (gain of 11/12 kilos so far, four kilos less than total gain in my first pregnancy).

I’ve been feeling: Mostly happy, but a little anxious. Especially about how our 2.5 year old will cope and who will look after her while I am at the hospital. A few lovely people have offered but I don’t want to burden them or I’m not sure whether our daughter would be happy to go to someone else’s house, but we are living in Australia and have no family here, nor can they come from New Zealand because of work commitments. 

This week I learned: Quite a bit about subdivisions. 

My baby’s movements are: Fairly constant, especially when I’m working or when I first hop in bed at night, but I can tell he’s getting a little constricted now. Lots of little shuddery type movements, which I don’t remember from my first pregnancy. 

I’m still wondering whether: Everything is ok and whether the baby will be similar to his sister (and never sleep through the night). 

The hardest thing about being pregnant is: The waiting and not knowing. I’m a very impatient person and I just want to know how everything is going to go, and that everything is going to be ok. The antenatal care here in Australia is definitely not as good as the care I had from the community midwives in Auckland with my first pregnancy – I feel quite in the dark, no one seems to really have any oversight. The GP thinks that the hospital midwives will manage my care and the hospital midwives think the opposite. We should have just gone with a private obstetrician. 

The most uncomfortable thing right now is: Not sleeping. Carrying an older child. The occasional leg cramp in the night. 

The things which make me happiest right now are: Working, and when my 2.5 year old is in a sunny mood, she can be an absolute delight.

How I’m going with diet, exercise, sleep, stress, and other health goals: Definitely not as well as last time. I was so consistent with a healthy diet last time, I think because I was working at a regular desk job it was easiest just to eat the same old healthy things. Probably still a reasonably healthy diet though. Exercise – is really just transport now. I walk up the hill to take our toddler to Kindy and back at least two days a week, but that’s about it. In my first pregnancy I remember walking up Mt Eden a couple of times a week. 

If I could say anything to my baby right now it would be: Please be head down!

If after reading this you’d be happy to share your own experience of pregnancy, please email me at hello@shesaidyes.co.nz to send you one of the pages (or you can send a photo of your own pregnancy journal)