My First Pregnancy vs. My Second Pregnancy
My first pregnancy vs. my second pregnancy was amazing. I had little to no symptoms during my first pregnancy. I experienced more symptoms during my second pregnancy, such as morning sickness, swollen feet, and weight gain.
After enjoying the sweet milk baby smell and the absolute wonder of our first son Judah, we knew we wanted to have a second baby. Both my husband and I are from relatively large families. He has four sisters, while I have two sisters and a brother.
Before getting married, we knew we wanted three to four kids. So, it only makes sense that after we had our first baby, we were planning for our next child (of course, these thoughts were months, actually a year or two after we “figured” out how to be parents with our first son).
Getting pregnant was not as easy as we had believed it to be. We weren’t trying to get pregnant with my first son, and we got pregnant shortly after becoming married. We decided to start trying when we hit the two-year mark. We got pregnant pretty quickly but ended up having a miscarriage.
Luckily, within the same year, we became pregnant again and were excited! December came around, and I could not stop smiling after seeing the pregnancy tests I took say positive. However, unlike my first pregnancy, I had symptoms I had not experienced before.
After a few weeks of enjoying the fact that we were pregnant, I became extremely nauseous. I realized I was experiencing morning sickness, which I had not had too bad with my first son. Of course, if you are a first-time mom reading this, I don’t want to paint some horrendous picture of morning sickness. I only had two days where I felt very nauseous all day. I ate Ritz crackers slowly all day and night to try and avoid the feeling.
Although I never threw up, the feeling was still awful. However, if you experience morning sickness or are thinking about getting pregnant and want to plan, this is
Morning Sickness in my First and second pregnancies
What helped my morning sickness with my second pregnancy:
- Elevating my head and chest above the rest of my body
- Eating every two-three hours small meals so my stomach was always full
- Not overeating or stuffing myself
- Nibbling on Ritz crackers when I felt nauseous(saltines were too dry to swallow for me)
- Avoiding fluids while eating a meal
After two weeks of what I describe as mild nausea, I finally felt better. Entering the second trimester was a breeze. I didn’t necessarily have a different experience besides being pregnant, but I already had a toddler.
The second trimester was eye-opening in comparing my first and second pregnancies. I realized how tired I was because my toddler constantly needed my attention. I wanted to sleep and relax, but my toddler wanted to play. In the second trimester, I still had enough energy though to play with my toddler. Thank God my husband would help so I could get rest.
It wasn’t until the third trimester that I realized the significant differences between my first and second pregnancies.
- My first son was a winter baby, and my second son is a summer baby, and we do not have air conditioning! Sleeping in a hot room while super pregnant and a toddler rolling all over you is uncomfortable. It has to be a sport of some sort. All mothers and parents who can survive hot nights with a toddler while pregnant deserve a medal.
- I gained way more weight during this pregnancy than my first pregnancy. I gained an additional thirty-three pounds this pregnancy and could physically feel it. I had never experienced getting swollen feet or cramps in my legs at night, but this pregnancy was a different story. I could no longer fit most of my clothes and realized I didn’t have stretchy, comfortable summer clothes. My finger had gained weight, so I could no longer fit my wedding ring! So I was walking around feeling like a teen pregnancy everywhere I went when I did errands because I didn’t have my ring.
- I was exhausted the last few weeks. My activity was lower than that of my first pregnancy. Although I could still walk miles and jog for a very short time, I was far more limited in what I did before getting extremely tired than my first. During my first pregnancy, I was still active until I gave birth. I went into labor because I raced my brother in a gym. This started my contractions, which I didn’t know then. During this pregnancy, I was doing the penguin walk and demanding a foot massage every second of every day.
Although my pregnancy differed in some symptoms I experienced, I still enjoyed my pregnancy. I would get pregnant again if we decided we want more kids. I will be more prepared because I won’t say no to maternity clothes and will have central air installed in my house if I have another summer baby.
Overall I loved being pregnant, and even though people told me each pregnancy is different, I didn’t realize how different they could be until I lived it. I want to encourage everyone planning on having another child to enjoy their pregnancy as much as possible, especially when they don’t have the symptoms as much.
Continue becoming the mothers you desire to be, but remember you are and will always be beyond what you could imagine.
