Surprise! I’m pregnant.
My bio says this blog will be raw, sweet and a little bit salty. This blog falls under the “raw” category. I am ball of mixed emotions! I’m excited and nervous all at the same time!
We found out right smack dab in the middle of the Oilers 2017 playoff run that I was pregnant. I was working a lot, and staying up late every second night to watch all the games so I was exhausted. We hadn’t exactly been trying but essentially were taking the “if it happens, it happens” approach. It happened a wee bit faster than I anticipated so it caught me a little off guard.
Over the years I’ve noticed a lot of my friends wanted (or had) their babies close together. I felt like a bit of an odd ball wanting to wait, as it seemed I was a bit of a minority. My son is so great but so very active and didn’t think I could handle another one until he was old enough to help me out a little bit. I am very blessed, as for the most part he’s such a good boy. But he has his toddler moments and these last few months have been a little tougher than I anticipated.
Why didn’t anyone tell me that the second pregnancy would be so much harder? Maybe they did, and I just didn’t listen. Or I just didn’t remember what it was like to be pregnant because it’s already been two and a half years. In any case, I don’t feel like I was prepared at all to feel the way I have lately. So I thought I’d write a few things about what to expect when you’re having your second child.
You’re Exhausted
I remember being tired when I was pregnant with Kendrick, but after work I could just go home and put my feet up until bed time. Now when I get home I need to entertain him, make dinner, spend time doing our bed time routine and putting him to bed, and clean up the hurricane that has taken over my living room. Needless to say some nights dinner is mac & cheese (at least it’s organic, right?) and the cleaning doesn’t get done. By the time he finally falls asleep, I’m ready for bed myself! I’m struggling at 2:00PM to stay awake at my desk too (it’s times like this where I wish I drank coffee).
Your Fuse is Short
So we all know pregnancy makes you hormonal. But holy smokes, this time I feel a lot more emotional than the last time! I find myself getting grumpy a lot quicker than before (and I’m not normally a very grumpy person). Things seem to bother me a lot quicker than normal, and I definitely have a short fuse. I then get frustrated with feeling that way and end up getting sad; the tears end up flowing more often than I’d like.
Your Belly Grows A Lot Faster
When I was pregnant with Kendrick, I didn’t have to wear maternity pants until I was about 7-8 months pregnant. I wore a belly band with my regular pants for quite awhile, so I didn’t end up investing a lot in maternity pants. This time, I’ve been wearing exclusively maternity pants since about 16-17 weeks. When we did our family trip to Disneyland in June I was only nine weeks pregnant at the time, but I was so bloated throughout my first trimester that I looked pregnant in a lot of the pictures we took.
You Stress
Things have gotten a little better now, but in the first half of my pregnancy I was worried about everything. Can we afford a family of four? Will I love this baby as much as I love our first? How will I manage caring for a toddler at the same time as a newborn? Will my toddler continue to learn as much as he is at daycare when he’s home with me and maybe not getting as much attention? So many questions! I have come to realize thought that things will work themselves out, and I’m trying not to stress as much as possible.
Baby Brain Comes Back in Full Force
I legitimately feel stupid sometimes. This week I was dialling a number and had to dial it five times to get it to go through. I kept looking at the sheet of paper and looking at the number on the phone and had no idea why I kept screwing it up because I couldn’t find the mistake. I also took a corner too close and scraped the side of my car on a pole, in a parking lot that I go into multiple times a week. Seriously!
Of course, keep in mind that all pregnancies are different, and these have just been a few of my experiences. In talking to others who’ve had another child, I was relieved to find out that a lot of them felt this way and it wasn’t just me! Note, this post isn’t meant to be a downer – children are so worth it and I know that when I have my little one I will forget all about these crazy moments. I am so grateful to be able to grow another human inside of me! I just didn’t realize the challenges that the pregnancy would bring me the second time around!
It’s a BOY! Special thanks to B and K Custom Cakes for making the adorable owl cake for our gender reveal!
The positive is my little guy has stopped napping on weekends which makes bed time super easy most nights, which means that I have more time to put my feet up and relax in the evenings before I go to bed. There is always a silver lining.
