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I recently gave birth to my second child. My pregnancies were VERY different. I am going to break down for you exactly what made them each so different.
Attention and Excitement
With the first pregnancy there is a level of excitement, attention, and focus that just can’t be replicated with subsequent pregnancies. It doesn’t mean you are less excited about welcoming baby #2 you just can’t replicate a feeling.
With the first pregnancy, you give so much focus and attention to every detail. It is likely the biggest thing going on in your life at the time.
You are concerned with having a baby shower, creating a baby registry, and getting prepared.
Your body is also going through this for the first time. You are likely doing research and learning along the way.
With the second pregnancy, we had a toddler to keep us busy. Our life and home were so much busier this time around. We weren’t just sitting around as a couple talking and dreaming about our baby. We were running around entertaining, teaching, and caring for a toddler.
During the second pregnancy, you don’t freak out over every little symptom. You know what to expect for the most part.
I will say one area we spent way more time on during the second pregnancy was deciding a name. With our first baby, we had a boy and girl name by 18 weeks. With baby #2 we were still working on it up to the last minute.
Part of this was due to the fact we already used a name we loved. Coming up with a second name could be harder. Side note-with both pregnancies the gender was a surprise until delivery.
Once again we also had this toddler that kept us busy. We simply didn’t have as much time to sit around talking about name options.
We are thankful for both our babies and excited for them to join us in the world. You just can’t recreate the feelings you had the first time around. That first baby is the one that really rocks and changes your world forever. They are the one that makes you parents.
When it comes to attention and excitement I would say the first time around was more fun.
Physical Symptoms
Here is the interesting part. What physical symptoms did I experience with one pregnancy but not the other?
Let’s start with my first pregnancy. My first indicator of pregnancy was immediately my boobs got huge and were so sensitive. It hurt to put on a bra level of sensitivity. It was crazy.
In the beginning, I felt decent overall. I had aversions to eating meat and leftovers. I could touch or prepare the food though. I just lacked the desire to eat it. I enjoyed carbs and craved pasta. Also, Chick-Fil-A always sounded good.
I didn’t eat a ton in my first trimester and it took me a while to gain my first pound.
During my first and second trimesters which took place over the summer, I experienced crazy migraines. They made me almost instantly vomit and made me exhausted for the entire day. I was super light-sensitive and just wanted to go to bed. If I was able to that is exactly what I did. This happened around 10 times in total. These were the only times I vomited. I never did from morning sickness.
It also took me a long time to get stretch marks. I was doing pretty well and then one day my husband noticed them on the underside of my belly. I just couldn’t see them very well.
I gained 25 pounds during my first pregnancy. By the time I had my baby, which came 10 days late, I felt huge and uncomfortable. I don’t know how women who gain 50 pounds can manage or sleep at all!
Ok, that wraps up the symptoms I experienced during my first pregnancy.
Now on to pregnancy #2!
This pregnancy was different and in my opinion worse.
By far the main reason it felt worse was my constant pain. I first started with some lower back pain around 8 weeks. Clearly, this wasn’t because my belly or baby was large.
My pain then turned into pelvic floor pain. This happened very early on.
It is difficult to describe.
What I told my husband was that it felt like somebody kicked me in the crotch yesterday while wearing boots and I am incredibly sore. It was hard to describe where exactly. It was just somewhere inside my body.
More common issues you can read about online with pelvic floor pain are that it hurts or is difficult to roll over in bed, get in and out of vehicles, and put on pants one leg at a time. I experienced pain in all of these areas. Rolling over in bed was the most difficult.
It felt like my hips were screaming and all I wanted to do was get comfortable.
Again this has nothing to do with the size of your belly.
When it comes to food and aversions I was way less sensitive this time. I still didn’t love meat or leftovers, but not as strongly. I didn’t crave pasta as strongly, but it did sound good. Things just weren’t as strong in this area.
I often felt the need to eat breakfast. I just felt depleted without it. My energy was very low at times. I took iron supplements to help combat this issue.
A couple of random things happened such as shooting nerve pain up my left leg and hip as well as a few leg cramps. The leg cramps usually happened in bed when stretching out my legs.
With this second pregnancy, I only gained 20 pounds.
For a quick comparison, my first pregnancy had more short-term issues such as food aversions and migraines. My second pregnancy came with constant pain. It wore on me over time. This is why I would say my second pregnancy was more difficult.
Mental Preparation
With both of my births, I loved the idea of a natural delivery in a hospital.
During my first pregnancy, I spent time reading and learning different strategies. I really believed in myself and my ability to deliver my baby naturally. At about 9 cm and an entire day on Pitocin, I caved and got the epidural.
With my second pregnancy, I did not MAKE time to prepare for labor and delivery. I am not going to say I did HAVE the time. You choose how you delegate your time.
I simply was not prepared. During my second pregnancy, I struggled the entire time with pelvic floor pain.
After being in pain for so much of my pregnancy I just couldn’t do it during labor. Somewhere between 6 and 8 cm, I got the epidural.
I was more at peace with my decision on getting the epidural with baby #2. With baby #1 I was quite disappointed in myself.
My first pregnancy involved a lot more mental preparation for birth.
Conclusion
I am thankful to have had the ability to carry two babies to full term. I feel very blessed and honored to be their momma.
I realize it may sound like I am complaining about each of my pregnancies. I am simply laying out how they were each difficult in their own ways and very different from each other.
Pregnancy and birth are amazing things that never seem to go exactly to plan.
I hope what I have shared with you may be helpful in your pregnancy journeys. Being pregnant was a difficult, yet amazing part of my life.
Good luck in your pregnancy journey!
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