The Ins and Outs of Pregnancy Part 2

Here we go again!!! Too lazy to write about my first pregnancy and too
tired to write about the second ... until now!!!

So here I am. UTD again. How did this happen? I'm blaming a combination of Christmas cheer (ok, wine), the Queensland floods, and me not paying enough attention in Year 11 science when we studied the female menstrual cycle (or in any other class to be honest, but that particular one seems rather important right now).

Anyway a lot of you probably already know this, but things are sure different the second time ... not worse necessarily, just different.

I would never go as far to say that being pregnant was easy the first time around. But I don't think many would disagree that having a toddler to care for adds a whole extra path to the pregnancy journey.

For example, early in Pregnancy Part 1 I was tired and exhausted so at 5pm I would be snug in bed watching TV shows for tweens on ABC.

Early in Pregnancy Part 2: This Time it's Personal I was also tired and exhausted but at 5pm I would be dishing up some pumpkin-based mush to an unwilling 11-month-old (let's call him Outside Baby) while trying not to dry retch at the mere smell/thought of it.

And by 5.30pm I'd be on my hands and knees scraping 90 per cent of it off the kitchen floor.

And I've only got one Outside Baby to look after - massive kudos to all my fellow preggos with two or more little ones at their (swollen) feet!

The other difference is that in Pregnancy Part 1 I had ample time to read up about my 'condition' - dutifully checking to see which fruit/vegetable my unborn child resembled each week. Now I barely remember how many weeks pregnant I am. Sometimes, usually while reaching for the brie, I forget that I am pregnant at all.

But just because I'm not reading up on every aspect of my UTDness, doesn't mean I know it all! There are plenty of new things I've learned second time around ...

These include, but aren't limited to, the following:

1. If you're making your toddler a peanut butter sandwich and it slips off the bench don't attempt to catch it using your growing stomach.
   
   
2. It is really cute when your toddler lifts up your shirt to press on your now-deformed navel. It is significantly less funny when he does it while you're at the check-out paying for the groceries.
   
   
3. It is hard to pee 50 times a day without waking your toddler who is asleep on the opposite side of the wall to the toilet.
   
   
4. It doesn't hurt when your unborn baby kicks you in the middle of the night. But it does hurt when your co-sleeping toddler does it as well - especially if he gets you in the jugular.
   

And, I'm sure there are plenty more examples ... but I want to know what did you learn during your second pregnancy?

Thanks!

BH Editor


Oh - and for the sake of this blog - I just checked and at 22 weeks, 2 days (yikes already?), Inside Baby is now as big as a Papaya (20.32cm, 540g). Cute ... except paw-paw gives me indigestion (coincidence? I don't think so!)

Now where did I hide those Fruit Tingles ... ?

Useful links:

Acupuncture during pregnancy

17 natural remedies for morning sickness

Bub Hub 40-week pregnancy calendar

Choosing baby names - baby name finder