Was it everything you thought it would be? - Page 2

[finnegansmom]

My pregnancy was fairly perfect - no issues, except I gained a little bit (umm, like 30 pounds) MORE than I wanted. Oppsie. But I felt much better than with #1. And so must less swelling. My delivery and labor was awesome. It totally made up for the debacle of delivery for #1. Even nursing has gone off without a hitch... I guess my nipples were already broken in, since ds#1 literally weaned a month or two before #2's birth... :-)

[JessicaS]

I had a lot of issues. My first pregnancy was easy this one was hellish. Ds also had some issues.



Also unexpected is how VERY DIFFICULT it is to prevent older siblings to stop smooching on the baby while they are sleeping.

"Leave the baby alone" "Please don't bother the baby" "It just took me an hour to get that baby to sleep! NnnnnNooooooO!OO!OO!O!"

[pazerific]

Originally Posted by abimommy

Also unexpected is how VERY DIFFICULT it is to prevent older siblings to stop smooching on the baby while they are sleeping.

"Leave the baby alone" "Please don't bother the baby" "It just took me an hour to get that baby to sleep! NnnnnNooooooO!OO!OO!O!"

same here! dd1 LOVES her baby sister, and wants to play ring around the rosie with her, which means grabbing her hands and yanking on them like crazy.

but as far as the thread goes...

pg: easier than with dd1 in the sense that i felt less sick in the 1st tri, and suffered less back pain in the 2nd and 3rd. harder with heartburn though. with dd1 i had to pop some tums every now and then. with dd2 i ended up waking up choking on vomit on a regular basis. it got to the point where i had to get a script for prevacid. but i figure it was b/c dd2 was 2# heavier than dd1 and about 1.5in longer. that's a lot more baby, and a lot less room for my stomach.

labor & birth: soooooo much easier than i could have ever hoped for! it went so fast and it was so wonderful to just be with DH and work through it. i was so loud during dd2's birth compared to dd1 (i really didn't make any noise with dd1), but i didn't voluntarily push with dd2 at all. my body did it all in about 5 pushes. it was great. my placenta took forever to come out, and i really couldn't muster a push, but it was great to not feel pressured by my MWs.

bfing: dd2 was a champion nurser from the start, and i didn't get nearly as engorged as i did with dd1. we had a sore start, but dd2 has a mild tounge tie that just needed time to loosen up. she's not nearly as barfy as dd1 was, so that's a real treat too.

pp: it's been pretty good. a lot less stress with DH than the 1st time around. i didn't get as much help as i had hoped from ppl other than DH though. my 2 bffs promised to be over and helping out lots, but have been too busy with their families and lives to help out as much as they'd said they would. it's ok, i don't hold it against them or anything, but i've just been on my own a lot more than i thought i would be. i started taking zoloft this week b/c i've been having a hard time with anxiety, but that's nothing new with me. i've struggled with low seratonin levels for the past 10 years, but i'm feeling really good now.

overall, i'm really happy with everything. i'm left feeling like i'm just not sure that we're done having kids. for now i told DH that i'm not even thinking about another baby until 3 conditions are met, then having one more might have to come up for consideration.

the 3 conditions:
1. be extremely financially stable (we're nowhere near that now)
2. dd2 has to be CLWed and totally PLed
3. my sister has to be pg or trying to become pg (she's not even dating anyone right now, so this one is rather far off)

[elf]

pregnancy: not at all what I had thought it would be. WAY HARDER. Preterm labor, hospitalized, Magnesium, bedrest.

Labor: WAY better than I thought it would be. Never thought it would be fun.

Postpartum healing: WAY HARDER than I thought it would be. My downtown got a huge hematoma and an infection. SO much pain and exhaustion from that for a good 2 weeks.

Breastfeeding: Easier than I thought however I never even considered that I would have a supply issue. I didn't even know that something like that existed.

Life with a babe: WAY HARDER THAN I THOUGHT. I can honestly say she hardly slept for 5 weeks. It was almost like I was a crack mom or something and she was coming off of something (of course that wasn't the case). She would just lay there and fuss or cry with her eyes extremely wide open. Kind of freaky actually. Then at 6 weeks the real crying began. Finally at 13 weeks she was diagnosed with reflux and we started some meds---much better since then.
I love her to bits but man were the first 13 weeks hard. Oh--plus I had to go back to work at 6 weeks PP b/c of previous bedrest.
However I am right on the edge of PPD so that really sucks.

[delightedbutterfly]

PG: pretty much what I expected... not without it's pains and grumbles but not terrible.

L&D: I went into labour by myself this time! And I had learned so much from on here and researching birth that I felt SOO much in control and I loved it. A bit held back with the midwife as we didn't agree on everything but she never MADE me do anything I didn't want... Much to her annoyment but she just accepted and dealt with it. And she knew going in that I was adament on MANY things and she still accepted it and myself as a patient.

Baby: Everyone kept telling me that my first was SO AMAZING that this one would be my terror... And I told them nope they had no way of knowing and the baby would be GREAT. And she's EASIER than my first!

PP: I think I was slightly depressed after DD1's birth and since she was born something "big" seemed to be happening ever since... and it hasn't stopped... I'm definately stressed out and dealing with some self esteem issues that have dated many many many years back but I have such a great husband he brings me such happiness. And I didn't have an uterine infection a week later this time, we didn't have any problems nursing (DD1 weaned in about my 5-6 month), and I didn't have any organs removed at 6 weeks this time (gallbladder last time) or the pain for the weeks before knowing what it was. And we moved while I was pregnant NOT just PP and Post surgery... However I still haven't unpacked or gotten full settled...