Thoughts on my second pregnancy

Now that I am two months away from my due date {31 weeks and counting}, I thought I would reflect for a few minutes on what this pregnancy has been like compared to my first one.

Food: While I wasn’t really sick with either pregnancy, my food aversions have been stronger this time. Actually, it’s not so much that certain foods don’t sound good, it’s just really hard to find food that does sound good. Overall, I have not loved eating meats and veggies throughout this whole pregnancy, which is funny because Micah has conveniently switched to a more Paleo-esque diet since Christmas. One night recently, we had fish and roasted veggies for dinner. I ate the meal, although it did not sound at all appetizing, but by 9:00pm I was desperately baking biscuits for a late night carb-snack. 

My cravings this pregnancy are similar but not the same as last time. With Zianne, I could not get enough cheese during my first trimester. I would eat macaroni and cheese all the time, and I would pick up a new wedge of specialty cheese from Trader Joe’s every single week and devour it with crackers. This time around I craved a different kind of cheese  – the fake kind served at Taco Bell. I felt a bit nauseated this pregnancy weeks 8-12, and the only thing that sounded good to me was T-Bell nachos… multiple times a week. Since then my appetite has thankfully gotten more normal. During my pregnancy with Zianne, I loved sweet drinks like lemonade and Italian sodas; this time around it’s smoothies. I still want the sweetness I guess, but I want my drinks to be think and creamy and made with real fruit. The other thing I’ve craved this pregnancy is cake donuts. Usually, I choose raised donuts over cake, but over the past few months I prefer a plain cake donut with no frosting. If I’m out and about and getting hungry, I will go through the Dunkin’ Donuts drive-thru for one plain donut. So strange.

Exercise: I am trying to document my running a bit better on Instagram this time, so if I’m ever pregnant again I can look back and see how much I was running at certain points during pregnancy. When I got pregnant with Z, I never ran more than 2.5 miles, but this pregnancy I ran two 5Ks during my first trimester. As soon as I finished the second race at nine weeks, I began to taper off on my speed and distance. I actually think I cut back my mileage sooner this pregnancy, but I am still running at a faster pace than last pregnancy, I just dropped below a ten minute mile in the past few weeks. I’ve now reached my goal of running up until two months before my due date, but I’ll probably keep jogging for a few more weeks as long as my hips don’t bother me. Speaking of…

Aches and pains: With Zianne, I experienced extreme hip problems at the end of my pregnancy, to the point that I could barely walk for a few weeks. This time, I am trying to be more conscious of my hips – running less, resting more, and visiting the chiropractor every four weeks as a preventive measure. In some ways, I feel like my hips are bothering me more this pregnancy, but it might just be because I am paying more attention this time. As long as I can keep the pain under control, I will consider it better than what happened last pregnancy. This time around my feet are also bothering me more. The balls of my feet get so sore that I can’t walk around the house barefoot by the end of the day. Even though it’s in the 80s outside, you will often see me wearing my slippers for extra padding. Last pregnancy, I only got sick once {right after my due date and I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to push out the baby with the world’s worst head cold}, but this pregnancy I spent virtually all winter sick. I picked up everything Zianne got {cold, flu, cold, etc.} and my pregnant body just couldn’t fight it. I have finally been feeling better for the past month or so, after being constantly sick since early December.

Nesting: Nesting…what’s that? With both my babies, I’ve been a little late on the preparation game, which might be in part because we haven’t known the gender and decorating is more fun once you know. With Zianne, we moved into our new house when I was 28 weeks pregnant, so it seemed silly to do a lot of prep before that time. With this baby, I just haven’t had time to think about it. Actually, I have a general plan for what I’d like, but I don’t have time to execute it. One of my main goals right now is to get a draft of my dissertation finished before this baby arrives, so I’d rather get 300 words written during nap time than pick out art prints for the baby’s walls. However, I am committed to getting the new baby’s room painted white in the next few weeks {it’s currently beige}, so I finally took everything off the walls this weekend and covered the furniture with plastic {it’s currently our guest room}. Progress!

Bonding: I know a lot of moms worry about bonding with their second-born, but I just don’t. I know I love this baby dearly, and yet I know things will be different this time around as I split my time and attention between two kids. Second-born children are different from firstborns for a reason, and I am so excited to watch this baby’s personality develop and to see the specific ways being a younger sibling helps shape his or her gifts and talents. I’m also thrilled that I won’t be working during the newborn stage this time around and will have two whole months to bond and nurse and recover and NOT check my email, which was not the case with Zianne. And just to note: I’ve been staying true to my commitment to document this pregnancy. I’ve still taken fairly consistent bump pictures, and I’ve started a prayer journal for this baby as well.