1st Pregnancy Vs 2nd Pregnancy

Pregnancy is a magical and life-changing time (unless you’re riddled with sickness, SPD and the like – then it’s not so wondrous) – but being pregnant with a second, or subsequent child, is entirely different than when carrying your first born – in both mind and body.

When you’re pregnant the first time you want to wrap yourself in cotton wool, you can rest when your body is telling you to do so and you have time to think about yourself and plan your glamorous maternity wardrobe. So what happens second time round? Well, firstly you have an attention sucking small person taking up every bit of your time giving you no time to even think about the next whirlwind that’s about to hit. There are also no lay-ins or Sunday snoozes on the sofa. But don’t be downbeat ladies, there are some positives – mainly forgetting about all of those old wives tales. Mine even featured a bit of brie. Naughty.
Here’s my take on Pregnancy One versus Pregnancy Two:

• Crave fizz, don’t drink it, daren’t even sniff it Vs Have a glass, heck even have two
• Scared to even sniff pate and can only salivate over the thought of soft cheese and runny eggs Vs Braves a slither of brie and a taster of terrine
• Feet up and naps on demand during the weekends Vs Chance would be a fine thing, unless you consider 6.30am a lie in
• Every moment spent wondering about your babies arrival Vs Forgetting you’re even pregnant whilst hotfooting it up the windy slide at soft play as your child has got herself stuck in the dark tubes of hell
• Knowing how many weeks, days, months there are until D-day Vs Barely even remembering D-day, let alone how many weeks you are/how many are left to go
• Keeping Amazon in business with book buying for every pregnancy trimester from conception to aged 16 Vs Completely neglecting your ‘What to Expect‘ app
• Being hospital bag, baby bag and car seat prepared Vs Sitting on the sofa praying the used before car seat hasn’t gone mouldy in the garage whilst wondering if it’s acceptable to bring a baby home naked & nappyless (note to self: must buy clothes asap)
• Wondering whether to leave work 3 or 4 weeks  before d-day Vs Leaving 4 days before D-day (if I make it that long…towels packed in desk drawers)
• Baby name sorted months in advance Vs Still not convinced on any name just two weeks away
• Taking tons of side profile belly pictures so you can ‘look back on them’ Vs ‘Do not point that camera anywhere near the direction of my swollen belly, arse and chins’
• Raiding the shelves and online shops for a full wardrobe of ‘stylish’ maternity clothes Vs Wearing the same pair of jeans from week 12…until weeks 3 post partum (thank you H&M)
• Raiding the shelves of every baby store to start building up their wardrobe Vs Having a boy, will be wearing firstborn’s (girl) hand-me-doen clothes for a while as have no time to go shopping.
• The worrying about EVERYTHING, babies moving too much, is it moving at all? The sweaty palms every time the midwife searched for a heartbeat on the antenatal checks. Google almost banned me for most frequent search of “Is it normal if….” Vs I’m worried about how we will find love to share with a brand new person – read my blog about this here, oh – and my favourite – sleep deprivation.
• Eating fairly healthy meals with lots of vegetables whilst religiously taking folic acid and every other vitamin recommended Vs I’m never being pregnant again, I’ll never get a good enough excuse to eat everything in sight again. Shares in MacDonald’s shoot up for 9 months.
• Have the nursery set up and decorated, clothes washed, ironed and hung up in brand new wardrobe, changing unit stocked up with nappies and every type of wipe, cream and balm Vs Moving house a week before due date, no nursery ready and no wardrobe to hang his unwashed, straight out the pack Sainsbury’s basics babygros