coping with pg and baby

[widdly]

Just wondering how you beautiful pregnant mummas with small children coped with first trimester symptoms (mainly m/s, exhaustion and fainting)? We ttc for 3 months from when DS was 5 months old, then i freaked out about coping with early pg and baby.

Honest answers would be much appreciated. We want another one and DH really wants a small gap, so just need to stop freaking and learn to relax and go with the flow, finding it really hard to do though....

[Tobily]

It's good that you're thinking about this ahead of time! Big pat on the back for that

I'm another one who found it really hard. With my DD I was only mildly sick from 6-10 weeks and then I felt great for the rest of the pregnancy. I stupidly assumed that it would be the same next time and when it wasn't (I was really sick from 6-14 weeks) it was a rude shock.
DH basically took care of our DD at home while my main responsibility was to keep getting my butt out of bed or off the couch and go to work. Where I was pretty useless anyway LOL.
It's hard and my suggestion is to make sure you have some strategies in place to make it easier beforehand. Line up all the help you can get.

[widdly]

thanks heaps shannon, just read through your thread. im just such a sook, i always make things wat worse in my head than they really are!

[Cherryrose]

I got pregnant with my second child 6 weeks after having my first - and it wasnt an accident! I found it OK in the first trimester as I didnt have m/s but I was tired and I did have to ask for help at times from nearest and dearest. I found the third trimester very hard, as i didnt drive and i had to catch buses everywhere whilst heavily pregnant, clutching a stroller and a child under a year old whilst experiencing the most annoying Braxton Hicks which made my stomach feel like a rock hard football. Lovely.
Seriously, though, just try and rest when you can and ask for help. And make DH do the housework.

[visitor1]

Dh and i are now TTC but not going out of our way. If it happens it happens. My DD is now 10 weeks old....Was thinking AF was due round now...but not appeared....so its possbile im already pg again. My DH and i want a large family so our gaps will be small. I just hope it doesnt impact on our kids. I used to think i wouldnt have enough love for them all... but now i know i just make my love bigger. I have a great hubby so we will manage...and so will you!! Goodluck!!!

Cherryrose- Did you have any negative comments from others about falling PG so soon after your first child?? I guess thats something playing on my mind.

[Krisvee]

Hi Elissa! Yeah I wasn't sick as such 2nd time around - probably only had nausea for a week and a half..but I was a real couch potato...It was enough to deal with Louis and I was working (my own business but only about 10-15h per week) 2nd tri was good and I actually feel like I'm having a burst of energy at the moment as well so the 3rd tri "over it" stage hasn't kicked in yet...
I would be happy to have the same gap again in the future....(although I haven't had Dylan yet..hehe!)

[*Rae*]

I have to admit i found it a struggle in the 1st tri. Every pooey nappy made me gag, i'd be vommiting in the toilet with a crawling little girl trying to get her hands in it. My milk supply decreased and i had to drop to one feed a day - and now nothing I was sooooo incredibly tired and felt guilty about the lack of energy and effort i made for my DD because i was so used to giving her more.

Now that i'm mid 2nd tri i'm feeling much better but there are other issues i'd never considered such as:
~ feeling pressured to move DD into a bed earlier than i'd hoped as we just couldn't justify spending money on another cot
~ buying another carseat cause DD is still too little for a booster (but i found the S&S Maxirider which is like a 2in1 - yay)
~ needing to buy a double pram cause DD will still be too small to walk on her own all the time.
~ 2nd preg hasn't gone to plan as it was discovered that bub has a hole in heart, therefore i'm pretty much having weekly appointments with either OB, specialists, scans... and need to organise carers for DD or drag her along with me. This has been draining and time consuming.

The list goes on. I'm not at all suggesting that people should wait longer but i know for myself that i let my hormones get in the way of my rational thoughts and rushed into this pregnancy without considering everything. I definately do not have any regrets and am very excited about my two daughters being so close in age as they'll have a wonderful relationship, i'm sure, but if i could turn back time i think i would have waited another 6 months.

Good luck - and i'm sure that whatever decision you make will suit your family, needs and capabilities

[*becstar*]

In my experience, it is tough going sure, but you learn to cope. I had all the negative comments, and still do and was absolutely terified I wouldn't be able to cope. I had no family around to help, it was just DH and I. We did cope and we did get things going and I even went back to work when the new bub was 3 months old. I look back now and wonder how I did it. I worked through my p/g too. I just used to do the bare minimum, DH helped out and I used to sleep when DS did, we often snoozed on the couch together! If not I used to lay on the floor and just lightly doze while he crawled around/on me. My whole point is that yes it will be tough but you will cope. Once routines etc. are established you just get on with life as you know it. I don't regret it at all now, my kids are great mates and most of the time they are happy to play together. To be honest I really struggled the first 2 or 3 weeks after DD was born but once I got my head around it all and got sorted we all coped much better! Follow your heart, if it's what you want do it. But a big pat on the back for stopping to think about it, I didn't! Good luck with whatever road you take!

[widdly]

thank you so much everyone! thankyou for sharing your honest feelings with me.

Rae - i have been stalking ur preg journal and often think of u during the day and hope that u are and little Tia are doing well. Big hugs u brave strong mum

kim - how large are u talking? i just noticed that u are the same age as me, plenty of time for lots of bubs, goodlluck i hope it happens again for you very soon.

anyone got any tips for keeping energy up? (apart from getting off the computer and getting some sleep) i have seen a lot of u on Elevit, is it really that great?

[visitor1]

Large as in 4-6 kiddies! I said 4 max....but i know ill go the full hog. Family is the world to us. Im sure ill need alot of energy then!!!

For the moment to keep my energy up i try to get as much sleep as i can, keep taking vitamins, fruit and vegies and lotsa water. Try to get out as much as possible... but take daily rests!!! LOL

[Meluchja]

Widdley,
My little girl was only 3months old when we conceived our second little bubba. We were trying to conceive but thought it would take a little longer as I was still B/F, so we were aiming for conception on month 3-4, not really the 1st month. But we were happy & blessed with what we now know is our little man.
It was hard when DD awoke a couple of times during the night, but I honestly think that it would be easier while they are younger than older when they are not crawling or running about, as they still stay where you leave them, they still have 2-5 sleeps a day so you can rest up too. And as I'm hoping the closer than are when they hit the terrible 2's, we will hopefully only have to go through them once not twice, well I have been told this anyway, from another mother who has now got a 3&4 year old. Plus there might be a better chance of them getting along more when they are alot older, as they will grow up together, again just another thing we are hoping for.
What ever you decide I hope you get what you want.
Sorry if I couldn't help you out.

[*Rae*]

Lol Elissa - stalk away...and thanks heaps for your lovely thoughts!

[Cherryrose]

Dh and i are now TTC but not going out of our way. If it happens it happens. My DD is now 10 weeks old....Was thinking AF was due round now...but not appeared....so its possbile im already pg again. My DH and i want a large family so our gaps will be small. I just hope it doesnt impact on our kids. I used to think i wouldnt have enough love for them all... but now i know i just make my love bigger. I have a great hubby so we will manage...and so will you!! Goodluck!!!

Cherryrose- Did you have any negative comments from others about falling PG so soon after your first child?? I guess thats something playing on my mind.

Well everyone immediately presumed it was an accident and we had been 'careless'. I would tell them it was planned and they would look in horror, as if to say 'who would want to do something as silly as that?'. I used to get a lot of looks too IYKWIM.
At the end of the day people can say and think what they like, I really couldnt care less. This is my life and Im the one who has to live it. I wanted my eldest to have someone to grow up with and play with, I never had that as a child as my only sibling, my brother was 12 years older than me and married by the time I was 7.
I have never regretted it. It makes me laugh that for one month of the year those 2 girls are the same age! They were very close (although they fight now) and I loved them being small together. It was hard work but sometimes special things require a bit of effort.
Good luck in whatever you decide