While my husband and I have discussed it several time and we both agreed that we would prefer not to have another child for at least two more years, I have begun to preparing myself mind body and soul for the next one. I learned a lot about myself, my body and my limitations during my first pregnancy. There are several things that I would love to repeat and a lot of things that I do not want to have to go through again.
I guess some where along the line I didn’t take it to seriously when the instructed me to start preparing my body 3 months before pregnancy the first time. I took for granted a lot of stuff that I did, ate and thought about and prepared for. While there are some things that are out of my control and very likely inevitable to happen again, i.e. my cervix being weak and dilated way to early causing me to be on bed rest for most part of my pregnancy, there are some things that I can start to prepare for an eventually avoid completely if done right.
Weight Gain
The biggest thing that I would like a better handle on for the next pregnancy is my weight gain. By charts standards and certainly my own personal opinion I gained far too much weight during my first pregnancy. I went up a total of forty five pounds from conception to delivery. That is ten plus pounds more then I should have. I am sure that it didn’t help that for the last 16 weeks of the pregnancy I was confined to a bed, that was no excuse. I know what I ate and what I didn’t eat and I did not make the wisest dietary decisions.
Perineum Tearing
So they say that once it happens, it is bone to repeat but I want to prove them wrong. My husband and I did start some of the recommendations for stretching and preparing the area for delivery but I don’t think we started early enough. Plan of action for baby number two, start from the first day that I pee on a stick and it smiles back at me.
Labor Plan
I know no birth experience will ever go 100% the way that you plan or hope but it is far better to enter with a plan than to wing it as things go. My husband and I did have some what of a birth plan made up about a month before delivery but I don’t think we did as good of a job expressing the plan to our delivery staff.
Emotional Roller Coaster
While it is literally impossible to be completely prepared for all the emotional changes that come with baby, a little forethought goes a long way. My life dynamic and living situation is going to be completely different for the next baby as it was for my first. While life is ever changing and evolving I will have to be in a constant state of preparation and looking ahead to how the timing of the pregnancy, whenever it happens, will effect what life circumstances I am facing and quickly adjust. My personal readiness, how the new baby will impact our family, my marriage, and work are the overwhelming factors to consider in advance.
Sibling Rivalry
Tied in with the potential emotional roller ahead is the fact that not only do my husband and I have to prepare each other for the welcoming of a new person into our family but we will have to educate and prepare our son also. I have to consider what age they will be when the newborn comes home. I am hoping that he will be old enough to understand and accept the family change. But that may not be a realistic expectation because each child is different. I do know for myself that I do not feel I am capable handling two young children that are at very close in age. I can barely handle the one right now.
Work Related
The last time I was pregnant I had the benefit of staying home throughout the entire pregnancy and for the first five months of his life I was a stay at home mother to my son. However that has all changed now. I can’t predict the future but I feel pretty secure in my current job and do not foresee be being a stay at home mom any time soon. So when we are expecting our second child we will have to look at and reconsider how the work force dynamic will change how we prepare and plan to bring a child into the world.
These areas of life are the different concerns on my heart right now. As time goes on this list may change but I think it is a good start. How did you prepare for your first or second child? Did you do more or less preparation with a second child? Would love to know what others did differently.
