To I could have an easier pregnancy second time round

[Babypassport]

Before I got pregnant for the first time I was fairly healthy - gentle exercise most days and something more strenuous once or twice a week, bmi of 25, BP of 120/80, mostly healthy diet.

During pregnancy my BP dropped to 80/50, I developed mild anemia and SPD, and save for a waddle round the block every day to preserve my mental health, I was pretty much laid up from 6 months onwards. Incredibly dizzy and tired all the time. Baby was absolutely fine, thank goodness, which is of course the main thing.

Thinking about starting to try for another in a year's time or so, and hoping that if I'm lucky enough to get pregnant again that there may be ways to avoid the issues I had in the first pregnancy.

AIBU to think I could prepare myself better to minimise the risk of another tiring pregnancy?

Not sure how helpful this would be or true this is but I have heard that second pregnancy is usually easier as your body is more familiar with the process and that you'll be too busy with your young baby to take a lot of notice of the wearing symptoms.

Thanks Jane. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it's true! It's certainly true that I have had to be more pragmatic about feeling unwell now I have a child; even with gastroenteritis I had to just carry on, which I would have deemed impossible before!

I've just had my second and the only main difference was the tiredness. Way more tired second time around. I did get SPD but as pp said I really didn't have the time to focus on it with a toddler in the mix, I just got on with things. The birth was super fast second time around and as a result I had a PPH but if that hadn't happened....my recovery would have been a lot easier as no stitches this time.

I so understand where you're coming from, and I wanted to offer you support. We find ourselves in the sam predicament and also worry about how it will affect our first child if I were to be ill long term again even though I currently am still suffering from the pregnancy

Thanks chaps. It's not something that will put me off trying for another baby, though yep I do worry about how it would affect my child if I wasn't in good shape.

Just hoping that getting really healthy before a pregnancy might help, though I'm not sure that hypotension can be avoided!

Hypnotension may or may not happen again. Drinking lots and lots with an excellent diet can help if it does tho x

Folic acid and iron supplements as a preventative could help.

*hypo

I've heard second pregnancies are usually easier wrt nausea and sickess. But I'd have thought SPD would be more likely, just through cumulative effect.

I had a horrendous pg with ds1. Pre-eclampsia, inductions, awful labour and birth, after problems etc.

With ds2 I sailed through...not a sign of PE which I was high risk for, easy birth of 3 hours, out the next day.

Can you get iron supplements over the counter? The doctor didn't prescribe me any last time as I wasn't anemic enough

I don't want to sound like a negative Nancy but my experience is different to the pp's, although my DS is nearly 7 so I've not been pregnant for a long time.

Last time I was fairly energetic, had little on the way of nausea/sickness and heartburn and managed with life just fine. I did gain a shit load of weight though.

This time I've gained hardly any weight but have suffered from sciatica and SPD, have to carry heartburn and indigestion tablets with me at all cost, have more heartburn medicine beside my bed, am extremely nauseous and have been sick more often (36 weeks and it's still going strong), have developed mild anemia and I am shattered.

It depends entirely on the pregnancy, but if you truly want another baby then 9 months is not a long time to suffer (even though it has us wanting to smoke the wee darlings out come the end).

My third pregnancy has been by far my easiest. For some reason all the problems that I had last time haven't struck this time. The only thing I have found is that my morning sickness has got worse with each pregnancy.

Im currently 32 weeks with a giant baby plus dealing with school runs, a 7 yo and a 15 month old who doesn't sleep much but I'm feeling relatively okay (touch wood).

Every pregnancy is different, and you'll probably be better equipped to cope with the negative bits second time around as you've done it before (and have dc1 a a distraction!) But unfortunately it's no guarantee that the second is easier. My second pregnancy has been far, far harder than the first. Sickness much more often and violent, spd earlier and worse and of course the tiredness is a whole new level.

I hope your experience is much better!

I had a horrendous first pregnancy...

I really struggled with thinking about a second pregnancy.

My second pregnancy i breezed through despite being pregnant with twins and having a todlar i felt absolutely amazing and full of energy. It was only a week before they were born i actually had to slow down abit more due to the size i looked like a whale than anything

Sorry to be so negative but my second pregnancy was so much harder... exhausted and awful nausea from 6-16 weeks with some sickness, SPD and heartburn which started just after morning sickness eased and then obstetric cholestasis for the last 6 weeks with an induction at 36 weeks. I had much milder morning sickness and SPD pain in my first pregnancy but everything was so much harder second time around trying to look after a 18mo too.

Every pregnancy is different though and I guess you won't know what's going to happen until you're pregnant. Hope it'll be better for you!

My SPD was worse the second time.
My anaemia was better second time.
My blood pressure issues less severe (I had hypertension rather than hypotension though). Keeping hydrated and eating well will help with that.
Heartburn was about the same both times.
I had less random minor illnesses the second time and felt generally healthier.

Each pregnancy is different, no way to predict.

YANBU of course you could, every pregnancy is different :)

Dont rely on old wives tales though. My second pregnancy was much worse than my first despite being in better health beforehand. I had SPD first time around but it started earlier and was more severe this time. I also ended up with HG which left me with my head in the toilet for atleast 3 hours a day along with constant nausea, motion sickness and was in and out of the hospital to be put on a drip or for random bowel issues resulting in enema's

Unfortunately i think pregnancy is just luck of the draw and you won't know how you'll cope until it's happening

Spd yejds to get worse with ea h pregnancy. I found a great deal of help with the pain from cranial osteopathy . Having said that my 2nd pregnancy was by far the easiest even with spd

My second and third pregnancies were so much easier than my first and fourth. It seems that for me being pregnant with a girl is fine but being pregnant with a boy makes me suffer.
The tiredness with my fourth was horrific but obviously with 3 other children there's not much time to rest!
Like a pp said, 9 months isn't that long in the grand scheme of things if you do want another.

With regard to SPD, it is 50/50 as to whether it will reoccur. You can't prevent it but you can begin the foundations of managing before pregnancy with pilates. I still suffer with a version of SPD called osteitis pubis. I am not pregnant and ds is nine. I manage it for the most part with pilates and it has improved considerably. It is affected by hormone fluctuations though so I suspect pregnancy will give me SPD much earlier than 20 weeks if I have another.

I'm on number 4 and they have got progressively worse, especially in terms of SPD. It's a million times harder when you have other children to consider with school-runs etc. Do you have family support nearby?

I would try to get into as good shape as you can before you get pregnant. Sorry to be negative, but my first pregnancy was fairly OK (some morning sickness, tiredness, anemia), but the second one has been unbelievably difficult (hyperemesis, constant infections, crippling fatigue, migraines). I for some reason had the idea it would be easier because my body would know what to do, but it's been ten times harder.

Well, it's always good to be in a better shape but I don't know how much impact that will have on the pregnancy. I was in brilliant shape before having my first - 5 hours of martial arts a week plus cardio training. Healthy food, lots of sleep.

I had an awful 1st pregnancy. 9 months of being sick every day and so much pain from ligaments etc..

The second was worse. 9 months of being sick every day (despite getting medication this time around). Plus insomnia. Plus exhaustion left over from looking after a toddler who still woke 7-8 times a night. Plus, at the end, a bit of SPD.

I hate being pregnant.