How was your second pregnancy different from your first?

[sellotape12]

We are thinking of TTC, but I’m nervous. I didn’t enjoy pregnancy the first time round at all. My weight jumped so much in the last trimester that I went from clothes size 8 to a 14 post partum.
It took me a year to shift it even without breastfeeding. Obviously that’s normal but it really affected my sense of identity.
I also got bad pelvic girdle syndrome as I carried so big. Had to quit working early etc. And my skin was so puffy with water retention that people thought I’d had a bad Botox and lip fillers 😂 Plus lots of other things like snoring, nosebleeds and high BP, low iron that aren’t just about me being vain, I promise. I had an 8.5 lb baby boy who thankfully was healthy

I’m just wondering if there are any stories of hope where the second pregnancy was different? Or did you find it worse the second time round? I’m not sure what the science and medicine evidence is, i.e. do women tend to pick up the same symptoms and physical issues as you did the first time round?

Each of my 3 pregnancies have been different as were deliveries and labours, main massive difference is I was juggling work and a toddler with my second 😬

@LionalRichTea oh yes of course there will be that. How did you cope with the tiredness of the first trimester with a toddler running around? Or did you just have to get on with life a bit more with the second pregnancy?

I was pretty tired, not going to lie but think I was early 30’s so had a lot more energy in general I think! I had a 20 month gap between the first 2 as it took a few months to get pregnant with my first - second was straight away which caught me out a bit and third was a happy accident in my late 30’s - I was much more tired after that!

I think I was a lot less stressed with my second and third as knew kind of what to expect a bit more, I didn’t sweat the small stuff about pregnancy as much despite having high BP for the last few weeks, but I had support around me and that also helped a lot.