Things they don't mention about second (or third, or fourth or fifth....) pregnancies.....

[HeadFairy]

Inspired by the other thread...

No one told me the stretching pains would be so much stronger than the first time... surely I've stretched enough already? My uterus must be like a saggy plastic bag.

You'll be eyeing up maternity clothes about three seconds after you've peed on that stick.

I'm only 14 weeks in so there's got to be some more...

Sweetkitty, absolutely agree about being scared of labour the next time round - sometimes ignorance really is bliss!!!

PMSL @ smiley vomiting. I'd forgotten that.

"Mummy's fine!! Mummy's just being a little bit sick and then we're going to get your colouring books out!! That'll be fun won't it!! Yes of course I can put Ariel's tail on for her!!"

pmsl.

"mummy's just burping a bit. you burp sometimes too don't you! would you like some raisins?"

Pmsl at thought of vomiting into a nappy bag.

I have a bigger gap this time, but given how I feel at the moment, i have no idea how I managed to get through the last pregnancy while still changing nappies on ds1. The very thought makes me want to barf.

Was great when dd was little and I was pg with ds, because she thought me throwing up was the funniest thing in the world - could be guaranteed to raise a laugh even if she'd been grizzly before:
DD: wah! wah!
me: Bleurgh!
Dd: Tee hee!

Harder this time because ds has very strict views on where I can be sick - was sick in the sink once and he was very cross indeed. ('No Mummy! Not in there!')

Hee hee, Huffwardly, I could have written that post. Gawd, it's grim.

hell yes.

1. ante-natal clinics with a toddler in tow are your own personal hell
2. you can be several months, have pleurisy and a toddler to look after and people say 'at least you know how to manage now'
3. you go to the loo a million times a day and night, accompanied in the daytime by your toddler every single damn visit
4. that the rule of thumb of 2nd babies being bigger can be proved outrageously true, ds2 being nearly 6lb heavier than ds1
5. that all the stuff you thought you'd processed about your first birth, if there were problems, comes back to haunt you as the second birth gets closer and require major plan changes
6. that it goes too fast
7. that i can barely remember any good bits, i just wanted to skip it and get to the good bit, the baby at the end.

i love it.

me: do you want to wait here while i go to the toilet?

ds: ds coming with mummy! ds going to help mummy in the toilet!

Also the dilemma of who goes to the toilet first when you have a recently toilet trained dc - you, because you are in agony and will be very quick, or her, even though she will take forever, because she might have an accident otherwise?

DS stands next to me while I am having one of my 700 wees of the day, "You done a wee in the toilet mummy! Good girl!" Can't help but think he is mocking my own toilet training encouragement...

I rather like the toilet praise. You get precious little praise as a mother

PMSL (and I almost mean that literally) at Jems DS's coaxing!

Am scared at thought of larger 2nd baby - ds was 8lb 2 so not huge but not exactly small.

The thing nobody told me - that despite the fact that my norks hardly hurt at all when pg with ds they would be blardy uncomfy from the moment of conception this time round.

Oh yes, and I second the stretchy pains too - I have had them since about 6 or 7 weeks (am now 9. Madness.

I thought my pelvic floor muscles weren't in too bad shape after the first pregnancy, but I wee when I cough, I wee when I laugh and I need a wee nearly every minute of the day even if I don't drink anything. And this is from nearly day 1 of pregnancy number 2. How I will hold it in in the third trimester heaven only knows.

This thread is hilarious and so true!

My dc's think being sick is a normal occurence now! Have done the not convincing 'Mummy's fine!!!' Whilst rushing to bathroom with hand over mouth practically every morning for the last 22 weeks (5th pregnancy) only to carry on with packed lunches and breakfast on my return! Oh the fun.
Yes beware of afterpains.....enormous boobs only to reinstate themselves after the trauma of breastfeeding to something that really resembles withered rounded fruit!!!

Nobody told me how disinterested my dh would be. Last time round he wanted to be a huge part of pregnancy, this time he's just waiting for ds to be born so I'll stop whinging.

oh my god preggersplays, i am now embarrassingly converted to tenalady! and i have a cough which won't go away. bad bad bad. and i thought i had pelvic floor of steel!

That you might only feel movement later than the point at which you felt it with pg1, not before like all the books/websites/friends/experts tell you.

That you will worry as much as the first time, despite having given yourself a stern talking-to at the start.

That a toddlers elbow in a sore boob is the one of the most painful sensations possible.

Lol at 'smiley vomiting' - ahh yes indeed !

That your pelvic floor will not be up to reading funny threads on mumsnet.

That the moment you find out your pregnant you will look about 6mths pregnant and only get bigger

That you might well smell of wee at the end of the day because you dribble so sodding much and don't notice.

And indeed, the afterpains are enormous! NOONE even mentioned that to me. I wondered what the hell was happening

And just finding out that when all your pregnancy hair falls out the 2nd time, you'll seem to lose even more and have lovely male pattern baldness (widows peak!)

pmsl ImOverHere - in my case that's because I was 18 weeks before I found out

That no matter how much you promised yourself that precious DC1 would never watch Cbeebies...it has become your best friend as soon as the MS kicks in.

Lol-ing at the Cbeebies, puking cheerfully, looking like a whale at 14 weeks, ruined pelvic floor (even after emcs!) and being scared of labour - all true here

Oh, and being congratulated on your toilet trips by your toilet training LO of course

That you are Not Welcome at antenatal clinics/scans etc with your tatty, faded maternity clothes and your noisy toddler and your pushchair covered in raisin debris. According to all the pfb mothers to be anyway. You are spoiling their dream. And anyway, their child will not behave like that.

Definitely agree with the cbeebies thing. Been my lifesaver when tired/ nauseous!

Also; I always thought once you had done the whole pregnancy thing once, the next one would be less worrying. No way! First 12 weeks just as nerve wracking this time as the first time. 11 weeks tomorrow. Only another 11 days to go til my scan!

Plus the tummy sticking out. I didnt show with DS until 16 weeks. All the running and abs work counted for nothing. I showed at 6 weeks! My motto - forget the running and abs workouts