Buffy's Ramblings

THE BIRTH Today’s my birthday, so I thought it fitting that I post this today. WARNING: I will hold nothing back in this story, so it’ll be graphic. Oh the agony…of WAITING! My daughter came at 37 weeks and 6 days after my water broke. There was no question that the baby was coming. This was not the case with my son. I’d had contractions on and off for weeks – WEEKS! At one point, we were worried that he’d come before September even started, then nothing. He was due on September 22nd and my mother in law was staying with us to watch my daughter during the event from August 29th to September 26th. When nothing happened by a few days before the 26th, she changed her flight to October 2nd. On September 27th (40 weeks and 5 days), I felt a little nauseated during the afternoon, but otherwise completely normal. Miserable and anxious as hell (hoping I wouldn’t need to be induced). I was out with Tara conversing with neighbors and joking about how long the little guy was ta...

THE SECOND CHILD VS THE FIRST TIMER Having had a child already, you’re a lot more informed and prepared for the second one. There are a lot of things you don’t have to worry about or buy and that kind of thing. You typically don’t have a baby shower after the first baby. In our case, that’s a good thing anyway. Having moved to Minnesota from Virginia last year, we have very few real friends yet and no family around, so no one to plan or attend a shower to begin with. We didn’t take a birthing class this time around. We’re pretty informed now, and have even been through the whole birth thing, so we felt pretty confident that it wasn’t necessary for another course. We also have our workbook from our Bradley class, so we can skim that for a refresher. Plus I’ve already bookmarked the page with the “things to pack” list so we’ll be as prepared as possible when “D day” (as I like to call it, you know – D for delivery?) comes. We haven’t really talked about much regarding rais...

THIRD TRIMESTER With Tara, by this point I was still pretty ok. I had gotten some nausea back and had some heartburn, but ultimately I just don’t remember it being too bad. This time has been pretty miserable if I’m honest. It started early and hasn’t let up much. The nausea is occasional and not bad, but the heartburn has been GOD AWFUL. I take a Tums almost every single night and sometimes during the day too. Milk only sometimes helps. The belly has grown quite a bit and grows faster during this trimester, so sleeping is made difficult because I can’t get comfy, even with a body pillow. However, my weight gain is still perfectly on track and baby boy is measuring on track for his due date as well. I’ve been getting LOTS of Braxton Hicks contractions. Heat makes it worse and when they get really intense and frequent, it can take a lot of water to get them to chill. Rest helps too when possible, which isn’t too much with a toddler around. I have had more anxiety this...

SECOND TRIMESTER & FINDING OUT THE GENDER Last time, I got that boost of energy that around 14 weeks that everyone talks about. “Oh the second trimester is the best!” Well, when you already have a toddler, that boost of energy isn’t nearly as noticeable. I still needed to nap when Tara napped almost every day. Things that should start around the second trimester had already shown up a couple weeks prior too, such as round ligament pain. Joint pain showed up nice and early as well. After talking with many other moms, as well as my midwife, I was assured that was normal…but it still sucked. I continued to feel like I grew really fast. Part of the reason for that was because I was gaining weight a little bit faster than I had the first time. You’re supposed to gain about half a pound a week and I was gaining about a pound (or more during a trip to visit family on the west coast :P). Part of it was also probably just my hormonal imagination, obsessing over feeling fat li...

FIRST TRIMESTER & SHARING THE NEWS When I was pregnant with Tara, my entire first trimester was a secret, I slept a LOT, and was nauseated pretty much 24/7. This time, we announced a little early, I didn’t get to sleep much more than usual, and I was nauseated only periodically. Sleep is one of the desperately desired things in the first trimester of pregnancy. However, when you have a toddler to entertain and care for, you don’t get to sleep whenever. I started napping whenever she napped (for 1-3 hours in the afternoon) and going to bed around 9 pm. Of course, no matter when I went to bed, I had trouble sleeping around 4 am because of nausea. The nausea this time around wasn’t as constant, thank God, however it was worse. Whenever it did hit, I got sick – sometimes repeatedly. I couldn’t eat meat at all (a single bite of turkey once sent me running for the porcelain god almost immediately), I couldn’t stand almost any veggies (gagged on broccoli after only a couple ...

GETTING PREGNANT & FINDING OUT When Tara was about sixteen months old, the hubby and I decided we could face having another child. The week of Christmas 2014 was when we officially decided to start trying. When we decided to try for Tara, I had to go off birth control. They say it can take three months for it to completely leave your system. The fourth month is when we achieved Tara. This time I didn’t have to go off birth control, because upon trying to start taking it again after Tara was born, we discovered it made me a little cuckoo. That being said, the hubby expected it to take a few months, and I kind of did too. However, I also suspected it might happen right away. About a week after New Year’s, I noticed I was getting really cranky and was super tired, no matter how much caffeine I drank. The crank was new, but the fatigue – oh that was familiar. I knew I should wait until I officially missed my period and take the test first thing in the morning for bes...

INTRODUCTION Hey all. First let me apologize for not talking about life with a newborn. I meant to write about it, but as you can imagine, life with a baby is busy and exhausting. I enjoyed writing about my pregnancy with Tara, and thought I’d do it again for this pregnancy. I think I’m starting a little later than last time as I’m already 24 weeks pregnant, but that’s not a big deal at this time. This time will be just as honest and graphic as before, but this time the focus will likely be on the differences between this pregnancy and the last one. I had always heard that each pregnancy is different, but always thought that they’d generally be pretty similar none the less. I was wrong. There have been quite a few differences, some of which are typical of not being a first – such as things happening sooner. It’s called the “warmed up” effect. I will say that the biggest difference is that I don’t get to revel in the good things much like I did with Tara. I could o...