Tag Archives: Second Time Mom

The Struggles of Having a Toddler and Becoming Pregnant Again

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Being pregnant is a wonderful thing. Even if you have to get past the whole nausea and exhausted feeling. Then, comes another decision, will I have another child or stick to one. Having one child is a lot for someone who has no idea what they are doing or who has never been around kids before. Deciding to have another child while already having one can be overwhelming to say the least! Welp let’s tall about things that I found hard being pregnant and having a son who was just over a year old when we found out we were expecting again!

Expect to be tired. I think this goes without saying even when you are not pregnant and have a child. You will be even more tired. My first pregnancy when I was tired I went to nap whenever I wanted as it was summer and I wasn’t in school. With already having a child you do not have that luxury any more. I was very lucky because when I was feeling exhausted I would nap if my boyfriend was off work foe the afternoon or whenever. That way he could watch my son. Another thing I tried to do was as soon as my son went foe a nap I would go to bed and nap also. That being said, normally as would Murphys law be, when I was the most tired I would try this and they would be the days that my son would have the roughest sleep and wake up every half an hour so I would feel even worse! Being tired is part of pregnancy but having a one year old or even under 2 year old can make you feel that much more tired!

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An important thing I would recommended for with a young child even when not pregnant would be a play pen. This has saved me on more than one occasion. Babies and toddlers are fast. If I needed to run to the bathroom, felt nauseous, switch laundry, prep baby food or meals, this is a great way to know your toddler is safe when you cant be there. With a baby you can put them in a bassinet and work around when they are sleeping. With a toddler it really isn’t that simple. Especially when they drop to one nap a day and only sleep for a few hours. And before you say “Just go to bed earlier and it will help” remember in early pregnancy the amount of times you get up to use the washroom during the run of a night can be a lot. So even if you go to bed early you still are not sleeping soundly by any means!

Another struggle is your body can feel way more sore than you are used to. Maybe this is because I am out of shape and have been most of my life. But chasing around a toddler has really amplified that! In particular I tend to sit on the floor, on a pillow of course, to play with my son. By the end of the day I fi d myself taking a warm bath or warm shower and letting the water run down my lower back. We do go for walks from.time to time depending on the weather which does help. But know taking care of a first child while growing another one can be challenging. One thing my doctor said I was able to use was athletic gel. The kind that is simply menthol that I put on my lower back normally before bed. This ia not to be confused with brands like rub A535 or even brand similar. Just the normal cheap gel that cools and warms. It does help for sure.

And lastly, a struggle that can be hard but easy to overcome, finding balance! Trying to keep a routine with a toddler while being pregnant and dealing with the morning sickness, food aversions to smells, and exhaustion also too. It is okay for you to skip the dishes for one night. It is alright if you go to bed as soon as your toddler does. Leave that laundry I’m the basket for a day or two. Finding a balance can be hard and we often feel bad about skipping tasks. I am guilty of this myself. I have to remind myself that I am not a super hero and there is only so much that I can do. It is okay to put something off if you need to. Just keeping your son or daughter safe and happy while I’m early pregnancy can take a lot out of you to begin with. Don’t push yourself to the max or you will be feeling worse than you were before!

Regardless of how many kids you have or their ages, being pregnant while already having a child can be tough. Even for the most seasoned woman. Mostly due to the fact that every pregnancy is different. And you have no idea how it will effect you at the end of the day. As I mentioned before, when I was pregnant with my son things were pretty normal and easy going. Now with this child I am noticing myself wanting to catch up on sleep more, not eating as much and being sensitive to smells. Thankfully my nausea happened towards supper time when my boyfriend was home and could take over. No matter what, you are doing a great job even if you feel like you are slacking! We are our own worst enemies. No one is judging us but ourselves and sometimes we are the hardest critics. Keep going! And hopefully you find yourself in my shoes with a bit easier second semester !

Have you been pregnant with a toddler?

What was something you found difficult to balance by already being a mom and wanting to expand your growing family?

Let me know in the comments below! I would love to hear your success stories (or struggles) if you wish!

Pregnancy 16 Week Update

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Where do I even begin! I feel like this pregnancy if some what going fast and some what going slow. It is hard to believe that the next update we will have together will be the official half way point! And I will be also in transition between Quebec and Nova Scotia and hopefully figuring out things with my doctor in Nova Scotia to be able to be referred to get a new labor and delivery doctor to follow me. My goal is to hopefully get everything set up so that it goes as seamless as possible and I wont be behind on blood work or anything else that may be needed.

My energy levels seem to be going back to somewhat normal levels thankfully. That is huge for me already being a Mom to a 15 month old and having to chase him around. I find myself not needing to nap as much as I did before and also not having to lay down as often. The bathroom breaks at night seem to also be a little less depending if I find it is a good idea to drink a liter of water an hour before bed or not. As for nausea, I sometimes feel an upset stomach if my boyfriend makes something gross like fish or whatever and I find myself feeling yucky. Still only ever got sick the one time which I think is honestly a blessing!

I also have gotten blood work previously which you may or may not know I hate doing. The first I think is the hardest due to the fact they take so much. And I am a wimp so I would have loved to have my boyfriend there holding my hand but that wasn’t the case. He was watching our son and I went on my own. I did not cry which was good and I never even looked either. For some reason giving blood stresses me out. Maybe because I never had to do it will I was about 20. And then when I did it again after I was pregnant with my son. Lucky would be an understatement or maybe that asthma does not usually require blood work!

I also had a doctors appointment as well! Which I am super happy about and hopeful to be possibly getting an ultrasound before the big move. It was a pretty standard appointment.

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We talked about my blood work results which are great. The only thing was I am not immune to something called the “5e maladie”. The doctor was not sure what the translation in English was however it is when a child in particular gets a fever or rash for no apparent reason (not like a teething rash or whatever) if I was to get the same thing it could really effect the baby inside. Which would not be good and result in complications. Other than that everything was great. She asked if I would like to have a final check up before I moved which I said yes to! I am getting more blood-work just after 16 weeks and that would be for the 2nd part of my “Trisomy 21” screening. This is to check for abnormalities such as down syndrome and what not. With my son our numbers were extremely low so I am hoping for the same results here.

Next we did a quick check up on me. Checked my breathing and heart rate. My blood pressure was already checked by a nurse when I arrived and that was great. Which obviously was good for me considering the stress of moving and what not! And of course we listened to the heartbeat again which was also great. I still wish my boyfriend would be allowed to go to appointments but it just doesn’t make sense with the pandemic and if that was the case I am sure so many people who didn’t need to be there would be.

And lastly, my doctor put in a request for a 19 week or so ultrasound. Normally this would be done after 21 weeks but I am excited to hopefully have it before. With my son the placenta was in the front so movements were not felt as easily and part of the placenta was covering the cervix. I would like to obviously know this and not have to wait til maybe 25 weeks or more when things happen in Halifax after the move. Oh, and for sure. I would also LOVE to know the gender of the baby too! My boyfriend and I are thinking about names but not entirely til we find out the gender though. It overall would be a great feeling to have this done before we move so we know everything so far is alright!

Over all I am relieved that it went well and cannot wait to hear about an ultrasound. It will be great. I am so happy that I am feeling more like myself again also. That alone can be really exhausting when I am tired and feeling different. Especially with the move coming up I am relieved to be able to finally have energy to get things done. I haven’t felt overwhelmed by anything thankfully I have a partner who can take care of a lot of things on his own. I am starting to plan and pack what we all need to bring for the car and a few nights in a hotel but other than that things are alright! I wont be waiting til the last minute that is for sure! Be on the look out for moving blogs as they come up! I talk a bit about that here.

Oh, and it is probably time we start with belly updates so here is the 16 week one!

Im sure at the 20 week update I will be equally as big by then! I should be in transition to the new house but I will still do my best to update you all on time! It just might be a bit challenging if I have to do it all on a Tablet!

Pregnancy 12 Week Update

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It happened.
I officially threw up from morning sickness.

I know. One would say that I am extremely lucky to have gone so far without throwing up but it happened. It was a Thursday and why do I remember this? Because the day before was Wednesday and I had cancelled a stream due to having an upset stomach. I thought I was going to be sick but I just had poop pains instead and had a bit of the poops. Then the next day I felt the same pains and thought okay, same thing? Wrong. I had the watery mouth which I know is as gross as it sounds, I took a tums assuming it was heartburn and MAYBE it would be cured magically. I was wrong. Before I even had finished the tums I was in the bathroom getting sick. I still am trying to say the reason for this was due to the fact that I had 2 cans of rootbeer that day, I know maybe too much but honestly I could not help myself. It was a warm day and they were going down way too good!

Okay, Now that the gross part is out of the way, I also had my first official doctors appointment. This went well! I had a new doctor since the one I had with my son was off on maternity leave herself. The new doctor was super understanding as I explained the situation where I would be moving and was hoping to have things done if I could before I moved. There was nothing super fancy in terms of check up either since the first appointment is typically 30minutes or so. This is so they go over everything basic with you and answer any questions that you might have, which I did not have a whole lot considering that I legit had a baby a year ago so I feel like things were pretty standard. I was given Advil for preventative measures against pre-clampsia. Which had changed from one tablet the previous year when I was pregnant with my son. Now it is 2 that you take nightly. I was put on this because towards the end of the pregnancy with my son I had a slight high blood pressure and they wanted to be sure it didn’t happen. Even though I know it probably was the best since the moving stress could inherently cause high blood pressure. Lastly at the appointment we listened for the heartbeat! Which we found as well! She listened to the heartbeat with the fetal Doppler for a few moments and the heartbeat was nice and strong! If she was unable to find it she would have used the portable ultrasound to find the baby but she was able to find it with this.

My next appointment will consist of a physical I guess? That is what she said anyways. That is not for another few weeks though, Maybe not for the 16 week checkup but after that I should know. I’m not entirely sure what a physical checkup really consists of but I can only assume that it has to do with you know, all of myself being checked over. The only reason why it wasn’t done on the first appointment is because it normally is so long to begin with that the physical would be even longer.

I also had to get what I dreaded planned. This was scheduling blood work in for myself. This is to test for the trisomy 21 (Down syndrome and other things of this nature) as well as regular blood work and urine samples. Thankfully I scheduled this a bit in advance since it can take a bit to get an appointment due to the fact that with covid appointments are scattered and getting one first thing in the morning can be challenging.

Overall after my bout of sickness and feeling tired I find myself not so tired anymore. I think my energy is starting to come around or it could be the fact we did in fact BUY A HOME! And will be moving back home in less than 2 months time too. This is a huge relief and one of the biggest worries for us. The other things will all fall into place. I find my appetite is not as sensitive either where smells aren’t as strong and bothering to me however there are some weird smells happening. I couldn’t tell you if I was really craving anything a whole lot. If anything I would say rainbow twizzlers, I know weird right? And maybe Sour Cream and Bacon chips. Other than that I haven’t had anything super strange strike me as delicious .. Yet!

My goals now are to also start going for morning walks with my son in order to become more active. I might even keep track of days we go for walks. I think this could be helpful to decompress after thinking about everything there is to do with moving to quarantine and whatever else is happening around that is our of our control. I am also being very mindful about my weight since with my son I started at 235 lbs and went up as high as 270-275lbs. This pregnancy I started at 240lbs and I would rather not go above 260 if I can help it. Obviously I am trying to really make sure that I eat enough to be healthy and I am not dieting but I would like to really incorporate walking into my daily routine as well. I did this a bit with my son however fell off the wagon and with the heat I think this could be a great way to get into the daily activities that we have in the morning before it gets too hot. And will be good to also follow as well once we move and begin to explore our new neighborhood!

Are you on a second pregnancy?
How were you feeling after 12 weeks?

Let me know in the comments below, even if it was a loved one you knew that was pregnant!

– Stacey

Pregnancy 8 week update

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Since this is the first update of pregnancy and there will be a combined 8 weeks in the first one with following up every 4 weeks I figure I might as well do this since the first 8 weeks really can go either way. Also, Don’t forget that chances are you are reading this I am a bit over 8 weeks and in fact over 12 weeks. But where we are keeping this under wraps it will be released though a little bit after we make the announcement to the world about our second bundle of joy!

The first 4 weeks
They were kind of crazy. This was the first cycle we tried to get pregnant with number 2. I mentioned this in the announcement blog as well. I knew something was up this time. I dont know if it was because I was more in tune with what pregnancy was like or maybe it was just that I was legit pregnant last year too. I felt like my boobs were again bigger like I had gained some weight. It really is hard to explain. Before when this happened I figured it was due to weight gain and nothing more. This time I knew I wasn’t OVERLY eating that much and it seemed weird.
My shoulder also had this weird thing happen. I was doing an art stream and suddenly it started to hurt. I had to actually stop the stream about an hour in to painting it hurt that bad! It was so weird I even went to grab a shower and then took some Advil to see if i was going to be alright. I told my partner about it and the first thing he said was maybe we were pregnant! Since something happened strange with Vincent though I thought it was to do with my foot not my shoulder though.
As for food aversions or anything it still is far too early at this point. I did however cut up chicken for the slow cooker yesterday and it was weird smelling however I had no idea if it was in my head or not so I had to get the boyfriend to smell it when he came home. It smelled fine to him though! As for nausea though I don’t think I have felt anything yet as still 4 weeks is very early to really have a whole lot happening.
I do however feel more cramps though then I did before. Maybe because I JUST had my son about a year ago so my body is still in the mindset of pregnancy however I feel it more. I wouldn’t say painful or anything but annoying for sure. It does come and go that’s for sure. And I already have been starting to go to the bathroom through over night.. That is not something that I have really looked forward to with a future pregnancy.
I also am not very tired as of yet but if the opportunity comes up I don’t mind trying to squeeze in a nap though if need be!

OK, where do I start with weeks 4-8. It has been a roller coaster to say the least! Maybe I am just thankful that when I was pregnant with my son things were so easy going but this time around I feel like it is nearly the opposite.

I had a scare for spotting (prep for incoming too much information!) And booked an appointment with an on call doctor. My first actual doctors appointment is on May 3rd at about 10 weeks and 2 days and I felt this couldn’t wait. What happened was I had gone to the bathroom and strained a bit to go number 2 (I told you to prep!) When I wiped I had noticed an amount of spotting that looked scary to me as I had none with my son. Nothing like this anyways. I had gone to the appointment and she has said that it appears that I had the spotting from my cervix and not the baby which was a relief.

She had also booked me for an early ultrasound as well which i had gone to right after 7 weeks to check. Apparently a bottle of water is not enough so they had to do a vaginal ultrasound which is as awkward as it sounds. And they shown everything was okay. Or at least I assume it was because if it wasn’t they would have said something I would think.

For the most part I would say I still am a bit lucky. I am feeling way more tired then when I was pregnant with my son. I’m not sure if its because I am chasing him around or if it is because this pregnancy is different. I also have been having major food aversions. With my son I wanted to eat eat eat and this this baby sometimes thinking about certain foods makes me feel like I need to be sick. The nausea is a bit more then I thought it would be but as I mentioned before maybe it is because I had such a good first pregnancy that this one just seems like a lot more symptoms. I am thankful that I am not extremely sick or my son might be chilling watching Blues Clues while I lay on the couch. I do try to nap every chance I get when my boyfriend is home. Or if he has a long day I try to nap when my son naps and it does help.

Other than that I am super curious about if this baby will be another boy or if it will be a girl. I know having a girl would be great but another boy would also be great too. Healthy is best. I know boy boyfriend is hoping for a girl that is for sure!

Regardless we are happy to find out the gender and continue this parenthood journey in expanding out family! And even better, this baby will be born in Nova Scotia around my family!

– Stacey


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We’re having ANOTHER BABY!!

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By the time you are reading this it will be about 12 weeks into pregnancy.  I will slowly release some updates until I catch up by going month by month ( or about every 4 weeks) and comparing them to my previous pregnancy noticing any changes and things along the way!

First things first! Yes, This was a planned pregnancy just like our first. We are beyond thrilled when we found out. To say we were shocked is also an understatement due to the fact that we had only tried for literally one month and it had caught. We half tried the “shettles” method in attempt to have a girl. This is when you stop doing the dirty a few days before ovulation since apparently the girl sperms survive longer then male sperm. Does this work? Who knows because I never tracked ovulation with strips so I only followed my app which seemed to be right when it comes to when my period would start and stop.

Another thing is that I broke the cardinal rule when it comes to conceiving. I tested early. I use the app Ovia which I have used for years. A little less when I was pregnant and used their pregnancy version however with trying to conceive and the last few months I had also tried to track my cycles just to be sure.

What happened was on March 13th (Saturday) I tested form the dollar store pregnancy test. I knew it obviously would be negative but I couldn’t help myself especially since I was starting to feel off. My shoulder really started to hurt randomly. My boobs felt weird in the shirt I was wearing. I felt different. These were things that I felt when I was pregnant with my son however I didn’t think too much about it and just thought that I was gaining weight. Since we were trying and this was the 1st month I though right away this could be it. I also still broke my rule, and tested again the Monday March 15th. I used 2 tests that I had just  a drug store brand. There was still a very very faint line. on both of them. I then took another dollar store one but that was negative and a second one which was neg. I know. Stupid me. So I waited til the 26th on Tuesday March 16th and also took another dollarstore test. That did come back with a very very very faint pink line. So this much be starting to have the hormone grow then. And as I write this (I told you way before hand!) on March 17th, Wednesday, I took a test that was a name brand and 6 days sooner and yes, it did show pregnant.

It’s super crazy to think that my son JUST turned one and here we are having another baby. Though we are not getting any younger. And we always said that we wanted to have all of our children close in age and what not. This is for sure getting us on that track! If everything is correct my due date will be around the end of November of this year. So that is kind of neat to be having a baby 2 years in a row. Not to mention I will NOT be having the baby in Quebec so I will be in Nova Scotia where the nurses and things actually speak English which is great.

I wouldn’t say a lot of things are worrying me right now. The thing that makes me worried is the c-section thing again. However knowing that I gave birth to my son naturally and without medication. I hope to give birth without medication to the next one however we will see what happens when the time comes though! I also am nervous about morning sickness. I was really lucky with my son to not have a lot of morning sickness and whatever I did have was basically my own fault from making food with too much milk (It was mac and cheese..) I just hope I don’t have much or it is very low due to the fact that I can no longer just go to sleep I have a kid that I have to look after and with morning sickness that would be a bummer!

I have to fill out a form though and get put on a list for the clinic that I was able to go to through pregnancy. However it will be a lot easier I think knowing I wont be in the province for the birth because well, why would I want that! I will need to do a few appointments as well as some blood work probably since there is some early on that you need to do. I also will hopefully get the gender ultrasound here in Quebec. That is one thing I would like to do here. Just because with moving things could be tricky to time everything just right for it.

I cannot wait to update you along on this journey. It’s something I never thought about doing since I only started the blog the year that my son was born in 2020. At that point I was nearing the end of pregnancy and couldn’t really track it with people. Here we are second pregnancy though and I cannot wait to compare how different or maybe not so different these pregnancy will be! Will we have a girl or a boy, and will the symptoms be different if the gender is different too? Will I have a bunch of new symptoms and have another boy? Will they be the same symptoms and a girl? Who knows. They really do say that every pregnancy is different and I cant wait to see what happens with this one!

WE ARE REALLY HAVING ANOTHER BABY! I am going to be a Mom of 2 under 2!

Do you have children?
Did you feel just as excited with the first as you did with the second?

Let me know in the comments below!

– Stacey


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