I’m currently pregnant with my second child and due in September, but it feels so much like I’m pregnant for the very first time that everything seems a surprise. I know people say every pregnancy, like every child, is different, but I had no idea just how true that could be until I became pregnant with our second child. We have one son, and this baby is a boy, too, but everything feels so different that I can’t even begin to explain how strange this pregnancy is compared to my first.
I’ve decided to list a few things that are different between my two pregnancies, and I thought I would share with you lovely readers since you just might understand what I mean.
I had high blood pressure with my firstborn, but this time my blood pressure has been wonderful!
The high blood pressure was a result of preeclampsia, and it was rough — really rough. In fact, a lot of the differences between these two pregnancies stem from the fact that I haven’t experienced preeclampsia this time around. At my highest during my first pregnancy, I think my blood pressure hit around 190/100, which was on the same day my OB sent me to be induced. This time I’ve been taking notes of each doctor visit and blood pressure check, and it’s never gone above 132/80.
I spent most of the latter half of my pregnancy with my firstborn dealing with severe swelling.
This time I’ve only experienced very minor swelling in my ankles and only now that I’m 34+ weeks along. That said, my swelling this time has been very much linked to my recent travel and went away as soon as I got back home to my regular routine.
I even get into bed differently this time around.
Last pregnancy, by the midway point, I was climbing into my bed like a child, hiking up one knee and crawling into the bed only to basically fall onto the pillow as soon as I was on all fours. It was comical because I felt so unwieldy from pregnancy I couldn’t get up on the bed properly. This time I have fewer balance issues and have been able to back my rear end up and sit on the bed like a normal person.
When I mentioned swelling with my first pregnancy, I suppose I should also mention that even though I could feel my son moving around like a wild banshee, there was no visible bump moving.
My belly was so swollen you couldn’t see my son’s kicks and jerks. This time around, my son is kicking away and practicing his Richard Simmons exercises on a daily basis. My belly isn’t swollen though, so you can actually sometimes see his movements ripple across my belly, which has been pretty neat.
One last thing that has been significantly different has been my breathing and sleeping.
They don’t tell you that being pregnant can mean you won’t be able to breathe properly for nine months, but with my first, that was my entire experience. I slept propped up on pillows almost the entire time because of congestion that didn’t fully alleviate until immediately after delivery. With my second, my breathing has been much easier, albeit not completely clear, and I’ve been able to sleep comfortably on my single pillow for most of the pregnancy.
Overall I feel like an entirely different person this pregnancy.
I realize a lot of that has to do with stress that I dealt with during my first pregnancy. Between financial problems and dealing with preeclampsia, I felt stressed, depressed, and less than excited to meet my firstborn. I also simply felt worse physically due to those things. With this pregnancy, I’m feeling great albeit tired and really looking forward to meeting the newborn who will be joining our family very soon.
When it comes to talking about pregnancy symptoms, this pregnancy has been so different I find myself asking my OB lots of questions. I spent most of my first pregnancy in a bit of a stressed-out, high blood pressure haze and just ended up experiencing it in a more negative light. This time I’m pleasantly surprised when I get asked about my pregnancy symptoms because I can honestly say it’s totally new and fun for me to be pregnant.
