Let’s be honest here… while we all know each and every pregnancy is a little miracle – it’s hard to ignore the differences between the first and second time around. So, here is my lighthearted take on it all.

C’mon bump… GROW!

First Pregnancy: You want nothing more than your belly to POP! Each morning you glance at your reflection from every angel and admire your changing body. You say things to yourself like; “isn’t it just amazing?”, “to grow another human inside is the most beautiful experience”.

Tight fitting clothes and rubbing your belly is almost a ritual. Your excitement is bursting – you are counting down the days until you can share the news.

The moment you are offered a seat on the train or a stranger passes comment, you high-five yourself – your little food baby is real.

Second Pregnancy: Your belly has popped well before your 12 week scan! Sound familiar?

Loose fitting clothes become the norm as people start to whisper – “is she pregnant?”, “I did see her devouring that cake last weekend, maybe she’s just been eating more?”. The early belly pop is due to the stretching and the lack of elasticity and tummy muscles from round one.

Wait, what rest?

First Pregnancy: When you are utterly exhausted, you nap. When you feel ill, you take a sick day from work. When your plans fall through on the weekend, you curl into a ball and read a good book.

Second Pregnancy: Sleep! Ha. Not if your toddler has anything to do with it. The exhaustion can be overwhelming and you are constantly walking around in a sleep deprived haze. You mutter to yourself “what have I done!” in between running to the bathroom and cleaning up the mess your toddler has made.

Getting in touch

First pregnancy: “Oh – he’s now the size of a lemon!” and “he has limbs!” You spend hours gazing at your growing bump wondering, will they have hair? Will they have my features? Your partner reads books and sings lullabies to the growing baby. You practice yoga and really have time to connect.

Second pregnancy: Pregnant? Oh thanks for reminding me. If it wasn’t for this growing bump, ultra tiredness and constant vomiting I may have forgotten.

The poor baby only gets attention for those two minutes at night between when your heads hits the pillow and you fall asleep.

Let’s get researching

First pregnancy: Research, research, research. Hours are spent looking for the best products that will suit you and your baby.

You carefully consider all purchases and spend many Saturday afternoons wandering the isles at baby stores just to make sure you have everything you may need.

Second pregnancy: Time to clean the grot off the pram bassinet and dust off the moses basket. It’s all about hand me downs and using whatever you have.

The thought of braving a baby store with a toddler in toe is extremely unappealing, so you do anything you can to avoid it.

9 months!

First pregnancy: You enjoy each month, excited to move from the first through second and finally your third trimester. You marvel in the changes, the growth, the scans and the experience.

Second pregnancy: 9 months! I can’t do it! It can feel like the longest 9 months of your life.

You are wishing away the weeks (when you can remember what week you are up too), and that due date can’t come soon enough.

Birth plan… what birth plan?

First pregnancy: You spend timeputting together a detailed birth plan. You and your partner have grand ideas of how everything will pan out.

You organise incense, massage oils and soft music for the delivery ward. You hear horror stories! So many of them. People love to share their gory birth stories and I for one love hearing them, don’t get me wrong. However, I did lose a few nights sleep thinking what may happen.

Second pregnancy: You know the best birth plan, is no plan. Anything can and will happen so you just need to roll with it. You have an insight into how it all works and what actually happens after the baby is born.

You feel more confident the second time. You are an old hat – you have this sorted. Well kind of.

How did you go the second time around, can you relate?

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