Happy New Year Everybody! I am going to take this opportunity to introduce our newest Petite & Pretty Addition… Tristan’s new little sister Amber!

She was born December 9th, weighing 7 lbs 10 oz, and everything normal. It was great having friends and family see her, with gifts and other little bits for her. My friend even got her some cute marvel baby clothes that I loved. If you want to hear more about Amber’s delivery story, please keep reading!

My Second Pregnancy Story

How it all began…

Before my husband and I had Tristan, we always wanted to have 2 kids so they grow up having companionship. After finally reaching the point of ‘stabilization’ with Tristan (where he sleeps 12 hours straight… eats well… generally very happy), we started to question whether or not we really wanted to experience the first year of parenthood again. We also couldn’t come to a consensus of how far apart we wanted them, and yes, we know we couldn’t really control that. At the end, we decided to let God decide if we were meant to have a second child by not actively trying nor preventing till Tristan’s 3rd birthday. The very rational side of me also made sure that before this “let God decide” period started, I would return to work long enough to qualify for EI (employment insurance) again. Long story short, I got pregnant pretty much immediately and returned to work pregnant. For those who were following my Fast Metabolism Diet progresses… this was the reason why I stopped updating… and a side note for those who are trying… not sure if it was a coincidence or not, but I was on the Fast Metabolism Diet both times I got pregnant.

Is the 2nd Pregnancy REALLY different from the 1st?

Yes and No. Both pregnancies have been a blessing but also not very eventful. I didn’t experience any morning sickness, extreme fatigue, weird cravings, sleepless nights, or weird breakouts. I can’t even begin to tell you how relieved I was. When I found out I was pregnant this time around, I wanted to prepare myself for these specific ailments, so decided to get as much rest as I could before they started. But low and behold, they never happened. I can’t say the same for my friend though. She said that it affected her life that much, that she nearly decided to try a marijuana strain called galactic cookies, (Read more here) so she could have a decent amount of sleep, as well as helping her to experience less fatigue. But before she had the chance to try them, the symptoms had passed. Isn’t it amazing how women go through the same process but experience it differently with their pregnancies? Physically, I would say both pregnancies were pretty identical… I gained 40 lbs total, had IT-band and back aches starting mid-3rd trimester, maintained working out with a trainer till 32 weeks, and my hands, face, and feet swelled up like a balloon the last 4 weeks. However, during the 2nd pregnancy I did notice my belly ballooned super quickly during 1st trimester (Yes.. I had to break out my maternity pants pretty much immediately) which freaked me out because I thought this time around I would be super big…. but interestingly my belly did not really grow during the second trimester. I was also very cautious about my weight gain the first time and did whatever I want the second time and still ended up at the same place. So if you are pregnant and reading this.. JUST EAT WHATEVER YOU WANT! But make sure you take my favorite prenatal vitamins with dha, as they’ll ensure that your baby is getting all the nutrients it needs that might be lacking from your diet. Stretch marks also came in mid-pregnancy during the second pregnancy (but this could totally be me being lazy and not using my Bio-Oil) whereas I got pretty much nothing during the 1st pregnancy. The biggest difference between the two pregnancies is really time and knowledge. The first time I had all the time in the world to do my prenatal yoga, daily stretches and workout, eat healthy, shop for maternity and baby clothes, read up on the fetus’s development, and prepare the nursery. With an infant at home, I was constantly in survival mode and did none of the above. The good thing is, we were definitely less ‘stressed’ about the details because we’ve already experienced it once and could focus on the ‘essentials’. And of course, we have most of the things we need already.

Acupuncture:

One thing I did differently this pregnancy was getting acupuncture twice a week starting Week 37. A few of my friends who also did acupuncture when they were pregnant not only had a quick and smooth delivery, their baby also came on time. Although everyone says labor will come easier and quicker in their subsequent pregnancies, but I really didn’t want to get induced so I made sure I did everything I could to ‘encourage’ labor 🙂 If anyone needs a good chiropractor / acupuncturist who is experienced with pregnant woman, feel free to send us an email for her contacts. Alternatively, you could look online to try and find an acupuncturist in your local area. For example, you would just have to search for pregnancy acupuncture near me to try and find one close to you. Hopefully, that will help alleviate some of those horrible symptoms of pregnancy, allowing you to experience a more comfortable pregnancy. It worked for me, so hopefully, it will benefit you too.

The Big Day

It was around mid-night about 3 days before the expected due date when I started getting mini cramps. It was super mild and felt like my baby was simply rolling around. Around 4-5am, I started waking up from these cramps so I downloaded an app on the phone and timed them. They were all over the place.. sometimes these cramps lasted 30 seconds.. sometimes a minute.. and they were sporadically spaced apart. The cramps were definitely more painful than the ones I was getting last time, but I didn’t want to go to the hospital too early and be bored. I willed myself back to sleep until 7am when the cramps got stronger, but the timing was still all over the place. I decided to go to the hospital to get it checked out, and contacted my mom and in-laws to watch Tristan. Just like last time, I showered, put on some makeup, had breakfast and took off to the hospital. After the doctor and nurses checked me, they told me I was 7-8cm dilated. OMG.. that’s why the cramps were so much stronger than last time! I quickly requested for my epidural and patiently waited to welcome our little one. Last time with Tristan, I was very sensitive to the epidural which lead to low blood pressure and my whole lower body was ‘frozen’. As a result, we told the anesthetist to reduce the amount of epidural on me this time around. Such a BAD decision. I ended up feeling every push during labor, and every stitch afterwards. Luckily, the labor itself lasted only about 20 minutes, although it definitely felt like a life time.

If you want to hear more about my 2 under 2 survival stories, feel free to follow my updates every month!

Thanks for reading!