How Much Does Your First Pregnancy Differ To Your Second?

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I have two children and both were born by natural labour at full term. However, my youngest was a lot different to my first.

My First Pregnancy

My first born was pretty much a text book pregnancy. For the first few months, I experienced nausea. My size 8 body struggled with carrying such a heavy front load and backache soon kicked in. She measured well throughout; the scans were all positive and all my tests came back fine.

Throughout my pregnancy, all was great. My hair and nails grew – I had low iron (which is quite common), and those awful iron tablets caused me hell with going to the bathroom – but I loved being pregnant. We even did bump to baby photos, we were so excited! From pregnancy to birth, it was an amazing experience. Even labour – and I kid you not, the pain is real! By paying attention and listening to the midwife, as well as my best friends gas and air, we made it through alive. It was like a dream. Although not sure dad would say the same about the experience, I think he is still traumatised! Ashli-May was born, our beautiful first born. She was a chunky little one. Within 13 hours I was back in the car on the way home. We were well prepared and ready for this thing they call parenthood.

My Second Pregnancy

Second time round, again excitement kicked in. Christmas Eve 2013 is when everything changed. The day after my Nan’s funeral, I had my three month scan where I would get to see my baby for the first time. I was really excited to be going especially after such a sad event the day before. What was supposed to be an exciting time turned into a heartbreaking one when I was told that my unborn child had complications. They were not quite sure at the time, but did manage to identify talipes and notified me that this condition is often associated with other complications. I’m sure I could have cried a river that day and the days the followed too. This marked the start of over 20 appointments between the first check up and the day my child was born. Around six months into the pregnancy, I was offered a termination. I declined straight away; I knew it may be a struggle, but I could not go through with a termination. Especially at this stage, we were attached already. We talked (well, I did) every day!

I went for internal brain and heart scans of my unborn child. Back and forth from hospital for all sorts of checks. On the evening of 19th May, I went in with contractions and they decided to give me a cervical sweep. Within a few hours, Jaida was born naturally the following morning. I remember Ashley, myself and my mum quietly waiting to meet Jaida and see what she would be like. She was beautiful and looked like her big sister. This was a start of a new chapter.

Additional Info

Natural labour – going through delivery without the help of medications, including pain relievers

Gas and air – This is a mixture of oxygen and nitrous oxide gas. It won’t remove all the pain, but it can help reduce and make delivery more bearable.

Iron deficiency in pregnancy – You and your baby need a lot more iron to make red blood cells whilst you’re pregnant. Iron deficiency can increase the risk of having a low birth weight and a premature delivery. When iron levels are low, the red blood cells are unable to carry oxygen to the body’s tissues. It is quite common and many take iron tablets throughout the pregnancy to combat this.

Talipes – A deformity (also known as club foot) where the foot and ankle are twisted. It’s a congenital condition meaning the baby can be born with it.

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