The second pregnancy has been much harder than the first one. The first and second trimester flew by and soon enough, the belly was so big that I needed to size up my white coat at work. I went on maternity leave with 36 weeks, but worked at the department until 35+2 and then waved goodbye. It was hard mainly for the last weeks, I felt less urge to work and dive in deeply, did what was needed but started strongly feeling the need to cocoon and focus on our growing family.
Complaints: I was nauseous the last time in week 26. Then, as the last weeks came, the reflux that I also had last time came and stayed right up to the first week post partum. I was feeling short of breath and needed iron supplements for low iron. Tiredness was less than 1st trimester but never really passed. It was also hard to sleep, mainly woke up very early, around 5 am.
I had a feeling the baby was to come earlier than our daughter came (39+1) so when this term passed, I was just very ready to meet him. During the pregnancy leave I got to do almost everything in my to do list, including cleaning up, downsizing a little, getting ready for postpartum time (cooking ahead and freezing it) and spending a lot of time with our dauther. She stayed home from after school care (intended to do that for 1 year) and we spent every afternoon together. We also learned that my husbands parents were not be able to come before the birth and to help with our daughter so we needed to figure out a plan B. This all took time and energy but it all worked out.
I tried to stay fit and work out 2 x week during the second trimester. No running anymore sadly, the last time was 26 weeks. Nevertheless I got to work out right up to 39+1 (and could have done it 39+3 still but had other plans).
The baby decided it was time to arrive at 39+4, but this is a different story altogether :-)
In summary, this pregnancy was very different from the first one with more physical complaints and less focus on the baby and more on the older daughter, but I'm glad I had that time in the end during my maternity leave to focus on the baby and his arrival.
See the previous part for the first and second trimester.
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