We’re so excited to *finally* share that we’re expecting a second Baby Martian.. and again in September! We’ve known since the beginning of January, really early on, so we’ve been keeping this quiet for a very long time.
Since I’m officially geriatric as far as pregnancy goes, our insurance covered the NIPT (Non-Invaisive Prenatal Testing) test. A basic blood draw to test for chromosomal disorders, which we were all cleared of. It also gave us a super early answer to the sex of our newest family member. It’s a girl!
I always hoped for a daughter named Madeleine. I’ve got my girl, so I assumed I’d have no preference regarding any other children, but after the nurse told us we were having another girl I realized how excited I was for Madeleine to have a sister. Plus all of our baby gear is pink, purple, and girly! Plus I’m excited to again put a baby in clothes I grew very emotionally attached to.
When I was pregnant with Madeleine, I had a really rough time emotionally. As someone with an anxiety about meeting new care providers, I ended up with FOUR different prenatal providers before Madeleine was born. But the midwife who delivered Madeleine was so amazing and I’ve been so excited to have her as my midwife for this pregnancy. We also are seeing the same maternal fetal medicine doctor as last time, and when she came in the exam room to review our ultrasound she said “I don’t know if you remember me! I want to see pictures of your first baby!” and then let me show her a bunch of pictures of Madeleine.
This whole pregnancy feels different, probably because I’ve experienced the whole pregnancy + birth + postpartum + watching a newborn grow into an infant and a toddler thing, and I’m so much more excited than I am scared.
Here are some ways this pregnancy is different than my first so far:
- WAY MORE EXHAUSTION
In my FIRST first trimester, I had a daily afternoon cat nap. Like the carefree being I was. Now with Madeleine, I could either sleep when baby sleeps or… do the dishes, laundry, work, etc. All the things I’ve learned to cram into nap time. So the normal exhaustion human and organ growing + toddler wrangling + losing that nap = being really tired. - NAUSEA
Aside from the first trimester naps, I had a pretty asymptomatic pregnancy up until the end. My first trimester this time was ROUGH. I constantly felt like I was going to puke, and OH MY GOSH toddler diapers? I literally just heave the entire time I change Madeleine’s diaper. Which she thinks is funny. But I have to put essential oil on my chest, tuck my nose into my shirt, breathe through my mouth, run out of the room and often lean over the toilet just in case. Ugh. - LEG PAIN
I remember having a LOT of charley horses in my calves towards the end of my second trimester with Madeleine. I’d go to luxuriously stretch in the morning and instantly regret it. I had a few weeks where my leg was constantly in pain. It kept me up all night, and for a few weeks I was in a constant state of discomfort. My midwife said it was probably a magnesium deficiency. - OVERALL MORE PEACE
I shared a glimpse at the emotional turmoil I experienced at the beginning of my first pregnancy, but I’ll sum it up like this: right when I got comfortable with the thought of being pregnant, Justen lost his job. I’d braved my first prenatal appointment and then discovered I’d have to find a new support team because we lost that insurance. There was so much scary, so much unknown. And even though we still have our fair share of scary and unknown, like needing to find a new place to live, I’d say I have at least 50% more peace than the first go round. I think having given birth, succeeded in surviving the newborn phase and loving the whole experience of having a child has made my excitement level stay up, as compared to last time when it was all SO UNKNOWN.
So if I could ask for prayers, please pray that we will be able to find affordable housing that has a second bedroom and at least a dishwasher OR in-unit laundry. I’ll settle for one or the other at this point.
Cheers to you, Baby Martian #2. I cannot wait to bring you home (where ever that will end up being).
