No, really. I’m serious.
I remember being tired during my first pregnancy, but I don’t remember being so tired that I’d want to pull off the side of the road on my 20 minute drive to work for a quick snooze. It’s like my entire body feels heavy as if I’m moving around in water, and I have to fight to keep my eyes open. Mid-day is the worst, especially when I’m at work. If I’m home, I nap when Cordy naps, but there is no designated nap time while at the office. When I do finally get the chance to sleep, though, I’m awake every two hours to pee. Sigh.
And then there’s the issue of food. My luck did not hold out, and my ol’ buddy from last time, nausea, has returned. I spend about half of my day in some state of nausea, either from not eating recently or from eating ever-so-slightly too much. I’m really puzzled about the current size of my stomach. I can eat about 2/3 of a normal sized meal now, instead of an entire meal. If I ignore the warning signs and continue eating the entire meal, I spend the next few hours feeling miserable, wishing I could throw up but having no luck. And when I’m hungry, I must. eat. right. now.
Sweet foods upset my stomach, which is different from last time, when I loved anything sweet. I still have my love of spicy foods, although I’m not ready to try anything as adventurous as Indian food yet.
All of this has led to Cordy watching a lot more TV lately. I feel bad about letting her watch so much TV, but sometimes mommy needs to rest on the couch without a 32 lb. toddler trying to practice her latest balancing act on mommy’s stomach. Crayons last a little while, building blocks maybe 15 minutes, but TV can give me a half hour at a time, or even a full hour if she’s watching “Bwue’s Bud-der” (translation: Meet Blue’s Baby Brother).
Cordy, as you can guess, has taken this new change to her schedule in stride:
Sometimes I wonder how I will manage two of them?
For pure exhaustion, having one baby in and one toddler out is WAY worse than handling two. You’ll be fine (as long as you can survive the next few weeks). And yes – TV is your friend.
I remember feeling exactly what you’re feeling right now. Hang in there. And don’t worry about letting Cordy watch tv. She’s a smart kid and it’s not like the shows you let her watch are rotting her brain. Now if you plop her in front of an episode of COPS, then there might be issues!
Oh, with Nick I just wanted spicy food. After the 13 week mark. With Munchkin, I just wanted Snickers. Strangely, I can’t eat a Snickers now without wanting to vomit.
Hang in, dear. And you’ll be just fine!
Oooo girl….I just hit 12 weeks and I can testify it does get better!
oh mama! I am RELIVING my pregnancy with this post! just follow the mantra i had during my pregnancy… ‘week 13 is near. week 13 is near. week 13 is near’
hang in there; you’ll get through.
and, how will you handle two? same way we manage one – you just do sister!
Oh I feel for you. Hang in there. YOu can do it.
I remember this so well. I was exhausted and nauseous all the time. Hang in there!
During the last two months with Kate, my mantra to Paul was “I’m glad you’re not twins”. You’ll be following almost exactly the timeline I was, that was certainly one of the reasons Paul was potty-trained so late. That, and his apathy.
You will do just fine. You are such a dynamo. You will have so many things figured out even before this baby arrives.
But– I do think that twins (the same age) are EASIER than 2 kids that are different ages.
we wear the same size clothes.. we drink the same thing .. We sit in the same size car seats.
But- you will do just fine.AND Cordy will be a wonderful help. She will be 2 1/2 and think that baby is the most wonderful thing on Earth.
When my best friend was pregnant and had a toddler, she felt so guilty that her son was being babysat by the tv while she rested. He’s fine, and Cordy will be too. And I’m sure you’ll do great with 2 children!!
Do not feel guilty about the sleep thing. I am 26 days post partum and still nod off during the Backyardigans. Twenty good minutes of snooze is priceless with a newborn.
Don’t worry about the tv babysitter either. Laura and I have a close friend who lived in front of the tv growing up and he is now a professor at a major university. You gotta do what you gotta do to survive.
I hope your nausea gets better. I had more during this last pregnancy than my first, but it still wasn’t bad. You are halfway there, right?
Man, that second paragraph describes PERFECTLY how I was for my first trimester with Sam. So sorry it’s come back a second time. And yeah, I’m thinking she’s doing just fine there. Don’t feel bad about needing to rest; it’s totally exhausting.
Okay, stop reading posts and comments. Go get some rest!
(sorry to hear you’re feeling nauseous. I feel for you, I really, really do.)
Hugs, and I hope you feel better! I’ll have to send you some happy mama spray from Earth Mama/Angel Baby, it’s supposed to help with nausea if you spray it on your wrist and smell it. Ginger ale and ginger helped me when I was nauseous.
You’ll manage with two. People with half your intelligence manage with many more. You’ll be great. :0)
I was so exhausted in my first trimester. Exhaustion in the first trimester was pretty much the only “side effect” of my pregnancy (other than my growing belly). I would doze off on the couch by 8PM. Then the exhaustion went away, and I became the Energizer Bunny.
I hope you’ll do fine with two (I’m inspired by your experience). I’ve heard the hardest part is when they are “out of sync”, which is they don’t want to sleep in the same time…
Stop worrying so much about the tv … a little extra Blue’s Clues never hurt anybody. She’ll be watching more when you’re trying to feed the new baby or give him/her a bath . . . Moms just have to do what they have to do to get through 🙂
And as long as we’re doing our best, somehow our children turn out just fine.
That picture is priceless.
I feel your exhaustion. I know you know it’ll get better, but it does suck in the meantime.
I hear ya. All I wanted to do was sleeeeeep