second pregnancy {faq}

I started writing this back when I was pregnant and never got around to finishing or posting it. Surprise, surprise. Since then, I've been busy snuggling a very cuddly newborn and I haven't been able to bring myself to put her down to do things like write blog posts. As it should be, I think. But I felt like maybe I should finish it. Because, first of all, I wrote a lot more about my pregnancy with the girls and we don't need Drew growing up having any complexes because of that. {Kidding.} And, secondly, our friend Heather of Heather Fink Photography took some wonderful pictures before she was born and they'll most likely never be shared anywhere else because I'm terrible at Facebooking/Instagramming/blogging/allthingssocialmedia. I'm working on Drew's birth story so in the meantime here are some questions I was asked a bunch about my second pregnancy.

-Was this pregnancy a surprise?
 For some reason a lot of people assume she was a surprise. Or maybe they're hoping she was so they can still justify that we're somewhat sane. Because what kind of people get pregnant when their twins are 17 months old?! {I felt this sentiment strongly when we were flying back from NH and I stood in the aisle balancing a sobbing Charleigh on my belly while I could practically hear travelers nearby saying, Someone get that girl birth control.} 

The answer to this question is yes and no. Paul and I knew we wanted more kids. We just didn't feel like we were all here yet. So we hoped we would be able to get pregnant again at some point. I was going to discuss possibilities with my doctor but we were pretty sure we wouldn't be doing Clomid again. I actually had my yearly appointment with my ObGyn scheduled for the week after I found out I was pregnant. When people ask us if she was a surprise, Paul always says no because we were hoping for her. I always say yes because I was nervous to be too hopeful. I was certain we were going to need some sort of medical intervention again to get pregnant. But, surprise, we didnt!

-Were you taking Clomid again? Nope. See above. 

-Is there just one in there? Yup. But she was b.i.g.

 

-How did you know you were pregnant? 
I was still nursing the girls and wasn't on any type of normal or predictable schedule as far as {ahem} fertility stuff goes. So I actually didn't know I was pregnant until I was about 7 weeks along. I remember going to swimming lessons with the girls and feeling so off all day. My mom and I went through the Starbucks drive-thru and I just didn't feel like anything. But I did feel like a Chic Fil A ice cream cone. So random.  The next morning I went to make coffee and just the smell sent a wave of nausea over me...exactly like I felt when I was pregnant with the girls. I knew that very second I was pregnant. Later that day, I got a couple pregnancy tests and, lo and behold, I was right.

-How is being pregnant with one baby different from being pregnant with twins?
Everyone told me being pregnant with one would be so much easier. My doctor told me it would be a piece of cake and I wouldn't be as sick because there wouldn't be as many hormones, etc. But honestly, my pregnancies were almost exactly the same until about the 33rd or 34th week. I had the same amount of morning sickness {Meaning, I felt like I might die until 13 weeks.} I started showing at about the same time. I craved the same things.
My pregnancy with the girls was honestly so great and this one was the same. 

But at about 33 weeks I was in so much pain. I felt like I did right before I went into labor with the girls. My incision from their c-section was killing me and I wondered if that was a sign that a VBAC wasn't for us. I couldn't pick up the girls and could hardly walk. By my next appointment, the pain had subsided some and the doctor reassured me that it was just the baby settling down where she should be. After that, I started feeling better and was, thankfully, able to function again like a normal human being. Then, I felt huge. But not huge like I was with the girls. And I wasn't swollen like I was with the girls, either. {Meaning, I could wear real shoes. Unlike with the girls, where I wore slippers to my place of employment.}

I taught right up until the day before I went into labor with the girls and I honestly think the end of this pregnancy was more difficult. Maybe because I was wrangling two small children all day, everyday. {Granted, I kept track of 23 small children during my first pregnancy but I didn't have to pick any of them up. Or get up and down 83 times a day to get them a snack. I just rolled from place to place in my classroom on my roll-y chair. Much, much easier.}

-Are the girls excited/do they know what's going on? 

I don't think the girls had the faintest understanding of what was really happening. Pregnancy is a concept lost on many an adolescent. So I'm pretty sure it's a concept a two-year-old might find confusing. If you asked them where the baby was, they would point to my belly and would even kiss it. If you asked them if they wanted a new sister, they would look at each other and then say, 'no' with a look as if to say, 'I already have my sister.' But, I can tell you, that once she was here, excited would be an understatement.

-Cravings? 
First trimester, oranges and orange juice. And about the only other thing I could stomach was cereal. I ate A LOT of cereal. I would eat three bowls before bed (this little habit continued until Drew was born, actually) and then would wake up nauseous in the middle of the night and eat another. During the heat of the summer, I went through a very cliche pickle phase. And in the last trimester I craved the Chobani key lime flips yogurt. So good.

Ultimately, I was blessed with a truly wonderful pregnancy and an extremely supportive and helpful family. Trying to take care of twins when you can barely stand to even open the fridge without getting sick is no joke. My husband, mom, mother-in-law, and sister all helped out so much. They loved this tiny girl right along with me, long before she was born.