left 33 weeks pregnant with Crosby / right 34 weeks pregnant with Wilder
dress is Forever 21
Now that I’ve gone through two pregnancies in two years I thought it might be fun to chat about their similarities and differences. I got asked a lot if the pregnancies were different since I was expecting a different gender the second time around…
First Trimester:
Basically identical. I craved the same foods – sweet, salty, carb-y, junk and was really lucky to never suffer from morning sickness. I found out the genders around 11/12 weeks both times through a blood test. Even though my symptoms, of lack thereof, were identical I had a really strong feeling Wilder was a boy. I was right!
Second Trimester:
With Crosby I didn’t start really showing until about 22 weeks. I could still get away with wearing my normal clothes/high-waisted jeans and didn’t have much of a bump unless I was wearing a tight dress. The second time around I popped a lot sooner! By 18 weeks I had a visable bump and basically lived in leggings until I was ready to break out the maternity jeans. Another funny similarity was that my due dates were exactly three weeks apart so I was pregnant and the same time of year. I desperately wanted to wear dresses and bikinis this time around but we had the coldest winter in years, so I was stuck in winter clothes most of the time.
Third Trimester:
I also think I carried about the same, as you can see from the photos above. When I was pregnant with Crosby I was always told how high I was carrying and I think it was pretty similar the second time as well. Old wives tales say with a girl your bump expands out more in a wide ball and with a boy it just sticks out in front of you. From my experience it’s all in how your body reacts… both of mine were more out in front. However, a funny thing was each time strangers liked to come up and guess the gender and most of the time they were right! Who knows?! I did get bigger with Wilder, with Crosby I only gained 22 pounds and I gained about 30 the second time.
The biggest difference:
I didn’t have gestational diabetes the second time around! I was tested a few times and was sure I’d have it again. This was both a blessing and a curse… I could eat whatever I wanted and wasn’t as healthy as I was at the end of my first pregnancy. I also attribute the larger weight gain to not being on the GD diet.
Another scary risk I had the first time around was Marginal Cord Insertion, where the umbilical cord attached to the edge of my placenta, not the center and may have also contributed to Crosby’s small birth weight. Because I had both GD and MCI I was considered high-risk in my third trimester and monitored twice a week. I completely bi-passed all the second time around!
Baby’s size:
Crosby was born at 38 weeks and 3 days and weighed 5 pounds 10 ounces. Wilder was born at 39 weeks two days and weiged 6 pounds 5 ounces. I was so sure he’d be a lot bigger… but I guess I just don’t make large babies.
Pregnancy favorites:
Non-maternity body-con dresses from Forever 21 (always go one size up if pregnant)
Oversized t-shirts (size up, cute for postpartum too)
Bringing Up Bebe (read this when I was pregnant with Crosby)
Baby Wise (read and followed with Crosby)