When you are pregnant for the first time, you are completely overwhelmed with all the information that you have thrown at you.
You read all the books, attend all the antenatal classes, ask questions on online forums and chat to friends and family who have had kids ahead of you, hoping to absorb all of their wisdom.
You go into labour and childbirth blind, with no real idea of what it might feel like to have a contraction or give birth to another human being. You are armed with your birth plan which may or may not actually come to fruition.
And then the baby comes.. and you have to learn this incredibly important information on the fly; how to feed them, bathe them, clothe them and educate them, checking every developmental milestone along the way and second guessing yourself doing it.
They get a temperature and you panic, afraid that something terrible is wrong and then find out at D-Doc that your baby is simply teething.
You are a new mother. You are doing everything right, you just have never done it before.
And then you get pregnant again.
You’re thrilled that your little man or woman will have a sibling now, someone to play with and you contemplate dusting off the pregnancy book for a look again, but you probably won’t because you’re so busy looking after your first child.
You know what each stage of pregnancy will bring and so long as your check ups are ok, you’re happy that everything is going to plan. You got this.
You go into labour armed with the knowledge from your previous birth, and unless anything changes drastically, will prepare to have a similar experience. This time, you might opt to change a few things, like pain relief or your choice of hospital, but you won’t be as in the dark overall as the first time.
When the second baby comes along, you are a total pro. You have been down this road before. The night feeds aren’t nearly as big a shock to the system as they were the first time because now you know how to cope with them.
You recognise all the little milestones that your baby makes and prepare as they approach them, armed with an inate know-how of what your child needs. Sleep schedules, weaning, helping them when they’re sick – nothing is a big deal to you and you know just what to do.
You may not have dreamt of having a nap during the day in a million years with the first baby, choosing instead to clean the house and iron the tiny clothes and generally continue to pad that nest. With baby number two, you relax somewhat and give in to the notion that you have a really busy house and you could do with a rest.
Because now, you’re not a ‘new mother’ anymore. You are now, simply, ‘Mum’.
Did you feel more relaxed with your subsequent babies after the first? Tell us in the comments!
