A Second Pregnancy
With a 1 year old at home, it's hard to find time to even sit down and take in the fact that you are pregnant. As anyone would and has told you, it goes by so much faster the second time around.
Me: I Believe in Unicorns Dress (Fillyboo Maternity)
Louella: Melon Embroidered Stripe Romper (Louise Louise)
This time around, we found out we were pregnant while vacationing in the north of France. We took Louella to meet her extended family in Germany, headed north via train to see Bruges, and then drove through northern France to enjoy the coast, wine and food of the region, finishing by driving to Paris. After that we flew to Pisa to join some of our closest friends for a week in Chianti to celebrate the marriage of our best friends.
I had joked to my best friend (and the bride) that Jakob and I had had such a passionate August, that I might have got myself pregnant right before our month in Europe. Which would of course be the way with me. I found out that I was pregnant with Louella a week before our honeymoon in Hawaii. My body seems to like to get pregnant before a big trip. First trimester bathroom trips and food aversions make for a less relaxing and rich travel experience.
It was the first month that we stopped protection as we knew that we wanted our kids close in age. We didn't realize it would happen quite so fast. I had been feeling sick while we were at Mount St Michel so I took a pregnancy test at the Chateau while Jakob was in the village picking us up some cheese and crackers to enjoy by the pool.
Positive. I was holding my 9 month old on the bed as I read the result. It turned out I was only around 4 or 5 weeks pregnant at the time, but I just knew it. It would have been normal for me to be so tired, while travelling with a baby and on a new time zone. It would also have been expected for me to be queazy from driving for hours on end though the countryside. But it wasn't normal for me to be disgusted by the idea of red wine in France's wine country! Also... I did have a bit of mother's intuition kicking in there. It was hard to track as I had only 1 period since having Louella and I didn't keep track of those days. It was just a gut feeling.
I waited until we arrived in Caen before I told him in our apartment, the same way I told him about Louella. We all cuddled on the bed and talked about the future and how excited we were.
Admittedly, it was hard being in French wine country and then TUSCANY while pregnant. Thankfully my stomach told me that alcohol was the enemy so I didn't have any temptation or craving to fight. In fact, I had the opposite of cravings. For my pregnancy with Louella I was violently ill for 8 months, so I expected this pregnancy to be the same. I got off lucky and was only sick for about 5 weeks. Of course... 2 of those weeks were in Europe. But I'm grateful all the same.
Overall this has been a really easy pregnancy on me. Which is a true gift when you have a baby at home to take care of. The only negative is that I tore my groin in January so I struggle to walk, and trying to sleep is an absolutely nightmare (literally). I would take this over vomiting day in and day out!
There are moments where I look at my small baby and wonder if I'm doing this too close together, or if I'm taking some aspect of her childhood away. But the truth is she will never know any different. We will have had an amazing 15 months solo together. She will still be the centre of my universe but she will have someone else to share that space with her. My intuition tells me she's built for the big sister gig.
