Second Baby: What I'll Do Differently This Time

Ask any mother and I’m sure they’d agree that giving birth for the first time is a major learning experience. You don’t know what to expect pain-wise especially if you’re planning a natural birth and there are so many variables that can shape the birth experience. Wiser {and less naive}, these are the things I’ll do differently this time.

As a naive first time mother, I had plans for the perfect, peaceful, natural birth to bring my daughter into the world. As it were, it didn’t turn out that way AT ALL! If you missed my birth story, you can click the link below to read it first for a little more perspective on my resolutions going into birth a second time. It was a doozy!

>>>Natural Birth Gone Horribly Wrong | Emergency C-Section<<<<

4 Things I’ll Do Differently:

1. Attempt To Eat Healthier And Gain Less Weight

While I didn’t gain more than my “expected weight gain” range, I was at the very top of the range. It didn’t bother me at the time but it was hard to lose after the fact, especially dealing with difficult newborn stuff.

I was very sick with morning sickness and pretty much the only things I thought sounded appetizing were sugary things. I’m sure I could’ve had more self control and eaten healthier but I chose to eat what sounded good.

This go around I am trying to be more conscious of making healthier food choices plus the fact that sweets don’t seem to be agreeing with me. We’ll see if it makes a difference.

2. Insist On Confirmation Of Baby’s Position In Last Trimester

This is something that I would recommend EVERYONE do, even if you have to pay out of pocket for it. Especially if your baby is breech at the anatomy scan and you don’t feel them turn. If I had simply insisted that they do an ultrasound to confirm my baby had turned head down, it would’ve saved us all a world of trouble {and pain}.

Thankfully, the facility I’m going to this time does a last trimester ultrasound as a standard for all mamas. If that weren’t the case, I definitely wouldn’t be taking anyone’s word for my baby’s position without seeing it for myself.

By the way, if you haven’t sat down yet to write your birth plan I highly suggest you take some time to research all your options and possibilities! If you’re not sure where to start, check out my post How To Write A Natural Birth Plan {And Why You Need One} to help get the ball rolling and download the free template that you can customize for yourself.

3. Freezer Meal Prep

I worked as a waitress all the way up until 2 weeks before Mary Emma was born so needless to say, I was exhausted! I kept saying that I’d do my freezer meals next week until I was finally down to the last few miserable weeks and it never got done.

The postpartum period would’ve been so much easier if I had meals ready to be pulled out and heated. My due date this time is in December so I’m planning to do lots of soups since they’ll freeze so well! I’m also going to prep and freeze a few batches of healthy lactation cookies to have on hand to pull out and bake. They got me through some of those hard newborn days when it’s hard to even find time to eat!

4. Trust My Instincts

No matter what you call it, trusting your gut, trusting your instincts, or intuition, God gives us those inclinations for a reason! If I had trusted my gut feeling, things could’ve turned out much differently. I probably still would’ve ended up having a c-section but it wouldn’t have been nearly the emergency situation that it was by the time I got to the birth center fully dilated.

My gut told me it was time to start heading to the Birth Center around 5 or 6 in the morning when the midwife, who was an hour away, kept saying to stay home. Trust your gut, not someone an hour away even if they are supposed to be the “expert”. She was still telling me to stay home 4 hours later when I was fully dilated and ready to push!

Intentions For A Better Outcome

So there you have it. Those are my plans and intentions for what I’ll do differently for my second birth with the goal of a different outcome. There’s a quote that I think is totally relevant to situations like this: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results”. Sometimes I feel crazy but hopefully I’m not insane!