My pregnancy
We felt incredibly grateful to have fallen pregnant again the second time around after almost a year and a half of trying to conceive and also going through an early miscarriage. We never gave up, although at times I most certainly wanted to. Pregnancy wise I was lucky enough this time around to not have any morning sickness again. What a score! My skin was also nice and clear (while pregnant with Noah I broke out terribly up until I was roughly 26 weeks) but I did have a LOT more sweet cravings. So for that reason we put it down to the fact that maybe I was having a girl this time around? As you can see that certainly wasn’t the case! For the most part I truly loved being pregnant. I loved my belly and I loved feeling my little guy kicking around on the daily. I really do miss it
From very early on it was also decided I would be going in for another C-section. Several factors came into play as to why, and my OB again enforced that this would again be the safest way to have our baby and both my husband and I were happy with that decision. I knew what to expect, I’d had a C-section for Noah so I went into this pregnancy still nervous, but a lot less than the first time around as I knew what to expect
The week leading up…
Pregnancy the second time around sure is a whooooole different ball game to your first. Mainly because there’s a hell of a lot less relaxing when you have a toddler to run around after! We had everything ready and locked into place for when we were needing to go into hospital by this stage. My mum was to come and take care of Noah, our bags were packed and the car seat was in and ready to go! Noah also still had day-care to go to the day after I had given birth. We were wanting to keep everything as relatively “normal” for him as much as possible. The last thing I wanted was to change up his week, but instead make it as smooth a sailing for him as possible
So we went in and had our last appointment scheduled with our OB on New Years Eve (we were all booked in for my C-section on January 4th) where he checked me over. By this stage I was 38+5 weeks but I wasn’t really concerned at all that I would go into labour early. Noah was born by C-section at 40+2 weeks and was not engaged at all so I just felt like we would be the same this time around. We saw that baby was also still sitting quite high still with no sign of being engaged so our OB made a few jokes and seemed to be pretty confident and happy that he wouldn’t get a surprise call from me to come into hospital over the weekend. I went off to have my blood test and after that we went out for lunch
As this was now our last few days together as a family of 3, we intended not to waste any of that time. Noah was our main priority and we intended to make the next few days all about him. I overall was feeling pretty great still at this stage too. Yes I was a lot slower and shoes were most definitely not my friend by this point, but for the most part I felt good so we decided to head to the beach the next day for New Years Day. We took snacks and Noah buried himself in the sand one too many times. It was the perfect day. And then over the next few days we went out all together for lunch, treated ourselves to Krispy Kreme’s and took Noah out on little trips to the park and pool
Yep I’m a blubbering mess
We were getting very close to baby day by this point and my emotions were completely all over the place. Noah was our whole world, our everything for the last 3.5 years and even though we had prepped him for what felt like an eternity on the arrival of his baby brother, I still felt immense guilt for us adding to our family and disrupting his world. Is he going to be upset? Will we even have any time for him anymore? Will he even like his new brother? Thought upon thought like this clouded my mind. I think I knew deep down he would be ok but I just couldn’t help but assume the worst. Noah also loves kids (and kids of any certain age he’s a little social butterfly) so giving him his own brother to now be able to play with is the best gift we could ever possibly give him. It certainly still didn’t stop me from spending the next few evenings in the shower silently sobbing and praying to myself that everything would work out and that he would be happy and ok
Where did the time go?
We had reached the day before we were due to go into hospital. And its true what they say, time really does fly while your pregnant. I could have easily had another few weeks left in me but this little guy was scheduled to come out! We had the luxury of having this day free as last time I was pregnant with Noah, the day before we went into hospital was spent going to our OB appointment and getting my blood test. This felt so much better the second time around as we had the day to ourselves and it wasn’t spent in a doctors office. I went out early that morning to stock up on groceries so my mum and Noah wouldn’t have to worry about food for that week. We then went off to Baby Bunting to grab a little skateboard attachment for our pram, to Krispy Kreme for a donut fix and then spent the remaining time we had that afternoon at home relaxing. We talked to Noah a lot that day, explaining to him that we wouldn’t see him in the morning as mummy and daddy would be at the hospital having his baby brother, and that when he woke up he would see his Grammy instead
There was also no way in hell that I was cooking that night so we treated ourselves to Uber eats, and I was lucky enough to even get a foot massage from both the boys
I barely slept a wink that night. I was a bundle of nerves and just beyond emotional. The time had flown, I felt like I had only just announced my pregnancy and now here I was about to have another baby. I was going to be a mum of TWO! Even though I was nervous as anything, I think the second time around your nerves are a lot different. I certainly wasn’t that nervous about the C-section as I’d had it done before and knew what to expect. I think for the most part I was worried about being stretched too thin with now having two kids and being able to give enough of my time equally to them both
We had set our alarms for just after 4am. We had to be at hospital by 6am that morning (out of 5 couples we were the first to be going in to have our baby compared to being the last on the list when we had Noah!) and I wanted to be able to get up, have a shower and finish packing without rushing around. My mum came over around 5am and we left home about 530am. We are very close to our hospital so we had the luxury of being able to sit around and chat for a little bit before we left. Noah was still asleep and I gave him the biggest kiss before we left. I already missed him and we hadn’t even gotten out the door yet
We then got to hospital, checked into our room and were told someone would be with us soon to get us prepped for surgery. Everything felt so much different this time around. I was excited to finally meet our little guy and felt extremely prepared for what was about to happen. Shortly after we arrived our OB popped his head into our room and told us he would be seeing us shortly. And then roughly an hour and a half after we had first arrived, here I was getting wheeled down to be prepped for surgery!
Ready, steady, time for a baby!
Lying on that hospital bed again was just the craziest form of Deja vu. I had already been down this exact path 3.5 years ago! Except last time I was a hot mess and cried during the whole procedure! This time though I felt in control and very aware of what was going to be happening. I was ready!
I got all my checks done and then I was wheeled into the surgery room. Beautiful, calming music was playing and I really loved that. I felt an instant sense of peace and very much focused on listening to it while everything was being prepped for surgery. While I was sitting up on the bed waiting to have my spinal block I even commented to my husband how calm I felt this time around and he 100% agreed with me
I felt that my spinal block injection took a little longer to do this time around. Having to hunch over while they pop that needle into your back is not the comfiest thing and mine seemed to take forever. The anaesthetist kept asking me to lean forward more and more and I felt like I just couldn’t hunch over any more than I already was. Once it was all done I laid down and they started to get my tummy prepped by washing it down with betadine. It was so cold and I instantly went into a panic as I thought “Hang on, I can feel them putting this on my tummy shouldn’t I be numb by now?” I fretted to my husband that I didn’t want them to start anything as maybe the spinal hadn’t worked but sure enough, another few minutes passed and I was completely numb from about the middle of my chest down to my toes
The anaesthetist had also told me that I may start to feel nauseas from the spinal injection and I didn’t remember feeling like that last time so I didn’t worry too much but holy moly he was right. Not long after I was completely numb a wave of nausea hit me and I laid there breathing heavily in and out of my mouth and nose because I sure as hell didn’t want to vomit on anyone. I was given some nausea medicine through my IV and that helped a lot, I could now focus on meeting our baby and not on my up chuck reflexes
Feeling like surely this little baby was ready to come out by now, I said to my husband “Can you see anything or hear if they are close to getting baby out? Try and have a look around the sheet” But it was too hard for him to see anything so we just kept chatting to ourselves and talking about what he would look like and who this little person was going to be. We were so nervous to see him! After what felt like forever I suddenly felt an almighty tug and I was pulled halfway down the bed. Brad still laughs to this day about that, he said they practically pulled me off the table trying to get our son out haha. I was told afterward that I had a lot of scar tissue left from my prior C-section so that made it a little difficult for them to get him out. I then felt what can only be described as a popping sensation and in an instant all the pressure lifted off my tummy. Our boy was finally here!
Meeting Max
Little Max Hunter Dalglish entered our lives at 8:10am on Tuesday morning the 4th of January 2022 and weighed 3.4kg. The very first thing I noticed was how much hair he had! Noah had a fairly good head of hair when he was born, but nothing like Max. And Max’s was dark too! I couldn’t believe it. You spend 9 months wondering what this little person is going to look like but you just cant even imagine it until you finally see them
He let out a few big gargling cries and then was whisked over to have his checks. I just assumed that like last time he would have his Hep B injection, Brad would cut his cord and then I would be able to hold him. But that didn’t happen. He was having a bit of trouble with his breathing as he still had some fluid in his lungs that wasn’t coming up so we were told he needed to go up to the nursery and we both agreed Brad would go up there with him. To be honest I didn’t really want to be by myself in the recovery room but my selfishness had to go out the door at that moment as our son was our first priority and I knew Brad would want to be with him
Getting wheeled into the recovery area without your baby and husband certainly was one of the most strangest experiences as well. When Noah was born he was handed over to me almost straight away, we had a quick cuddle and then he had his checks and we went off to recovery after that and got to bond as a new little family. This time around I was in recovery by myself with no baby and no husband. It was honestly the strangest experience. The nurses who took care of me down there were so lovely though and and about an hour after I arrived I was cleared to go up to see my boys. When I got up to the nursery Max was on his tummy on a little bed where they were able to check his oxygen levels a little closer and that was also when I saw the big forceps mark on his head! Which then made me understand why I was practically pulled off the table when they were trying to get him out. He clearly didn’t want to leave haha!
We stayed with Max for around 2 hours or so and while we were there one of the nurses was able to help me express some colostrum which was great as he was getting hungry and upset and that was able to calm him down. We were told that it would be best if we went back to our room, have some lunch (Uhhh hell yes I’d been fasting since midnight the night before and was starving) and that they would bring Max in shortly to see us. We were only in our room for a short time before he was wheeled in and then that was it, our little man was finally with us
Home time
It has been one whole month since we have bought our little guy home! One month already! And I honestly feel like he already doesn’t look like a newborn anymore. My recovery was a lot better this time around too. I think because I knew what to expect and how to cope, and I tried my best to ask for more help even though that is soooo not in my nature. Having a toddler at home also speeds up your recovery (not by choice haha) and I think once your past having your first child you just have to get on with things the second time around as the luxury of rest does not exist. Overall I feel pretty good too. I have good and bad days just like anyone but I feel a lot more confident in how I can handle them the second time around. With your first child you go into motherhood with blinkers on. Everything is a guessing game. Second time around its still stressful, yet you almost feed off that as you have no choice but to just throw yourself into the thick of it. Max is also a totally different baby as to how Noah was. He is so much more clingy and doesn’t settle down for his sleeps as well as Noah did so that can be a bit of a challenge, especially when you are by yourself and your also trying to wrangle a toddler for tea time/shower time and bed time. But Noah has been a huge help and we are so proud of him and how he has handled his new big brother status
And so for now we are just soaking everything in and learning about Max each and every day and I’m just so excited to watch my boys grow up and see their brotherly bond completely flourish
