One of the honored guests at the Virtual Baby Shower that I participated in, Mrs. Chicken, just wrote a post about how exhausted she is with this second pregnancy, how some days she feels disconnected, wonders what the heck she got herself into. I was reading through her comments and then started leaving one of my own, only it got so long that I came here to turn it into a blog post instead.
Ryan was 17 months old when I got pregnant with Nathan. I was working full-time at the Credit Union, we had a terrific caregiver who’s house was across the street and five houses down from ours, and Chris was working for a company whose offices were less than a mile from our house.
On a beautiful Spring weekend in April, 1998, Chris, Ryan and I participated in a 5K walk for the March of Dimes. We got home and Ryan went down for a nap, and I stretched out on the couch. And slept for four hours. When I woke up I said to Chris, “wow, I don’t feel good. My stomach feels queasy.”
Dun dun DUN. I made a doctor appointment, peed into a cup, and sure enough. But here’s what’s weird-I have almost no specific memories of being pregnant with Nathan. I see photos from that time with my belly round and I just get no memory sense at all. I know it was a relatively good pregnancy, no high blood pressure or diabetes, no bedrest. In fact, I went into labor naturally, which I hadn’t even done with Ryan.
But why can’t I remember? I can’t nod my head along with Mrs. Chicken and say “oh yes, I remember that feeling”, or “no, that didn’t happen to me” because I just don’t remember it. I was growing a person inside my body, you’d think I would have some memories of that. I do remember that labor started on Sunday, December 20th at Chris’ Aunt and Uncle’s Christmas party, and that I kept feeling my belly tighten. I also played the piano while everyone sang Christmas Carols, and can I just say that oh my GAH, what was I thinking with this hairdo:
(I’m the one in the middle with the curling iron curls on the top of my head. And the festive red nails, which went with me to the hospital and were red for a long time because I was too tired to remember to take the polish off. On my left is Chris’ Mother, on my right, his Aunt). The HAIR.
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I was the same way with my 2nd pregnancy and even worse on my 3rd. I remember not even wanting to answer my cellphone because I felt like my arms will fall off from exhaustion.
The hair thing was hilarious. You obviously felt good enough to do some curls.
mj
sugarmybowl.com
mj aka sugarmamas last blog post..All Wishes Granted!
I don’t remember much from my second pregnancy because I was too busy caring for my toddler. I’m sure this explains your memory lapse too. Really, all I remember is suddenly doubling over from nausea and trying to explain to my 18-month-old, “Mommy’s okay…feeling kind of sick, but Mommy’s going to be okay.”
Love the festive red nails : ]
I’m looking forward to pregnancy but not so much to the nausea!
Twitter: pz5wjj
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hahahaha!
I remember all my pregnancies! Vividly! Even the 2 that didn’t make it past 9 weeks.
I can see how it can happen. I still have 3 weeks to go in my second pregnancy and I already feel like I’m forgetting!
I think it’s because with your first pregnancy you’re soooo focused on the pregnancy, but by your second time around you’re still soooo focused on the first one (child that is!) that you don’t retain as many of the details.