During the first pregnancy, they are all fears in the first-time mother, who usually takes all possible health precautions, following the medical advice carefully. Probably many of you are reflected in this situation that seems quite usual, but, Would you take care of yourself in the second pregnancy?
Surely everyone's intentions are yes. Or at least in principle, because surely, like me, you know women who have not worried about toxoplasmosis in their first pregnancy, taking a preparation class for childbirth or getting on a scale.
But, removing those “extreme” cases of lack of care, I get the impression that moms who have already had a previous pregnancy taking care of ourselves as much as possible, relax. And I think that relaxation could increase exponentially the more pregnancies we have.
It seems that experience gives us a degree, but certainly that degree should not, on the other hand, take care of us during pregnancy, even if it is difficult. Here are some examples: the application of the anti-stretch cream, the prohibition of eating sausage or having a drink of beer, performing physical exercise ...
We have less time
We can think that some of the recommended care needs a dedication and a time that already with a child in the family is more difficult to find than before.
- This seems quite clear in cases such as exercise, finding a daily time to exercise consistently is complicated. For example I have lived with my second pregnancy. If the first time I exercised practically every day, this time it took me more to be so constant.
- The childbirth preparation classes I think they also see reduced attendance of women who already have children due to lack of time, among other reasons, such as that we think we remember everything that we were told then, even if they told us that care had to be taken. I did attend classes again in my second pregnancy, although I recognize that I almost always had to leave before the session ended because it was too late and I wanted to be with my daughter for dinner and bed.
- We relax less. The baby does not usually listen to classical music in the mother's womb as his "predecessor" did, but that is replaced by the melodies of the favorite songs that the eldest son listens to. Yoga, the Pilates method or relaxation exercises find less place in our busy schedule to give us its benefits.
We trust our experience
We trust that everything will be fine because before it went well. Of course, if we stop doing what made it easier for our pregnancy to be well, we can get a surprise. No need to remember any fable with moral.
- Food is one of the points where we relax the most. I also put myself as an example of "unconsciousness" if we want. While in my first pregnancy I did not try the sausage or the serrano ham, this time I have been tempted once in a while. Alcohol or coffee are other "temptations" that some pregnant women cannot leave behind even in their first pregnancy, but that we should always take care of.
- The weight. Related to the previous point, we have that many women do not monitor both the weight and the first pregnancy, with cases of excessive fattening both due to poor diet and lack of exercise.
- Skin care. If in the first pregnancy we worried about hydrating, applying sunscreen and anti-stretch cream, sometimes those good habits are lost in a second pregnancy, with the risk of getting spots or stretch marks if we had kept them at bay in the first gestation.
What I think does not suffer variation are medical visits and prenatal tests, which when it comes to knowing how the baby is growing and controlling very few mothers are neglected. And although clearly every point of those mentioned is important for our health and that of the baby, some or several may be forgotten in the following pregnancies.
In any case, we remember the decalogue for a healthy and happy pregnancy, advice that is valid and recommended for both the first and subsequent pregnancy. Let's pamper ourselves as before, that our baby or our body notices that we take care less in the following pregnancies.
