Pregnant again 5 months postpartum

[excitedsnake]

@rubbersoul Girl, I feel like you are living my life lol! I found out I was pregnant with my middle daughter 5 months after having my son. I was nursing and did not realize at the time that you can actually ovulate while breastfeeding even if your period is irregular. I actually found out when I was at my annual visit and I was like 10 weeks at the time. I remember leaving the doctor’s office sobbing, but after talking to my husband and letting the idea sink in some more, I started to feel okay. Flash forward 2 years later, and my son and daughter (ages 2 and 3) are now best of friends. I actually just had my third baby in May, lol (but now I’m DONE having babies haha).

I know I may be in the minority with this, but it was not as stressful as I built it up to be in my head. I think part of that was a few key decisions we made:

1. We sleep trained my son pretty much as soon as we found out I was pregnant. I know people have conflicting opinions on this, but by the time my daughter arrived, he was sleeping very consistently through the night.
2. I started bottle feeding my first when I was pregnant so my husband could help with nighttime feedings and I could get some sleep. This helped a lot with the pregnancy fatigue.
3. When my daughter was born, we enrolled my son in daycare for 3 days a week. This allowed me the time to recover and be with her, while my son got to have a lot of socialization time, which actually really benefited him when he started preschool this year. I know daycare is expensive, but even if you can have a babysitter, family member, etc. come over a couple times a week to help, it will be awesome for you.

When my daughter was born in May, I had 3 kids under 3. I have been able to manage it by getting my kids on a pretty good routine that fits into our lifestyle. We are very strict with bedtime because that allows both me and my husband time together plus self-care time.

I know it may feel scary now — but as someone who has been through it before, you have absolutely got this. As they say, life is what happens when you are busy making plans. there is a lot of joy in seeing your kids play together and watching their bonds form. Please do not hesitate to private message me if you want to talk or have any other questions!!

 

[excitedsnake]

Also I’m sorry in advance that this was a novel LOL

 

[theflypsyde]

@excitedsnake A super helpful novel though! Ty for sharing

 

[excitedsnake]

@theflypsyde Aww of course! I am glad that it helped!

 

[scarma]

@excitedsnake Did pregnancy affect your supply?

 

[excitedsnake]

@scarma I am not 100% sure if it was pregnancy or stress, but my supply went down for sure. Or maybe because I was supplementing with formula anyway to help with my son being at daycare when I went back to work, which was like 2 months before I found out I was pregnant again. I had so much going on lol. Once I found out I was pregnant though, I did gradually stop nursing and make the full switch to formula. I think I stopped completely when my son was about 6-7 months. Not sure if that was helpful but hopefully gives you some insight!

 

[scarma]

@excitedsnake I appreciate the insight! Thank you!

 

[daniel1960]

@rubbersoul Literally my timeline for my first two and on Christmas I found out I’m having a third nine months pp. Had a wonderful meltdown. It’ll be fine. At least I keep telling myself that.

 

[reina85]

@rubbersoul We were in the same boat! Now we are on the other side with a 15.5 month old and a 1.5 month old. It is hard but also amazing. Older brother loves little brother so much and they’ll be so close as they get older!

 

[rubbersoul]

@reina85 Are you worried they’ll rough house and one will get hurt?

 

[reina85]

@rubbersoul Not yet. Our oldest is kind of a wrecking ball, but we started teaching him, “gentle,” early on because we have cats. We use it now with his brother and all he really does is try to hold his hand and stroke his hair. As our baby gets more mobile I do worry about our older being more rough, but I suppose we will cross that bridge when we get there!

 

[andrew4021]

@rubbersoul Found out I was pregnant again when our first was 8 months old and I was crushed. I was on the combo pill so this second baby definitely isn’t planned. I’m now almost 9 weeks along so I don’t have any advice but want to send some solidarity. We’ve always wanted 2 kids so we decided to go ahead with the pregnancy and we’re slowly starting to get excited although I still carry a lot of guilt towards my first.

 

[rubbersoul]

@andrew4021 That’s how I feel too like I haven’t got the chance to teach him and love him fully

 

[someguycalledwolf]

@rubbersoul It'll be tough, but you'll have so many years to teach and love them both. Your time is finite, but your love isn't

 

[mksjdb]

@rubbersoul My boys are 17 months apart. And I know yours will be closer. But honestly, I love it. They’re 15 months and 2.5 now and it’s so much fun! My 2nd was a lot more chill as a baby. Honestly at this age difference it didn’t add a lot to my plate. Of course, it CAN. But it can be easy. And they’re BFF’s now. My older son gets pissed when I get his brother from his room without him. How dare I open his brother’s door, that’s HIS job

 

[hazel77]

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This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

 

[darkfuneral69]

@rubbersoul My sister had 3 under 3. It's terrifying for sure but the oldest is now 6 and they've learned so much from each other and it's fun to see them interact and hear their little conversations.

 

[wonderingwhy]

@rubbersoul Hey, I’m just saying that if you don’t want to be pregnant again and have another baby you don’t have to be. Maybe obvious but just wanted to voice that. I know if I were in your shoes I would terminate my pregnancy ASAP. Good luck with whatever happens

 

[rubbersoul]

@wonderingwhy My husband mentioned it a few hours after we found out. We discussed it and it was something we felt wasn't quite for us. (Everyone has their views and i respect them whole heartily)

 

[dimagmaliw]

@wonderingwhy A friend of mine got pregnant 4 months postpartum, and I said this exact thing to her. In case she didn’t have anyone else in her inner circle who’d give her that option, I wanted to be the safe person she could discuss that with. Without pushing her in either direction, just having someone to talk through all her options with is valuable.