5 Things I Wished I Knew About Having A Second Child

Haven’t we been there and done that? Why are we so super-confident about the laborious process of making, growing, and then birthing the baby! I know, it involves immense love for you child. But let’s talk it straight. We have been through the tough experiences of birthing, the sleeplessness, and what not. Still, we want a second child. Woah! That’s something. That’s being supermama.

Or are we simpletons who let the ordeals take us for a ride? Or do we fool ourselves into a quagmire for the sheer joy of having a second child?

Or do we pretend not having any idea what having two children is going to be like?

But now that you are already in the frame of mind that you want baby number two, just be prepared for the unexpected. Your family is going to change in a way that you never imagined. From boisterous mornings to chaotic nights, a sea-change in your lifestyle, attitudes, a test of patience, the juggling of multifarious affairs all at once, are but typical after you have your second little one.

But there would be things that you wished you had known before you had the second baby:

In This Article

1. Your Second Pregnancy Could Be Different

The fact that you survived the first pregnancy with no glitches doesn’t mean that the second pregnancy could be just as smooth. God forbid so! But we mean that you might have an entirely different experience as well. Chances are your second baby might arrive a bit too early than you thought. The symptoms could be different. The scans could turn out to be different at any stage during pregnancy. Birthing might be different too. It’s not just these. You will have your first child to manage while throwing up in the bathroom at the same time!

2. You Begin To Worry If You Would Continue To Love Your First Child The Same Way

When your first child was born, you felt this overwhelming love for your little one. It grew day after day as you watched your baby grow. You thought that with the arrival of the second one, you would feel the same. But it could be a contradictory feeling in that you keep thinking that your first baby is still special. This whole feeling is coupled with guilt. The reality is you might only take the time to love your second, and your love continues to grow.

3. When The Doctor Reveals The Gender, And You Are Not Prepared For It

If you wanted to have a boy and a girl, but the doctor gives you the news that you will have two boys or two girls, you don’t have to feel guilty. You are still not a bad mother if you were only hoping to put those angelic gowns and starry stuff to be put to good use; or if you wanted to see your sons going to school heroically on rollerblades. While revealing the gender is banned in a few countries, it is pretty common in the West to know the gender pretty early on through the scans.

4. You Didn’t Know That You Were Not So Great At Parenting After All

Perhaps it was easier to manage a single child. And all along you thought you had superb parenting skills until the second one arrived. You will have a disbelief at how your kids would give you a run for some peace of mind. Assign your partner to care for one child. It would turn out that both of you are lugging around with one, while the other just contrived you a surprise you are sure to disapprove.

5. Your Kids Might Team Up Against You

Sibling rivalry is a thing. But when it comes to chiding one of them, the two form an alliance against you. Yes, you become the odd one out there feeling like a scapegoat that should duck out of sight at once due to embarrassment. You didn’t deserve this, did you, mama, for all it took you to bring these children into the world? A feather in the cap would be when the older sibling stands up for the younger one when someone pulls his leg or teases him – he might throw bad words too to defend his sibling. You would feel proud not at the usage of the words, but because despite the fights they have, they stand for each other.

With just five out of the many things you wished you had known before the arrival of baby #2, would you want to go with the third?

Was this article helpful?
thumbsupthumbsdown
The following two tabs change content below.