Pregnancies - the Comparisons
So people keep asking, what were my pregnancies like? And we're they planned?Very different from each other from the get-go! And planned?
Two within two years? Hell no!
9 months pregnant with my second pregnancy in 2014...
With my firstborn, a girl, Elia, I became pregnant the week of my 24th birthday, unintentionally (Although I had some major signs I didn't take seriously - see my dream prophecies later for more on that story). I was not aware until my boyfriend (baby daddy) mentioned how big my breasts had become within a couple weeks. I had noticed some tense muscles all around my underarm, back, chest and a pain by my tailbone but I thought it was due to the very busy work life and active romance I was having at the time... Sure enough the pants were snug, I gained a few pounds and once I became a week late for my period, I took a pregnancy test. Being it was my first time ever taking a test, I was still not wanting to believe it. Ah! Not ready! Although come to find, I really was ready (it was more not ready to feel "stuck" and slowed down as many of you first time moms know). Of course, I am so very glad she came against my planning!
A little over 8 months pregnant with Elia in 2012, working with Photographer Kim Taylor Reece...
Second time, I became pregnant with my son when my daughter was 14 months old (just barely a year, still in diapers, saying just a few words, just starting to have great sex again, still breastfeeding), again unintentional. I was really paranoid of becoming pregnant so soon because I was totally aware of how much work it is, how tired you are, the stress it puts on the marriage and romantic life (or what becomes lack of), the extreme pains on your body and long recovery, not to mention financial cost and daily responsibly you have to another being for the rest of your life!!! Don't get me wrong, I LOVE kids and family but I'm not naive - for if you care about their well being - you are enslaved regardless of any rewards. So when I had two spiritual healers tell me I was destined to have another child after barely coming back to normal size from my daughter, I was in denial and actively trying to prevent it. (More on the "destined children" to come in dream prophecies stories). Let me note, Yes, I was on birth control - although it was the mini pill as it was the only hormone form of prevention I could take while breastfeeding as your baby absorbs all you intake ... And being that I was breastfeeding regularly, your body is supposedly not ready for fertility as most women do not even have their first period until their breastfeeding is done, subsided, or they are around 1 year post-partem (I've been told) - mine? Apparently I am unusually fertile and of that strange minority that has a regular period not even 8 weeks after giving birth regardless of the depleting nutrition and energy from solely breastfeeding. Ugh! ... So these "spiritual healers?" I had been breaking out in awful acne about 7 months post-partem and went looking for natural ways to cure (as all over-the-counter and prescription acne medications are not safe for breastfeeding) and both told me I was allergic to birth control hormones and would have problems with birth control until I had my second destined child to come! Ah what?! For real?! No!!... But yes! After getting clinical skin tests, indeed I had no strong allergies to foods that would have caused the acne rash and yes, it did seem to be the hormone! In stopping, it still took a few months to leave my system (as all hormones). So, yes, I was just started the search through alternative types of birth control when boom, I already was pregnant again... I didn't need a test to tell me this time though - I was SICK. Naseaus, throwing up daily, dizzy to the point if not seeing clear while driving, forgetting names and basic volcabulary mid-sentence, out of breath just walking up stairs (after having been regularly running cardio and back to my normal 112 pounds) ... So by the time the scale said a few more pounds, I booked an ultrasound. Sure enough, the home pee- test also said an immediate yes. Two babies under two years?! Yikes! It's really really hard but yes, I am sooo glad I have them! And so glad to have them be best buds now that they play together☺️!
A little over 7 months pregnant with Kana'i in 2014, working with Photographer Kaveh Kardan...
The Symptoms?
With Elia, I was sooo sick and uncomfortable during the second trimester (4-6 months).
Throwing up✔️ First eye opening in morning , I'd already be holding in a hurl. Riding in the car for long periods of time made me motion sick too. Makani didn't pull over fast enough one time. I said "Now. Pull over. " he said "Ok, next exit." Nope. Now meant right then. Puke in the door pocket and the floor mats. I had attempted rolling down the window without enough time...Anytime I smelt or tasted Seasame Oil, I'd feel sick (Food Adversions✔️) which sucks cause Hawaii's foods are FULL of sesame based ingredients. Worst was i couldn't have my hubby even sleep next to me if he ate his favorite bedtime snack (and usually I love it too as we grow up on this stuff here) - saimin with Seasame oil and chili flakes. The slight smell of it on his breathe alone made me throw up instantly. Of course I ended up not wanting him to sleep next to me anyways as I got bigger (you keep tossing to ease the pull of the weight and the swelling from laying too long in one position) and your baby body gets HOT! ✔️ All you mamas know! The heat! And in Hawaii summer?! F***! Don't hold me! Don't snuggle with me! Get me more water, please. Please help me get up from the sunken-in bed to go pee for the fifth time tonight. No, you can't have more than one pillow and yes, you take up too much room on the bed - it's all my side and the baby you made, sucker! 😂😂😂
Fruit - I ate fruit constantly with the 1st pregnancy. Papayas, berries, pineapple, and especially Bananas (with peanut butter too) and poor Jamba Juice saw me at least once a day by the time 6months hit. Other Food Cravings ✔️ included milk products (especially cheese), lots of breads and cereal type food. (I conveniently worked at a Triathlon-Training shop that had tons of protein bars and endurance bars which perhaps contributed to my daughters no need for sleep extremity. She always went to bed at midnight 😳 since birth sleeping only till 6am without me waking her, and by 1 years old barely took a one hour nap in day while my son, with same parents and same infant home, get sleepy and wants to go to bed early on his own, like 7:30/8pm and likes his naps)
With Kana'i, I was sick from the get go. But really, the big one was I was HUUUNNNGREEEEYYY!!!✔️ I never looked at meat like that before in my life. I felt like man watching porn - eyes fixed on every dark slab of bloody flavor, saliva building, and just thinking about the next barbecue rib or Pork Roast as soon as I finished an entire Burger!
The boobs weren't the first things to grow second time. My booty filled out first. Hips✔️. And then the dizzy naseau took over and I knew I was for sure pregnant. This time I wasn't nervous or in shock because you know what to expect generally. However, I was stressed thinking "Shoot, i just got back to pre-baby body without stretch marks, without vaginal rips, (tips on that later) and am finally getting some well deserved sexy-time...ugh!!" (😉all contributing to getting pregnant again as Makani reminds me) 😂😂.
Halloween 2011, awaiting birth of daughter, Elia...
Second pregnancy was ten pounds heavier than the first. People had no idea how small I used to be before pregnancy so of course I looked normal to them when they saw me a few months out of birthing a child - but I went from a size 0-2 USA to 7-10 and god knows how much bigger because you end up stretching the clothes to last till that bitter end. I gained 50 pounds the first pregnancy and 60 pounds the second. Yes. You read that right. And no stretch marks? Not on stomach - the small ones I already had from teen growth in my booty and hips became a little more visible, but luckily, that is it (***See Anti-Sttetchmark post in Product Review). I'm still awaiting breasts to come down a size (I went from 32c to 34ddd and back down - I am a 32d currently) but so far, all is well. Fingers crossed. It has to do with Oiling skin, hydration, and diet... But by 1 year each time, the entire weight was gone - mostly FROM BREASTFEEDING FULL TIME and lifestyle (I'll explain those secrets later). Thank god, no hemroids, yet many women get this from the weight of pregnancy and pushing in labor. But I did have a bulging vagina lip during the second pregnancy for sure! Scared the Sh*t outta me! I thought for sure I would have one lip massively larger and overlapping the other forever😫 but within a month it was gone. I was crying to Makani that my vagina would never be sexy again. (He promised to find a toy that would satisfy whatever state remained if he couldn't😂) And why the excessive swelling and pressure down there? Because my sons head was so deeply wedged into my groin. All babies in a tummy cause an awful pressure that feels like an overworked muscle in sweat, but this kid had shoved his head so deep I actually couldn't lean forward (at bout 34 weeks) without feeling a bowling ball. Boys. They always want to be in your croch. They start there and they always end up there. Ugh. My girl never got so far into my goods - in fact we had to induce her to get her going down there 😂 but that's another story...
Starting the 2nd trimester of pregnancy with son, Kana'i - although we didn't know his sex until birth...