Pregnancy Update: I'm Exhausted But Enjoying This

I am currently 32 weeks pregnant with Baby #2. Since we passed the halfway point, I thought it might be nice to record an update of how things are going. This pregnancy is much different than my first. Nora was a surprise but this baby was mostly planned. I say mostly because we knew we wanted our kids close in age, but I don't think Madison or I were expecting to get pregnant so quickly. 

Overall, I feel a lot better than I did last time. Of course, there is still the general aches and pains, but they aren't as bad as I remember them being last time. I have more energy and can come home from work and be awake the whole evening without falling asleep on the couch. Now that might be partly due to the fact that I still need to take care of Nora, so who's to say I wouldn't be napping more if she wasn't constantly asking for milk or crayons. 

When I got pregnant with Nora, I was fresh out of college and living on my own with my boyfriend for the first time without roommates, so I was still pretty immature at that point. There's no denying that I took full advantage of pregnancy and ate horribly. That contributed to my weight gain and hypertension, which eventually lead to me being induced early to make sure Nora was healthy. This time I'm trying to prevent that by eating healthier, or trying to at least. I did buy myself a jar of cookie butter at Trader Joe's this weekend so I'm not going too crazy. At this point I have gained less weight than when I was 32 weeks pregnant with Nora which has alleviated a lot of stress. 

Speaking of stress, I feel a lot less of it. I've done this before so I know what we're getting ourselves into. We still have a lot of Nora's baby things, so we aren't starting from scratch. Nora is already sleeping in her big girl bed so there is a crib ready and waiting to be filled with a sleepy newborn. 

At my last visit my doctor asked how this pregnancy was compared to my last one. I told him it was going better than the last and he was surprised by that. Apparently a lot of women feel that their second pregnancy is more difficult, especially because they are taking care of another child at that point. I suppose I should consider myself lucky. That's not to say that it has been a piece of cake. My back is killing me and I have heartburn almost every night, but I feel like I can enjoy this pregnancy more and just can't wait to have a new little baby to snuggle. 

All in all, I feel really good. I know things are going to be difficult once the baby comes and we readjust to life as a family of four, but I cannot wait for that day to come. I know we're up to the challenge.