two complete opposites

As you know, I am pregnant again. Josh and I wanted our children close together and we were so excited to find out that we had a new edition coming to our family.

Coming into this pregnancy I had a lot of expectations. Since I had been pregnant once before, I felt like I kind of knew what to expect. Of course I knew that every pregnancy is a little different, but over all, I expected it to be somewhat similar. My oh my, was I surprised!

This pregnancy is nothing like my last. First, I expected to feel sick in the beginning. Never happened. With Gabriel I was sick all day long for 3 months! It wasn't an awful, hanging over the toilet kind of sick, just being nauseous all day and feeling like I should be over the toilet instead of miserably holding it in. I ended up loosing weight in that pregnancy in the beginning, though made up for it probably by the time I hit 20 weeks. This time, almost nothing. I rarely felt sick, and if I did it was easily curable by eating something. I did however start feeling sick around 12 weeks, which is when my sickness stopped with my last. But still, normally curable if I ate, the problem was I needed to eat something that sounded good and nothing sounded good... except pickles (Mmmm, yummy pickles!), and those don't fill you up. But now, as I'm past the 16 week mark I am feeling much better.

I also expected to show earlier with this one then with Gabriel. That is the rule of thumb, that you will show sooner the more children you have. Alas, did not happen. I waited and waited (cause I LOVE my belly bump) and now, finally by 16 weeks I have a little something! With Gabriel, I was already in maternity clothes by this point. I could make my pants work by unbuttoning them and using hair ties, but usually I just opted for maternity clothes since they were more comfortable. This time? I am still in all of my regular clothes. I can still button all of my pants and they are more then comfortable. The only thing that is different is I don't have to wear a belt (most of the time, some of my pants I still need one) and some of my shirts that were a little short to begin with, now show my belly if I bend the wrong way.

By this time with Gabriel, he was kicking up a storm in my belly. Even by 14 weeks I was feeling him all the time. I seriously felt him constantly, all day long. Even Josh could feel him almost any time he wanted too because he never stopped. He used to kick so hard he would make me jump, literally. This little bug? Didn't feel it until just after 14 weeks and it was this tiny little thump. Even now, if I feel the baby move, it's these soft, gentle little thumps, pretty much as gentle as pressing on your stomach and feeling your own heart beat. With Gabriel it was like WHAM! I'M HERE MOMMY! I DON'T WANT YOU TO FORGET IT!!! Of course, he is still kind of like that.... maybe that means this one is going to be gentle....

I expected to gain weight by now, hasn't happened yet (not going to complain about that one!).

There are some smells that I just cannot handle with this one like I could with Gabriel. Like fish for instance, blah! Or the taste of fish for that matter. Also, Oriental food smells make me sick... it's a good thing I don't live in Korea anymore!

Also, once I over my sickness with Gabriel at 12 weeks, I could pretty much eat anything except ranch from United Healthcare (hey, it's some funky stuff). This time? Oh gosh. Things can sounds so incredibly good, but the texture can make me gag. Or, the texture can be just fine until after I chew it a little bit and then it will make me gag... like pancakes for instance!

What is similar about my pregnancies... not much. My babies seem to not like me eating eggs while I'm pregnant, even though they sound so gosh darn yummy all of the time! And I'm tired all the time, naps are a necessity! Hmm... that's about it. I never knew that two pregnancies could be more different!