I’d say I wanted baby number #2 since the day Luke was born – which was a surprise to me, since I was not one of these woman that “were born to be a mother”, or that thought their lives wouldn’t be complete without kids.
Being honest, I was selfish.
Selfish of my time, my routine … I used to exercise twice a day, take 3 showers a day, have my mani and pedi done every week … my husband and I loved cooking and drinking wine, going out to dinner, our long bike rides …
And yes, I do work full time!
But we always talked about kids – we just didn’t knew when the time would come.
We moved countries, and that plan seemed to be even more distant now – no family around to help, a freaking expensive city.
one day I thought … I’m ready – great thing is, my husband felt the same way!
I was working on Sponsorships Marketing, more specific driving our brand campaign for the Summer Olympics in Rio – that means that I was traveling a lot to Brazil, and the news talking about Zika Virus were not really encouraging.
By July 2018 I was back home, now focused on Winter Olympics in South Korea, timing seemed perfect.
I went visit Christine Friel, referred by a great friend of mine.
She practices acupuncture, but also has Traditional Chinese Medicine specialties in Oriental reproductive medicine.
I wanted to get my body clean and ready for this baby!
I did everything!
a 14 day detoxification program, acupuncture every week, customized Chinese herbal prescription, yoga, meditation …and BOOM!
Got pregnant in 1 month (I was worried I might have been doing the detox thing when I got pregnant, but turned out everything was safe for the baby)
So, when Luke was born, and my husband was not so sure he wanted baby number 2 right away (good thing one of us is rational, ha) I got an IUD.
It’s been 13 months now, It’s been wonderful (no periods, uhuuuuu) but … I do feel like it’s time for baby #2.
So, there’s google.
One advice – do not google about having or not baby number 2, or perfect timing.
There’s no such a thing.
Every family is different, every experience is different.
If you do want some advice for people who actually have more than 1 kid, I’d go with this list of PROS and CONS of having kids 24 months or less apart.
PROS
1. Closeness in age means that they will be in the same school for longer periods – One drop off, One pick up; definitely a plus!
2. They are close enough to play the same games, sports – that means it is not only easier to entertain them, but also that they will play with each other
3. You can embrace the chaos all at once – I fell that if you wait too long, you forget about all the craziness that a baby brings into your life. If you stack them together, you never know what hit you!
4. You’ll have your life back sooner – you know … no diapers, sleeping through the night, no bottles all over the house … things you took for granted before.
CONS
1. this was the only con that really, really hit me …
according to a national survey of more than 1,700 teen-age boys, it was found that children had a more negative view of themselves and their parents when their closest siblings were around two years apart. However, if the space between siblings is under one year or over four years, the negativity disappeared.
2. back to our “PRO” number 3 … Chaos, ALL AT ONCE.
3. Your body has probably not fully recovered from your first baby … I just got into my size 27 jeans last week, 13 MONTHS AFTER LUKE WAS BORN! And yes, it was tight … I still have at least 5 pounds to go
Here I am, still thinking it is time for Baby #2
So, got an appointment with my doctor next week to check on my IUD and … maybe remove it?
What about you, how did you know it was time for baby #2?
