Baby Fever!

Megan - posted on 03/16/2011 ( 1 mom has responded )

I have a 4 month old son, and I have had baby fever ever since. I just love him so much, and never realized how much I would truly love being a mommy until the day he was born! :) My boyfriend wants another baby too! This would all be fine and dandy, but I am in school and have a semester left until I have a degree. My mind (and hormones) are in a constant battle. Should we? Should we not? So, I guess I am just curious if there are any moms with babies close together out there? What are your thoughts?

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Jody - posted on 03/19/2011

I know exactly what you mean about baby fever, After my little guy was born and we settled in I could totally see why people have them really close together. But that said my doctor explained some things to me that made be re-evaluate and hold off a little.( i will put some links to information at the bottom!)

It takes a year for our bodies to fully recover from a pregnancy and birth (vaginal or possible 2yrs by c-section) which is why you might have heard them recommend not getting pregnant until at tleast the 13th month after a baby is born. There are risks to you and your baby since your reserves of folic acid, iron, B12, calcium etc might not be back up where they should be for your health and the babies development. Also your stomach muscles are not fully back to their pre pregnancy condition until around a year or more, so getting pregnant sooner means the chance of getting your body back into something close to its pre-pregnancy form become very very low. It would also mean more back pain and probably stretch marks during the second pregnancy.

There is also the added cost of having two babies in diapers at the same time, if you wait to get pregnant around a year after your first, your older child should be approaching potty training and be independednt enough to be a little helper while you deal with your infant.

Most women I know who have gotten pregnant sooner did so by accident thinking they couldn't get pregnant because their periods had not return etc and therefor being lax about birth control. Studies show that getting pregnany before 6months after a birth is VERY risky and chances of miscarriage and premature birth are super high!! so wait 6 months MINIMUM, but the longer the better for both you and baby (within reason).

Having multiple children soo close together in age is nice but lots of hard work and potentially risky, rewarding for sure, I am not sure how they did it back in the "good old" days.

I can't tell you, nor can anyone else, what s right for you, but make sure you research at some creditable places and talk to your doctor, who will know your medical situation etc better before jumping in. We all want what is best for our kids, which means a healthy start for them and good long healthy life for ourselves!!

Good luck to you and your little one!

http://www.ehow.com/about_5381947_soon-c...

http://hubpages.com/hub/Pregnancy-after-...