Mom of Two 10 and 15 and 14 Weeks Pregnant---yikes

I only have one child so I am not experienced in raising children spread apart but I am one of them. I have 4 younger sisters who are each 3 years younger than the next exept for the last where there is a 5 year gap from the next. The gap between her and I is 14 years. It is quite interesting to have such a younger sister but I absolutely love it. I could actually appreciate having a little baby in the house instead of being jelous of her. I think that your children are at great ages to introduce another little baby. I also know how you feel about the sickness. I actually lost 10 pounds and didn't get above my preprego weight until I was 5 months. I don't really know what to say about that except that it will just go away one morning, it will be a great day!

My husband has 2 kids from a previous marriage who are 10 and 7. We have 2 younger boys, ages 2 and 1. It works out great! The older ones help, and while you'll have your hands full (laundry is a BEAR!) the young one will learn things from the older ones that you just don't have time for. My 10 year old step-daughter LOVES to bathe the boys, read to them, change diapers, etc. My step-son teaches them to build stuff, and fix stuff, you know, boy stuff. I believe there are benefits to having kids whose ages are far apart, as well as having them close together.

As for you not gaining weight, many women lose weight in the first trimester. I was so sick with mine that I gained 20 pounds with my first, and only 8 POUNDS with my second, and he was 6 1/2 pounds of that. The baby should thrive whether or not you are able to keep anything down or not. I found that Diet Pepsi with A LOT of crushed ice kept the pukies away long enough for me to stomach something.

Good luck!

Wow!! Congratulations! My children are not even 2 years apart, but even just 4 years later, baby items have changed tremendously. My only suggestion is regarding baby items and that is to sign up for a parenting magazine (Baby Talk, American Baby, Parenting, Parents, etc) - they always show the best gear that I wish I had when my first was an infant. Also, if you haven't already, sign up on Babycenter.com. They'll send you weekly emails starting with your pregnancy and they continue until childhood and they are full of great of tips appropriate for the age of your child.

I hope the "morning" sickness passes soon! I unfortunately never found anything that worked for me.
Best wishes!

I come from a family that is spread apart. I have one brother who is 10 years older than I am. From my point of view, it was a little boring since my brother left for college when I was 8. Also, playing wasn't really fair with him being so much older. However, my Mom has told me that while it wasn't planned to have us so far apart, she ended up really enjoying it since she could really devote most of her attention to each of us when we were babies. Obviously when my brother was born he was the only one for her to take care of, then when I came along, my brother was 10 and didn't require her full attention anymore, she really enjoyed this.

As far as gear goes, my favorite thing is the B.O.B. revolution stroller, it is wonderful.

Hope this helps.

K. Strong

Dear L.,
I understand about being very sick with pregnancy, I was sick with all three of mine. What helped me was crystalized ginger(find it at the Vitamin Cottage) to suck on; ginger ale soda to sip during the day; peppermint tea, peppermint candies to suck on, and some saltin crackers on my nightstand. A few other things that helped was never have milk as soon as you get up, instead have a piece of toast with honey on it. Eat it slow to see how you stomach will react to it. Avoid heavy dairy products like ice cream, but a little yogurt during the day shouldn't hurt. As for everything else, listen to what your body tells you. If you take a bite and you start feeling sick, then find somthing else that you know will not make you sick. It is actually normal to have some morning sickness, because it is caused by the good hormones of pregnancy that help the developing baby. It sucks, but it's good for the baby. If the sickness gets really bad, talk to your doctor extensively about the problem. Every pregnancy is different, as is every beautiful baby is different. I know you'll be Ok, and I hope my suggestions help you feel better.

With Compassion,
Mrs. M. R. A.

P.S.-It's Ok that you haven't gained weight yet. For me, by 14 weeks with my first pregnancy, I lost ten pounds. Then I just kind of stayed at one weight for a while. I didn't start really gaining weight until near the end of my second trimester. You've got nothing to worry about unless you lose a lot of weight really quickly or gain too much, too fast.

Congrats!! A new baby and so much help around to lighten the load. That is really what it has been for me. We have a 14 yr old that is very helpful. He doesn't always enjoy taking on the responsibility but it is good for him (open his eyes to how much work babies are.) He and his sister are close and she really loves following him around and wants to do what he is doing. The relationship has flurished and I think a lot of it is the one on one time they have once a week (he baby sit's one day a week.) I highly recommend your involving them in the baby excitement and responsability.

First of all, Congradulations. The best thing you could ever get is a bouncer with the massaging and music. My sister used one and my nephew is the most quite and calm baby. Also with the older kids, include them in everything or at least offer. When my niece and nephew were born, they were just like my own children. I didn't realize that my own children just wanted to be involved. Now, with the sickness. I had the same. First one, easy as pie. Secone one, sick as a dog. Lots of crackers and sprite. That always helped me. I don't like to take medicine when I was pregnant, but herbal tea helped me alot and sometimes I had to eventually go to phenegran. I hated taking the medicine but sometimes it was the only thing to help me from being sick, but mint herbal tea was a blessing.

Hi L.,

Congratulations.

I have 3 children - 16yr, 4yr & 2yr

One big mistake I made was looking at the older one to "help out" with the little ones - you really don't realize how much you come to depend on the help and althought my son was great with his brother and sister, we had a big discussion about it.

Morning sickness is a pain - I had it for 7 mo with first, barely with the second and 3 mos like clockwork with the 3rd. I vote preggie pops too. I don't know when you take your vitamins but I found taking them at night eliminated some of the nausea

HI L.,

My kids are now 14, 16 and 23. When my 16 year old was born, my oldest was 7 1/2. The hardest part for me was that my oldest was not my husbands. Her brother and sister were always the apple of their daddy's eye, while my oldests dad did not want anything to do with her. Things are different now, as my oldest has two boys of her own, and they are the apples of their grandpa's eye (my husbands).

My brother is 12 years older, my late sister was 14 years older, and my younger brother is 8 years younger than I. We all had different dads, which made it difficult to be raised together,as my mom did not have custody of my older siblings. Also, there was a generation gap of 52 years between my brother when he was born and his dad (my step-dad).

I don't think there will be any problems in your family, because your children have the same dad. Just pour love on them all equally.

As for baby items, there are a number of baby shops around, that provide gently used or brand new items, there is no need these day to purchase brand new items. Plus if you are blessed to have a baby shower, you will surely get some neat things.

Sorry to hear you have not had a great start to your pregnancy. One thing thaat helped me was to have soda crackers next to the bed, so that before I got out of bed, I could eat a couple of crackers to ease the nausea. As for not gaining weight, don't worry it will come! Have you started your prenatal vitamins? You can even add ensure to your diet, as it will help you keep up your energy.

Have a blessed pregnancy, and take care!

C.

Hi L., Fisrt I would like to say Praise the Lord having another baby! I am the mother of two girls my oldest is 27 and my baby is 5 thats right 22 years apart. I am pretty sure that is a record somewhere. My oldest daughter and I were breastfeeding mothers at the very same time. this has been such a beautiful strange experience for my entire family. I was a grandmother of two beautiful girls before I had my second child. I also gave my parents their first and last granchild. my two pregnancy's could not of been more different. I gained 60 pounds sick everyday the first time and the last time I struggled to gain any weight barely 17 pounds no appetite couldnt sleep for the last three months of pregnancy. Physically it was hard to carry my daughter. there was always pressure. anyway the baby things have changed so much from the 7o's we sure have everything and then some now. I loved being a mom the first time but I have been a different mom the second time it is so true you learn so much more about parenting the older you are. my 50 year old husband and I just finished a parenting class together to help with step-parents granchildren and being a new parent. I wouldnt trade this beautiful little love girl for anything!!!again Praise the Lord for your new baby and you other children God Bless V.

HI, L.! Congrats! From the mom's perspective, I don't have any experience; however, from the sibling side...my sister is 8 years younger than I am and my brother 11 years younger. Just be sure not to leave the older ones out and include them on some baby decisions...if they want to be. My mom included me on things like my siblings' rooms, name suggestions, etc. and always made sure that I was also invited to the cute school activities, even in preschool. However as I got older, my mom didn't enforce upon me the importance of staying connected to my little sister and brother and at the age of 30, I am trying to get back the years that I lost with them.

As for the sickness, I had it for about 4 months, 24/7! I found that preggie pop drops worked well for the most part...you can find them at Babies-r-Us.

Take care and best of luck!

T.