NEWBORN PHOTOGRAPHY.OKLAHOMA CITY/EDMOND NEWBORN PHOTOGRAPHER
Second child?
BRING IT.
I imagine with your first child, you knew the exact week of gestation you were in, detailed to the very day. You first knew him as a blueberry, and later, an avocado. Even though at week 30 you may have been craving salty chips coated in warm, melted cheese, you knew your baby boy was the size of a head of lettuce. This time around? Your days are filled chasing your pant-less son down the hallway, pleading with him to exchange his toy truck for a lunch plate of crustless PB&J, halved grapes and a sippy cup half full of leftover morning milk. Both of their due dates are concreted in your pregnancy brain, but this go around, your previous answer to "how far along are you?" is accidentally altered from "23 weeks, 3 days" to "ummmm, 25ish weeks…I think?"
It's more of a joy ride this time. A roller coaster you've ridden before, knowing to brace yourself for the expected dips and turns.
Remember the overwhelming confusion you felt standing in the middle of Babies R Us 24 weeks into your first pregnancy? Holding the registry wand, the feeling of confinement sweeps over you as your eyes bulge at the white linoleum aisles stocked high with thousands of baby items, labeled in bright colors and recognizable (but the best?) name brands. All you knew is that you needed blue stuff with cars and trucks printed on it.
Call it the second baby syndrome, call it a greater knowledge of the true necessities, or call it confidence from experience, but with child #2 chillin’ in your belly? Registering was a breeze! You remember what worked, what didn’t, and awaiting a sibling at home are Hesston’s gently used big-ticket items. Besides the few things you can never have enough of (DIAPERS), being fully prepared with the necessities gives you time to peruse the shades of tiny, pink clothes in Target’s baby section. Pulling a 0-3 month smocked dress adorned in stitched flowers from the rack releases your second squeal of excitement. (The first escaped at your 20-week sonogram appointment – IT’S A GIRL!)
Her kicks and multiple rounds of hiccups may be familiar, but the curiosities of her characteristics still nibble at your daily thoughts. Will she be another miniature Daddy, a replica of her big brother, but in pink? Or will your daughter resemble you? The rare quiet times at home (read: when Hesston is napping, amiright?) allow your mind to finally wander to your rounding belly (which, you noticed, made its appearance much sooner and quicker), wondering of her and awaiting her arrival, just as anxiously as your first child, but this time, versed in motherhood.
After 9 months of comparing your pregnancies, you became a mother for the second time. It was August 18th when you were finally able to see that yes, she looks just like you. Beautiful.
It wasn’t until close family and friends gathered in your room, whispering compliments on her full cheeks and perfect lips that you started to see similarities and find differences in Mason’s newborn face compared to Hesston’s, just a mere 2 years earlier. You can't help but see so much of Hesston in her almond-shaped eyes.
From her birth day on, her milestones will be marked. You’ll often catch yourself saying, “Remember the way Hesston first rolled over?” or “Hesston used to make that same, hilarious face!”
And so it begins, the joys of having two children.
But first, Mason’s paci just fell on the floor. Wash it thoroughly like you did Hesston’s?
Eh. A quick wipe with the corner of your t-shirt will do, right?
