2nd pregnancies - no, it isn't really easier the 2nd time around

I am so in love with baby Michael.  He is seriously the most perfect little guy ever.  The only time he cries is when he is hungry.  Seriously.  The ladies at daycare think he is a saintly little guy, and he is!

And I think he had to be.  My pregnancy with Daniel was hell.  I'll come out and say it - we wanted more babies but Daniel but such a big strain on my body I wasn't 100% sure I could handle it.  I went into premature labor with him at 31 weeks and was on partial bedrest for a month, then full bedrest until his birth because of my blood pressure.  I had 3-4+ edema in my feet, a split pubic bone, and such horrible morning sickness that I lost 30 pounds during the first and second trimester.

But we wanted to do it again because we aren't getting any younger.  I still feel like God sprinkled fairy dust on us as I supposedly haven't ovulated since I was 23, so why not see if the dust is still there right?  It was, more or less.  It took 6 months to get pregnant with Michael, and I found out I was pregnant on Daniel's first birthday.  I again had the ultimate morning sickness (not the vomit praise God, just the "don't let any food get near my mouth"kind") and lost weight instead of gaining.  I had blood pressure problems, but didn't have to go on bedrest until about a week and a half before he was born.  I was actually in labor with Michael before the c-section and starting to transition, and it wasn't that bad.  When they rolled me to the ER I told James Andrew that if Daniel's labor pains had been that tolerable I wouldn't have had an epidural (not that it worked).

The hard thing about my 2nd pregnancy was this crap:

And that crap:

And who could forget this crap.  I sure haven't:

I go to the best OB clinic in the state and they couldn't figure out what was wrong.  I didn't have PUPPP.  You see, my rash only occurred while I was sleeping and would go away within about 3-4 hours of waking.  And would return the second I took a nap or passed out, whichever happened first.  I had no change in meds or diet.  Best I can get from my own research is that I might have been getting sensitive to the pregnancy hormones.  And as fast as the rash started, it stopped happening.  But 2 weeks of this mess?  I was about ready to flay myself.

So is it easier with a 2nd, since your body "remembers"?  Yes and no.  I think we mentally remember and that makes things go smoother in different ways, and yes some things were easier with breast feeding and the like.  But with freako rash and the postpartum depression . . . who's to say.

I can say one thing - it is soooooo worth it.  Sure I had a hard year.  But look what I got:

It is so worth it.  In the end, bring on the pain if I get something this special for it!