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Preparing for Pregnancy

How Close Is Too Close?

The Pros and Cons of Back-to-back Pregnancies

How Close Is Too Close?Never before in the history of mankind have women had so much control on the birth spacing of their children. Just 100 years ago women had very little say in when they got pregnant. Most babies were born fairly close together and families were large. In today's society, we have choices. We can space our pregnancies to suit our needs.

If the cost of daycare is prohibitive, you can wait until your first child is in kindergarten before having another. If you want to be diaper free before having another child, you can wait until the first one is potty trained. But there are also advantages to having your children close together. For instance, if your children are close in age – 17 months apart or less – you may be up to your ears in diapers for a while, but once you are done, you can toss the diaper bag. And clothes are easily handed down from one child to another.

Nutrition is a big part of recovering from your first pregnancy and preparing for your second.

Brittney Walker from Phoenix, Ariz., had two back-to-back difficult pregnancies. Her sons are 13 1/2 months apart, and while the second pregnancy was especially hard, she is now thankful that things worked out the way they did. "My boys are best friends now, and I think they'd be lost without each other," Walker says. "I plan on having the next two almost as close as these guys! I will just try to prepare myself better next time."

Walker feels the hardest part of having her children so close together is that she didn't have time to prepare herself physically for the challenge. "My body had not had time to re-develop the back and abdominal muscles that are necessary to carry a baby comfortably," she says. "I was very tired because my reserves were depleted, and I was always dehydrated between nursing and growing a new baby."


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How Close Is Too Close?

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Anonymous says
October 11, 2009

I have an 18 month old daughter and a 2 1/2 month old daughter. My older daughter is a great big sister, and having two in diapers makes it easier, I think it would have been a more difficult adjustment for me to have one in and out of them. I love my girls and am looking forward to watching them grow and play together. I feel like I gav birht to built in best friends. Both c-sections, both a healthy baby with a great birth weight.

Anonymous says
September 17, 2009

I have a 25 month old, a 13 month old and a newborn who is 2 weeks old. Unfortunately with this (c-section) I had a lot of bleeding immediately following delivery and at 2 weeks had to have an emergency vacuum D&C and four blood transfusions. I definitely wouldn't recommend 3 back to back pregnancies. My OB says my uterus is having a hard time contracting back down because its worn out. So check with your doc to make sure its safe for you BEFORE you get pregnant again.

Anonymous says
June 29, 2009

we have a 14yo, 9yo, 20 month old, 9 month, and 2 months pregnant.... our 2 lil ones were 11 months to the day apart and the new one coming will be 15 months from the last one. all pregnancies were fine. its a lil stressful at times but, i enjoy having them close together. i only wish all of them were close together.

Lindsey says
June 13, 2009

I have a 7 month old baby boy and I took test yesterday and found out I am pregnant again. I'm not sure how far yet but i'm pretty sure at least a month. We were taking precautions, but it's apparetly God's will for us to have babies close together :) I didn't know about the possible preterm labor and complications from pregnancies close together. I'm going to pray it will all be okay. Hey if anybody is interested, there is an awesome book out 'Supernatural Childbirth' by ?Mize. I think her name is Terrie but I'm not sure. Anyway, it will take away some of the fears you have. It did me with my first anyway.

anonymous says
March 25, 2009

I have a 3-year-old boy, a 1 1/2-year-old girl and a newborn, 3 months old. I'm very suspicious that I'm pregnant again. I'm pretty scared. My third pregnancy was hard on me. Although all natural births, they were all born at 8 months. What risks are possible in this fourth pregnancy?

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