When Did You Know You Were Ready for #2? - Mount Carmel,PA

2.5 years apart - I was ready at 1.5 yrs, but I wanted to finish the masters degree I was working on first, because I knew it would be so hard, and perhaps feels too irrelevant, once baby #2 arrived. Now that I am coming out of the newborn/toddler fog, I am so glad I did.

For me when my oldest was 5 , we finally had my second when my oldest was 7 and it was great. I was ready for #3 when my 2nd was one year- old. Now they are 10, 3 1/2 and 1.

I did lose some weight to have my second but was overweight going in with my third. I kinda regret not losing weight before, I'm still 50 pounds overweight and our household have become so busy that exercising is almost impossible now.

By the way the spacing between my middle child and my youngest has been really hard on me (they are 2 1/2 years apart) middle sister will not leave the little one alone. It is very draining. My oldest gets along great with the middle one, they spend every afternoon together after school, in fact my middle one prefers big sister than mommy LOL. They are really close with a 7 year gap between them, when EVERYONE told me they would never be friends or like each other.

You have plenty of time, your daughter is still a baby imo, lose the weight and then go for it. give yourself 6 months to lose the weight and then start trying for #2, at least I would do that.

Good luck!

It's a decision that only you and your husband can make, but for ME!! I waited. I was QUITE a bit over weight after I had my daughter. I just couldn't lose the weight. When she was 3, and my husband deployed, I finally decided that it was time to take care of myself. By the way, I was not able to get pregnant because the excess weight stopped my periods, and I wasn't fertile anymore. That year, I lost over 100lbs. My periods came back, and the week my husband got home we got pregnant. My daughter was 4 at the time, and when #2 was born, our daughter was a month from turning 5. I had baby fever from the time my daughter was about 9 months old. But because of my weight, I just couldn't get pregnant. It won't take forever to get pregnant, but if you want to lose weight first, then do it. It will be a MAJOR pain to try and lose the initial 40lbs, plus whatever you gain with the next pregnancy. Good luck! :)

My first two are exactly three years apart. We started trying when oldest was 1, but it took us a while to get pregnant. Honestly, I was never really ready for #2. My husband really wanted another, and his Mom was pressuring me a lot as well. I did it for the wrong reasons. I was actually sad when I got pregnant. Obviously I have absolutely NO regrets about my #2, she is everything, but if you're ready, do it. 40 lbs? That can come off later.

heh. don't let the weight make your mind up for you. once you get it off it'll be agonizing to put it back on again with pregnancy? you can lose that when you're done baby-makin'.
i knew because my dh watched an episode of 30-something (you young'uns won't remember that show) where everyone was having their 2nd babies and chased me around until i gave in.
and since i got knocked up right away, he didn't get to enjoy the chase for long!
:) khairete
S.

Don't let the weight stop you. I was still over my pre-pregnancy weight after my daughter, i decided on number two when she was about a year old. Got pregnant when she was about 20 months old and they are 2 and a half years apart. I had gained a lot of weight during my first pregnancy(about 40 lbs) and during my second I only gained 10 lbs. He was 10 lbs at birth and with the additional water, placenta, etc, i ended up weighing less after birth than I did when i got pregnant. So I actually lost the weight during my 2nd pregnancy. I didn't try to I just took care of myself and ate healthy. So I wouldn't let weight stop you, because you don't know, I ended up gaining the weight back a few years after I had him, but for about two years i was at a good weight all due to pregnancy. So I say go for it and you can try to start eating better while you try. At this point your daughter will be 3 before you actually give birth to another maybe older depending on how long it takes. So go for it.

Whatever you do, I strongly urge you to lose the weight before you start trying to have #2. I was still up 30 lbs when I conceived #2, and never got back down to my pre-pregnancy weight. Now, after baby #3, I've packed on an extra 80 lbs and THAT is tough and puts me at a higher risk of a whole host of obesity-related conditions; not to mention the fact that I just feel gross.

40 lbs is not too great a hill to climb--you can do it with Weight Watchers in about 6 mos-- that's just a little over 6 lbs a month. You can do it!

My kids are (almost) 6, 3 1/2, and 20 mos
We have always conceived on our first attempt

When #1 was out of diapers, I was ready to go for #2. We got pregnant on our first non-preventing cycle, and our oldest two are 3y4m apart.

I would think that waiting until you lose the weight, when you'll probably just put it back on again would be pretty frustrating. When you know you're done with babies, commit to weight watchers or something!

I have two girls , 23 months apart (so 4 1/2 and 2 1/2 now). I wanted my children close, though it has been much harder than I expected. I wish I had done 3 years apart, as the older would be more independent then. I wouldn't do much more than that. My sister and I are 4 1/4 years apart and I always thought that was too far apart.

Best of luck!

my kids are two yrs appart. i havent finished my coffee yet but i believe it was right after our son turned one. we said we were ready to try for number two and thinking it would take a while. oh no it happened right away. our kids are two yrs two weeks apart. i do slightly regret this as its super expensive for daycare and having one kid yelling wipe my butt while changing anothers dirty diaper sucked and i did have the thought ok i should have waited till one was fully potty trained before having another. although i HATE the baby years (toddler and everything else i love) so i doubt i would have started all over with a new born baby.

As far as the weight i was 40lbs over weight after my son then gained 60 more with my daughter. She is two and its finally starting to fall off! The weight is kinda like a pregenancy...its going to take about 9 months...or longer to get off...but it will get off. the weight is nothing compaired to what i received in place of it! and i can get rid of it. I wished I ate alot healthier and exercised more durring the pregenacy.

My boys are three years and one week apart. It was the perfect age difference. They are close enough in age that they enjoy playing together. Because my older son had turned three a week before the baby was born he had already moved out of the crib, potty trained, and had just started nursery school three afternoons a week. At three he was independent enough to get out of bed in the morning, grab his milk cup out of the fridge and watch tv until the baby and I woke up. He was able to help me with the baby, such as enteraining the baby while I did house work, or getting things for the baby. I lost a lot of weight from nursing (by the time I weaned at a year I was 20lbs less than pre-pregnancy), so I'm not sure about that. If you do go to the trouble of losing the weight before you get pregnant, you will still have to lose after baby #2. Ask your doctor if your current weight is a healthy weight to get pregnant.

I was ready when my oldest was 16 months. At that point, I decided I could handle the sleeplessness and that the older one was sufficient enough to give me time to commit to the new baby. Got pregnant at 20 mos, so they are 2-1/2 years apart. At 2-1/2 I put the oldest in a Tues/Thurs morning preschool class so that I could grocery shop and go to doctor appts with the younger one. They are now 6 & 4 and all is great! Plus they play together so very well!

I'm still not sure I'm ready and # 1 is almost 7 and # 2 turned 2 in August! Yes, I have my #2 and still wonder if I am ready for him!!! He is the most precious adorable baby boy in the whole wide world and his big brother loves him more than anything in the world. The best gift I ever gave my oldest was a sibling. I am 41 and trying to decide whether to have a # 3. Honestly, if the economy was better, I would already be pregnant or craddling a baby in my arms right now...

DD will be 3 before you could have another one at this point - go for it and enjoy the trying. If I waited until I lost the weight, I would still only have one baby:)

We tried for number two as soon as I started ovulating again. We knew we wanted kids in the plural, and with 40 around the corner, we just wanted to do it quickly. I didn't even give it a second thought. I got pregnant immediately.

I then started longing for number 3 when my youngest was 9 months. I went back and forth about it for eons, and then finally, when he was 2 , we decided to go for it. His baby sister will be here a few months after his 3rd bday. With this pregnancy, it took us a bit longer (6 months). Hubby enjoyed all the trying ;-)