Pondering another pregnancy

Body: 

Hi sweet ladies,

Would like to run this by you for your opinions.

My only child is going on 15 months now. I told hubs I would consider getting pregnant
again once I reached prepreg weight (before I knew what pop was). Well, that time has come and I am now back to prepreg weight. Hubs is 9 years older than me and I respect
his desire for more children, but to not have kids in the house when he's 60.

As for my pop, I manage fine through my cycle (I do zumba 1x/wk, watch my calorie intake, limit caffeine, firebreath/nauli, and hands and knees pelvic tilts after feeling the pelvi organs move forward) except for the first 1-2 days of my period. Low back pain, achy/dragging vaginal/bladder pressure.

Is this any indication to me that my body is not ready for another pregnancy/birth?

Will my postpartum time be like the first 1-2 days of my period or worse?

Ideally, I would like 4 kids, but with my pop and hubs age, I don't think I can 'pop' (haha sorry) them out fast enough.

What do you wise ladies think?

Mindful

there are no guarantees in life. maybe you wont have more babies and something terrible will happen to you. maybe you will have more babies and your pop will disappear. who knows.
all I can attest to is this: my POP is no worse now, after two more babies, than it was before I got pg (much higher/smaller than it was initially, completely asymptomatic aside from a big of bulgy-feeling around ovulation and right before my period).

the prolapse was worse pp than pre menstrual, I'll be honest, but pp for me is a year of hell anyway, so whatever. my baby's 18 mo and we're all happy here again, even the (mostly non existant) POP.

I'm happy I didnt let my prolapse stop me from growing my family (and in all honesty, it wouldnt have stopped me anyway, number 5 was a surprise, lol, best plans are those you dont make!)

I had parents that were very, very significantly older than all the other kids' parents.

How was it for me? My parents were more mature, wiser, and outlived all the other parents by far! My dad's in his 90s now and you'd think he's 60. Funny thing is back then, he looked his age. hee hee Now people cannot believe his next big bday's 100. Does EVERYTHING, even going out to hear music by himself, etc. Great guy.

Go by his character, not by his age, that's my advice. A good dad is a good dad.

Follow what your heart tells YOU about you and what you'd like. His age will not prevent him from being a great dad. My dad even at his age, is a mentor, and ever present help when I need him. : )

It sounds to me like you actually have a good handle on your pop, and know how to make it behave. I think this is a good indicator of being ready for another pregnancy. I'm currently in my first post-pop pregnancy, about 29 weeks, so I can't yet answer how things might be postpartum. Is there any way you can wait another 9 months before TTC? Then you would have given your body it's two years of pp recovery. I did this and was glad -- I actually saw further leaps in pop improvement in the last 4-6 months of that 2 years. That would be my only suggestion to you. Otherwise, I say go for it. Plan to support yourself in a healthy way during pregnancy and to birth as gently as possible. My own pregnancy has been great, and I'm really glad I put fear aside and took the plunge. I feel that even if pop and symptoms return, I'm already in a better place than the first time -- I know what I'm dealing with, and I know how to get back in control. Best wishes!!!

Hey, Mindful,

We are TTC right now. Sometimes I feel terrified, the first year pp was hell for me, I do not want to go through this hell again. All I have is these ladies' advices, experiences, who BTDT and say I'll be fine. Maybe you should wait a bit more? At the 2 years mark, true magic happens, I swear to you, lol. (my toddler is 31 mo, btw.)

Good luck! Listen to your heart, that is what we women do, right? :)
Liv

Well, who really knows what will happen right? I've heard from many sources that waiting three years between pregnancies is the best you can do for your body- and that is probably true, especially if you are nursing.
I've never waited that long. In fact most of the time I got pregnant before I even had a period (I've had 2 periods in 9 years). With our second, I was pregnant when our first was about 9 months old (and now I have prolapse lol).
anyway, I'll tell you my personal truth right now: I'm glad our 5 are spaced like they are. If I could do it all again I would do them even closer :)
but then I'd take on a number of ailments in return for my children, this pop thing is no big deal :)
The achy feeling you have around your period is a good preview of how your postpartum vagina will feel. But really, don't worry! As your new baby gets older you will return to only feeling it around periods and then you'll have the rest of your life to reverse your prolapse (if you choose to be done with pregnancy at that point).
I say make hay while the sun shines!