By LIA SPENCER
JESSICA Raines’s daughter was only six months old when she found out she was pregnant with her second child.
The 21-year-old Pakenham woman said her first daughter Savannah was a surprise from a previous relationship. The relationship didn’t last, but Jess’s new partner Shan Henaka Rallage stepped into the father role when Savannah was just two months old, and shortly after, they began trying for another bub.
“Shan was there for Savannah since she was two months old and treated her as his own, but we wanted to have another one together,” Jess said.
“We were excited when we found out but we were also a bit nervous (about having two babies 14 months apart).”
Jess suffered bad morning sickness from when she was six weeks pregnant until she was 18 weeks pregnant, which took a toll on her mentally and physically.
“I was pretty exhausted,” she said.
“My partner worked full time and I was home looking after a baby with no energy at all. But I just had to do it. Shan was great at helping out when he came home from work.”
Once the morning sickness passed, Jess endured a number of other problems.
“I got cramps in my legs, and picking Savannah up with a big belly was hard,” Jess said.
“A couple of times she tried to jump on me and I had to explain that there was a baby in my belly, but she didn’t understand.”
On 27 May, three days before her due date, Jess went into labour. After about 17 hours Jess gave birth to a her second daughter Maya on 28 May.
“Savannah was in the hospital room with Shan and me the entire time because we didn’t have any family to look after her,” Jess said.
“We had the curtains closed because I thought she might get upset. Eventually she fell asleep. She was in her pram and we faced her the other way, and when it came time for me to push, we put her in the bathroom.”
Jess said the first few months were difficult as Maya needed a lot of attention. Fortunately Savannah was more easy-going making it easier to juggle motherhood duties with a toddler and newborn.
Jess said she loved watching the two girls interact and looked forward to watching them grow up together.
“Maya is crawling now and loves following her older sister everywhere. They get into mischief,” Jess said.
“When they are quiet, they are up to something!”
Jess said she had no immediate plans to have more children, but it wasn’t off the cards.
“If we do have more kids, it won’t be for five to eight years!”
