zenmama

My husband and I welcomed our second child in late 2025. This pregnancy was far different from our first. Despite harsh pregnancy symptoms, our baby was healthy in the first trimester and everything was going smoothly. However, late into my second trimester our baby was found to have fluid in his chest, also known as fetal pleural effusion. This post is the first of three parts. It covers the period before our baby’s diagnosis—our pregnancy symptoms, and how we prepared our two-year-old to welcome a new addition into our family.

I didn’t know I was pregnant

My firstborn had just started preschool, and as a stay-at-home mum, I threw myself into building a small gig from home. My husband and I didn’t know we were expecting our second child, and the signs weren’t there. I was so caught up in building my gig that I didn’t even realise I was two weeks late! The all-too-telling sign came one evening at dinner—a familiar cramp in my uterus, which ended in me taking a pregnancy test. The double lines on the kit were immediate and clear. I felt a mixture of shock and excitement, but anxiety crept in. I wondered if I was ready to care for not just one, but two kids? After much consideration, we decided that we were ready. My husband and I always wanted two children. I decided I would continue building my gig while nurturing my growing family.

After finding out I was pregnant, we booked an appointment with the same gynaecologist as my first pregnancy. Around the same time, the symptoms came flooding in. At our first appointment, we learnt that our little bub was growing well. On the other hand, the symptoms of this pregnancy hit harder than my first. I struggled with constant nausea, poor appetite, and bouts of illness—especially after my firstborn started school and brought home every germ imaginable! At one point, I even caught HFMD (hand-foot-and-mouth disease) from him and lost nearly 2kg. Eating became something I had to consciously push myself to do, choosing softer, nourishing foods just to get through the day.

Apart from that, I felt constantly angry and annoyed throughout the pregnancy, and every bit of negativity would cause me to spiral and overthink. It was horrible! My husband bore the brunt of my emotions, but was understanding, patient, and caring. He knew I was struggling, and spoke calmly, allowing me the space to think and behave logically.

At our baby’s 12th week mark, we did the NIPT test, similar to when we were expecting our firstborn, to test for any genetic disorders. The results came back 1.5 weeks later, where we learnt that our baby was healthy and well. Through the test, we also learnt that we were expecting a second baby boy! We were a little shocked at first, as we thought we were expecting a girl, and picked out cute baby girl names like Ingrid or Enid beforehand. 

Planning for the new arrival with our firstborn

Having a second child so close in age and the same gender turned out to be a blessing in disguise, since we didn’t need to worry about buying fresh sets of clothes, or purchasing baby items, such as a baby crib, changing table, milk bottle warmer, or UV steriliser. We could hand down our firstborn’s preloved items! It was such a money-saver, as baby items aren’t cheap.

Instead, we were most concerned about how we would break the news to our firstborn or transition out of his baby items. We didn’t want him to feel a shift in our care towards him, or be jealous over the arrival of another sibling. Here are some tried-and tested tips we took to introducing a new addition into our family.

Introducing the concept of siblings

At first, he couldn’t comprehend that a sibling was on the way. As such, we showed him instances of siblings playing together, and pictures of his younger-baby days. We explained that his younger sibling would be as small as he was at birth and he needed to be careful around him. His excitement grew after a few months, and he would muse, “I’ll share my toys with him!” 

A gift from the new sibling

Apart from sharing the concept of siblings, we prepared a gift for our firstborn saying it was a gift from his younger sibling. We picked out a gift that we knew he’d love and wrapped it up prior to our second born’s arrival.

Transitioning our firstborn out from his baby crib

Our firstborn had just turned two when we learnt about the new arrival and he was rapidly outgrowing his baby crib. Being quite attached to his baby crib, we brought him to furniture shops and introduced him to bigger beds and we explained that he’s a big boy and growing up well, and one day he’d have to move out of his crib. In turn, he took it well, and we managed to learn about his tastes in decoration. That small trip to the furniture store helped greatly in redesigning his personal space, which made the transition a lot smoother. Needless to say, he loved it and was excited to sleep in his new bed that night.

Everything was going well, until…

We walked into our 25th week scan expecting reassurance, but little did we know our lives would be turned upside down. 

Our baby had been growing well all along, and every scan before this had reassured us that everything was fine. Suddenly, we were being told that there was fluid in his chest—fetal pleural effusion—something that could affect how his lungs developed, something that could change everything. We didn’t know how long it had been there. We didn’t know how serious it would become. All we knew was that we had to act quickly.

In that moment, everything shifted. What we thought was just a difficult pregnancy had become something else entirely, and we were about to enter a phase of our lives we were completely unprepared for.

In part two, I’ll share what happened next—the decisions we had to make, the procedures that followed, and what it felt like to carry on with a pregnancy filled with uncertainty.

** This article is part of a three-part series on my experience with my baby’s Chylothorax **