The Six Month Itch

During the first few months of my maternity leave, I heard a few of my friends with older babies say they 'really wanted another' or 'didn't want a big age difference between their children'. I didn't think much of it at the time. Then I got my period back.

Now my mind/body is playing a sick trick on me. Suddenly I'm thinking about how great being pregnant would be or how great it would be for Petra to be a big sister. Poor kid, she starts to show a little personality and I'm already turning her into a big sister.

I asked a friend about this urge, or the six-month itch, and she said "don't do it" which I thought was hilarious because I'm not really serious. Then I asked some of the women from my walking group, a few of them - not all - also said they had been struck by the six-month itch. 

I thought it certainly had to be tied to hormones. Our body heals, our menstrual cycle resumes, and our brain receives a signal - time to make more babies. When I googled the subject I found just a few discussion forum chats, nothing specific, but I didn't really know what search words to use.

Has anyone else heard of the six-month itch, felt it, or know anything concrete about it? I only call it the six-month itch because these crazy feelings only struck me in the last couple weeks and Petra is six-months old.