Second (pregnancy) verse--same as the first?

by Jennifer Jordan (Subscribe to Jennifer Jordan's posts) Mar 4th 2008 9:37AM

Categories: Pregnancy & Birth, Weird But True

Ok, now I know I'm only like ten minutes pregnant, but I swear I can already feel a HUGE difference between my first pregnancy and this one. I'm wondering if that's normal--that a lot of second pregnancies are dramatically different from the first--or if they're essentially repeats of one another. My guess is the answer lies somewhere in between.

With my first I could hardly tell I was pregnant. For a long, long time, neither could anyone else. I was extremely lucky that I didn't have any morning sickness, ever. I might've felt lightheaded for about an hour one day, but that was it. I started to fill out but no one knew I was pregnant until the end of my fifth month. I didn't really look pregnant until my seventh.

This time around things seem like they're going to be dramatically different. I can barely concentrate I'm so lightheaded. I also can't seem to keep a grip on anything. And I'm starving and dehydrated all the time. I've started waking up in the middle of the night, every night, to pee. None of this happened to me with round one until I was at least into my second trimester, if at all.

Now I'm tired and having cravings and a teensy bit nauseous. A pal says the same thing happened to her and that it had to do (she thinks) with the fact that her first was a boy and her second a girl. Something about changing hormones from one sex to the other.

Any thoughts on this? Were your pregnancies the same or different? And did things change from one sex to the other?

Nausea pic by crucifixion cruise.

Comments (13)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

RB 3-04-2008 @ 9:53AM

First of all - Congratulations!! :)
My 2nd pregnancy was dramatically different from the first. I had girls both times though, so there's that.
With my first I knew within days (no joke) that I was preg, was sick and dizzy and TIRED! I was more than a month along before I thought to take a test with my second! I had more pelvic stretching pain with my second, but had lots more energy and no morning sickness. Had a little postpartum with my 2nd and not with my first too. Weird.

Looks like there's no hard and fast rules for this!

jasimine 5-23-2008 @ 12:04AM

Yes, I am wondering I am pregnant.This would be my 2nd. For about a few days i have been getting dizzyness sitting or standing, headackes,nausa,tired. Am I pregnant?

Charlotte 5-27-2008 @ 3:01PM

OMG soooo pleased to be reading all your comments, Its my 2nd and I was thinking I was weird, Im just under 3 months and am looking like im 6 months pregnant. Feeling terrible, cant keep anything down and wrecked tired, I was thinking maybe its a boy too as with my daughter it was so easy.

Feel so much better thats its normal, I was embarrassed being so big, but now I dont care, just hope I feel better soon :-)

Does anyone know when I can expect to feel slightly normal again???

xxxxx

Trisha 3-04-2008 @ 10:12AM

uugh. I was waaaaay sicker with #2 (who is a boy, #1 was a girl- for what it's worth). I think the difference for me was that all the pregnancy sensitivity was a lot higher because I knew what to expect when I was pregnant. Anyway, and I've been more tired and much, much more ready to be DONE with this pregnancy too.
I think every women is different- duh though, that goes without saying!

Allison 3-04-2008 @ 12:04PM

Yes, each pregnancy is different. I found that the symptoms got worse/more noticable with each subsequent one. I've been pregnant 4 times, although I only have 2 children. My last pregnancy (the only girl) was the worst. I was more tired, more sick and more everything. Just wait until you are doing the rubber band trick on your pants at 10 weeks! Congratulations!

mckenna 3-04-2008 @ 10:56AM

I'm about ready to have my second boy. The first pregnancy was a breeze. This one has brought every pregnancy symptom known to woman-kind. I had to lock my office door for the first 3 months because I was so nauseated that I was gagging all the time. Now I'm arthritic, having insomnia along with surges in temperature in the middle of the night, and just found out I have gestational diabetes even though my friends call me a near health-nut. (Guess it's my love of carbs...)So, yeah, pregnancies can differ, and gender doesn't matter. Even though that old wives' tale didn't pan out, I'm still hoping the one that says "the harder the pregnancy the 'easier' the child" turns out to be true...

kim 3-04-2008 @ 10:52AM

My first pregnancy (at age 39) was easy. Though I lost five pounds in the first trimester, I wasn't sick at all (except one night when I had food poisoning). It was very uneventful.

I got pregnant again when my son was 15 months old and felt horrible almost immediately. I was nauseous all the time (though never to the point of vomiting, even when I wanted to!), gained weight immediately, and was utterly exhausted all the time. I also had early spotting, and three trips to triage after month five. The first was when I suddenly lost vision in one eye. The next two were for decreased fetal movement.

In the end, all was well and we have two wonderful, healthy kids. I just say my daughter started giving me trouble right from the start. She had to remind me, early and often, that she is NOT like her brother and I would do well to not compare them!

NIkki 3-04-2008 @ 10:58AM

My 2 Pregnancies were completely different. My first one which was a girl was SO easy, no morning sickness, no cramps, no mood swings, no swelling, I was tired alot but no weird cravings ect... Now my 2nd which was a boy, was horrible, I was sick, tired, had mood swings I swelled like a balloon and was just plain miserable. My wid-wife told me when I made a comment about it being so much harder than the first, she said, that in most cases the more pregnancies you have to worse they get, the first one is normally the easiest bc if the first one was so difficult there would be more of a chance that people would only want 1 baby. That was her thoughts anyway. lol

AndreAnna 3-04-2008 @ 11:54AM

I'm 20 weeks along with baby two, a boy. Baby one was a girl. This time has been so different. I am huge - I look now as I did last time at 7 months. I have more headaches this time but had no morning sickness at all. I have different cravings - sweets over savory this time. And holy crow does this kid move way more than my daughter ever did. He moves all day long and I felt his first kicks at 15 weeks as opposed to 22 last time.

I don't know the reasons - if your body "remembers" being pregant or if the boy/girl difference holds true, but it has for me.

Congrats by the way! When is your due date?

-AndreAnna
www.diaryofamodernmatriarch.com

Amy 3-04-2008 @ 12:18PM

My second pregnancy was so much easier than my first, because I knew what to expect and I had a lot less anxiety. Even though I had some complications with #2, I handled them a lot better than I handled the problems that came up with #1. Physically, the two were pretty similar until the end. I had PIH with #1 and was on bedrest for a week before I delivered naturally. With #2 I had intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (www.itchymoms.com) at 7 months, then got PIH again and was induced right away at 36 weeks.

The PIH freaked me right out with #1. With #2 it was "here we go again," and I knew that we'd be ok. And we are.

I've been doing a series on my blog about having Two Under Two that you might be interested in, even if your #1 is over 2.

Amy @ http://prettybabies.blogspot.com

kim 3-04-2008 @ 3:52PM

I should have added this to my comments:

Though my first pregnancy was easy, it was a difficult delivery and a really rough first year with a kid who didn't sleep.

My second, much harder pregnancy, resulted in a MUCH easier delivery (of a larger baby) and a really easy, mellow baby.

I'll take the rough nine months and an easy baby over the alternative any day.

Glad that I am done though!

Laura 3-05-2008 @ 1:08PM

I think it's true! I THOUGHT I had a bad pregnancy with my son but this one is MUCH MUCH worse and different. My cravings are totally opposite, my face broke out with around 20 zits in the first 2 mos, and I'm 24 weeks and still puking.

Need I say that my first was a boy and now we're having a girl? I'm a believer!

Paula 3-06-2008 @ 4:40PM

My pregnancies were fairly similar. A bit more tired and nauseous the second time, but I think that had a lot to do with still breastfeeding my first baby and still being on maternity leave. They're only 18 months apart.

The biggest diference came afte giving birth. Two young children are definately more work than one... On the other hand I managed to start my baby tips website http://www.easybabylife.com while home with our youngest... Maybe I just got more efficient... Well, he slept a lot too!

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