To hope having a toddler and newborn IS easier than pregnancy and a toddler?

[Keepontrudging]

Please let me just start by saying this is a moany post- but ultimately I am immensely happy and cannot wait for my son to arrive in January :)
But... Quite frankly ...I cant imagine it being easier with a newborn and a toddler, but then again I am struggling! I am only 25 weeks and Lordy do I feel it now ! This pregnancy has been very draining due to multiple scares/high risks etc. Emotionally i have been drained, but things are looking up in that aspect as we have been assured it is likely all should be ok. However, lately the physical side of things is really taking its toll. I don't sleep well due to hip pain, I struggle the stairs due to the hip pain and I am getting breathless easier. Everything seems to take a lot of effort in the mornings esspecially. I am on meds for thyriod and aneamia - so i will discuss a review of this to ensure i am on the right amount (They should be doing this for me, but sadly i have to chase them!)

My dd is 17 months old, she is VERY active. She my world and I wouldn't have her any other way, but she is more on the demanding side bless her... She's very bright so I guess this is a product of that. Her brightness has lots of pros (more than cons) so I am obviously grateful too. Anyway, I am sat here thinking how much harder physically this pregnancy is going to be...in terms of bending down/lifting dd/sleeping and I am worried... it would be somewhat comforting to atleast be assured this is the toughest part? Right? the pregnancy is the most testing part....? (gulp)

I think as well some don't realise how easy their kids are until another comes along- or they babysit a mates. My mates all comment on how active my ds is! Knowing my luck I'll prob have two hyper bunnies haha

Do sorry your having such a tough time op but I have no clue why all these posters are saying it's going to be easier! I really struggled having an nb and a toddler. Hope it's easier for you op

Well I said it was easier because I found it easier! All op is getting is the doom and gloom. I just thought I'd weigh in with my experience.

Id say about 75% of responses have been saying it will be easier.

YANBU to hope.

Unfortunately I think you're going to be bitterly disappointed.... The sleep deprivation is ten times worse, since after a night awake with the newborn your toddler wakes up, raring to go. I can hardly remember the first 6m of my DC2's life....

I agree, harrow.

My baby is now 7 months and toddler 19 months and, the first 6 months have flown by with me being very ill with stress - I feel guilty that both of them have missed so much of me as I've not been "there" at all.

It appears some are very lucky...

Depends a bit on how the birth goes, what your newborn is like and how awful you pregnancy was ....

For me it was definitely better once DS was born. Textbook straightforward water birth which I felt very satisfied with, DD (2.5) was fine with the new baby, he was a very easy baby who cottoned on to feeding easily and efficiently, and I was on cloud nine after nine months of slogging through pregnancy which wreaked havoc with my mood, hormones and general ability to cope with life (not to mention hyperemisis until week 18).

I was dead happy (albeit tired) when my second was a newborn.

I wouldn't underestimate how much harder a 2yr old can be than a 18 month old too. I thought dd was starting the terrible twos early but it got so much worse before it got better (well starting to at 2.5). For me that coincided with the birth of ds. He was incredibly hard work as a newborn (I barely put him down for the first three months). It was bleak. But it soon becomes normal and you get used to being spread that bit more thinly.
Now he's a happy, easy 9 month old I'm considering another so it can't be all bad.

I've said this on another thread. There's 14 months between mine so I had nappy changing for a total of 3 years. I think having two babies was easier than a five year old and a baby would have been.

Did anyone find being pregnant with their first baby harder than when that baby was born?

I don't think anyone can generalise on anything baby- related. I hope I find it easier, but I am prepared I may not.
Chiken- no way!