Is there any truth in the story that a labour after a big gap/with diff DH is like a first one?

[BertieBotts]

Am not actually pregnant but TTC DC2. There will be an 8-9 year gap between DC depending on how long it takes, and DS has a different father to my current DH.

I was also 20 with DC1 whereas I'll be 28 in a few days.

I had a really long labour with DS. 48 hours of latent stage unable to sleep crappy irregular contractions and then about another 8 of active labour. The birth itself was fine but I was just absolutely wrecked from the lack of sleep.

Any experience? It's all academic right now anyway! So I was just wondering how others had found it.

I have a 9 year gap. I was 22 with my first and 31 with my second. My first Labour was 23 hours second was 9 hours.

I think there's a big difference between first and subsequent labours. Muscle memory and all that kicks in and 2nd babies tend to come fast. No idea if time or paternity play a role.

Yes I heard second labours tend to be easier and quicker and the first can often be an outlier especially WRT time. That would be nice not to go through the long crappy hard bit again and have more energy for the main event! But I am sure I read something about time and paternity playing a role. Perhaps it has been debunked?

Mine have different fathers, sorry I meant to write that in my post. Obviously everyone is different but I agree with pp, your body remembers and that normally makes it easier second time round.