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Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

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Original poster

Poll: which is harder, pregnancy or having a newborn? Vote here!

174 replies

Kathyis6incheshigh · 30/11/2007 11:53

IME, pregnancy is waaaaay harder than having a newborn.
Pregnancy means:
-you're sick all the time
-by late pregnancy you can't breathe properly or bend down and you need to go to the toilet every half hour
-you have to get up at night every hour or so to go to the toilet
At least when you have the baby:
-you only need to carry a baby around, not baby + placenta + fluid
-you have the option of putting it in a buggy or giving it to someone else for a while
-you can co-sleep so you don't actually have to get out of bed at all
-you have a sweet little baby which gets constantly admired

Surely it's not just me who thinks this? Or do I just have really really shite pregnancies?

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

DeathBySnooSnoo · 01/12/2007 21:53

'OOH no I disagree there no one has given a stuff about me this time round I think people get bored when you're on your third. When the baby is born I know dp will help out loads but seems to be oblivious to the fact i'm up the duff atm. '

quite!when you are pregnant with your first people congratulate you and help out.when you go past no.2 they assume you are stupid and have never heard of contraception,and so are undeserving of any sympathy or help.

at least you can hand the baby over to daddy once its out

expatinscotland · 01/12/2007 22:10

my pregnancies have all been TOTAL shit from the get go, and this is proving no different.

but so far - touches wood! - my two newborns have been very, very good: excellent sleepers who didn't have colic and never cried and cried for long.

annoyingdevil · 01/12/2007 23:10

Newborn with colic = hell on earth. Would rather be pregnant with an elephant than suffer that again!

RuthChan · 01/12/2007 23:24

The beginning of pregnancy, with morning sickness, was pretty bad.
After that it was plain sailing.
I was active, could go where I wanted when I wanted and could sleep!

After DD was born, all of that went out of the window.
No sleep, no time to myself, severly limited options of getting out and about.
Right now, I feel like I'll never see the inside of a cinema or vaguely nice restaurant again!

Verso · 02/12/2007 06:20

I second annoyingdevil as DD was very colicky. I had painful SPD in the last months of my last pg and couldn't wait to deliver. Blimey! I was wrong! Grrrr. DD didn't sleep through til eight months. Recovering from a third degree tear + caring for a newborn vs SPD and piles? No contest (which is probably why I'm pg again)

ernest · 02/12/2007 06:57

it depends, 1st newborn a nightmare of not having a clue. my 3rd ds was such a doddle I couldn't believe how easy he was.

So once experience, I'd say pg harder, but for a 1st timer, newborn harder

2sugars · 02/12/2007 07:20

Haven't read all of this BUT, despite pre-eclampsia with dd2, and despite some stranger peering up your fanjo to remove stitches that have been caught up in hairy bits they didn't ought to have been caught up in, NEWBORNS. And more so 2nd time round when they don't, for some inexplicable reason, take to bfeeding. Counting the holes in the teats to make sure they had the right one (supplemented dd1's feeding by this stage), two separate piles of different size nappies on the kitchen table, a cot in the living room to protect dd2 from dd1 ...... aaaagh.

But I still loved it all, and would, given the chance, do it all again. I can see why women go on and on and on having babies.
I think it's only when they get to my dds ages (8 and 9) you realise how precious those first months/years are, and want to relive it, with the wisdom you've accrued. That won't happen for me, but it's fine.

OverRated · 02/12/2007 07:48

Newborn

Didylicious · 02/12/2007 08:18

PREGNANCY!

Arrrrrrghhhhhh! So stressful, if there was an option to be comotose for the 9 months, and woken up just intime for the birth - that is what I would do!

But I'm only 12+5 weeks, and have had numerous bleeds (and worries!)..... 9 months seems like FOREVER.

I'd love to Fast Forward to the newborn phase - and have my baby safe in my arms!

spugs · 02/12/2007 08:23

newborn definitly harder with child #1, more or less the same with 2nd pregnancy and newborn. was much easier then dd1 but not sure what was worse the endless pregnancy or the sleepless nights! 24 wks with dd3 at the min and feel like ive been pregnant for ever, so think newborn might take easy title this time

TwoIfBySea · 02/12/2007 22:07

When I was pregnant with dts (nearly 6 y.o.) after about the 4th month I looked full term. I couldn't bend, getting in and out of the bath was a complete palaver, walking up the stairs was a take-two-pause-try-and-breathe-start-again. Morning, or rather all day sickness passed after the 4th month though but I couldn't eat much anyway as there was no room. I couldn't sleep because the box-like belly was in the way no matter what I did with pillows. I was constantly bug-eyed with tiredness.

Ended up with pre-eclampsia so dts were born 4 weeks early. I was blessed with good sleepers and contented babies from the outset without any of that putting them out for the foxes nonsense (tip; putting them in the same cot meant if one woke the other would cuddle in until he went back asleep.) I was tired but at least I could tie my own laces.

So the pregnancy was definitely the toughest part. And you know what, I wouldn't swap one day of it for I got dts and it made every hellish knackered day worth it! (Ask me that again when they are having a "moment" and I may say differently though!)

dal21 · 03/12/2007 09:26

first time mother - defo found newborn harder-pregnany aside from watching what you eat/ drink - everything looks after itself.

can see if i have another one though - will find pregnancy harder than baby. will seem to go on forever but i will be more confident with bub.

RGPargy · 03/12/2007 09:29

newborn with colic/gripes for the first six months was a nightmare and i can now understand how some women abandon their babies!!!

We shall see for DC2 tho (1 week overdue!).

Balthamos · 03/12/2007 10:52

oh yes most definitaly pregnancy. Horrid horrid horrid. i was the size of a house by 16 weeks, had awful morning sickness, sore hips, sore joints, was tired tired tired - but couldn't sleep, my DD kicked and kicked...and to top it off i went off my beloved tea! Pregnancy was ghastly. At least when my DD arrived there was something positive and wonderful to focus on! And i did not have an easy time - i had 32 hour (induced) labour, followed by a traumatic forcep delivery in theatre which left me with an infected episiotomy wound. However, in all fairness, i will say that my DD was and is a pretty good sleeper so that must make all the difference in the world.

MrsMar · 03/12/2007 18:18

Would definitely say pregnancy is easier than having a new born. At least when I was pg I could get out of the house in under three hours, now it takes forever and the checklist is vast... spare nappies, spare babygro, jumper/warm clothing for baby, muslin square, toys to entertain screaming baby, wipes, blanket for pram, hat, pram, rain hood for pram. It goes on forever! Pregnancy was a doddle for me and everyone treated me so nicely. With a new born (admittedly my first so perhaps that's coloured my thinking) I'm constantly questioning my decisions... do I feed him now or later? Should I wake him up for his feed or let him demand feed? Is he warm enough? Should I let him cry it out when he's trying to get to sleep or comfort him? Mind you, wouldn't swap him for the world, love him to bits, so perhaps it really is the other way round. At least I've got my beautiful boy to cuddle!

SHEENA1 · 03/12/2007 18:33

i think having a toddler is well harder than pregnancy and having a new born toddlers are so much hard work

MrsFlora · 03/12/2007 20:18

Loved my pregnancy! I loved my bump! I was never sick, always happy, didn't get hayfever while I was pregnant, loved the new sex life, expectations( although last week it was a bit tedious)

New born, much harder, constant screaming, lack of sleeping, exhaustion..

slim22 · 04/12/2007 01:27

neither
toddlers are the real deal!

DeathBySnooSnoo · 04/12/2007 21:02

toddlers are easy compared to pre-pubescent girls!at least they can sort out disagreements with a simple scrap,rather than weeks of bitching and back-stabbing.and its alot easier to remove a tantruming 2 year old from a situation than it is a 6-stone 9 year old

(plus 2 yesr olds cant tell you they hate you and threaten to ring social services cos you sent them to their room,you dont have to explain to them why they feel like screaming and killing people for no reason...blah blah blah)

puberty still easier than pregnancy though!

gladbag · 04/12/2007 21:07

newborn - with a shadow of a doubt.

ThursdayNext · 04/12/2007 21:10

Newborn.
And I had hyperemesis and was hospitalised, so not particularly easy pregnancy.
I'm really not good at newborns.
Which is a shame, as I'll have one in about 2 months time....

slim22 · 05/12/2007 00:17

at pre pubescent teenagers. OMG!!! don't want to even think about it.

alipiggie · 05/12/2007 00:21

Pregnancy = first one I was terribly sick for three months and had upteen scares with both.

Luckily was blessed with gorgeous newborns .

Myrtle1 · 07/12/2007 12:46

Definitely the first few weeks of having a newborn. Nothing prepares you for the sheer exhaustion plus you're trying to recover from labour.

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