Pregnancy vs. Newborn - which is worse?

[happypamama]

Third trimester for sure. I can't sleep well when very pregnant, and there's still always the "what if" worries about the actual birth and delivery. I've gone to almost 41 weeks twice and just over 41 weeks once, and man, that gets so old! Give me a snuggly newborn any day! And that's from someone who has had generally easy pregnancies, births, and newborns. I like being pregnant; it just gets tiresome at the end, and the insomnia is the worst. And the having to pee every twenty-two seconds.

 

(Then again, this last time, I missed about 2.5 weeks of pregnancy, because he came at 38w3d, and I actually missed those hugely overdue feelings! It was weird.)

Edited August 20, 2012 by happypamama

[busymotherof4]

depends on the pregnancy, birth and baby. My 5th baby is 2 weeks old and life is so much better right now. Easy birth and recovery. No stitches so sore for a couple of days then I feel awesome. A week ago I was feeling great. I'm just tired. This baby is an easy baby. Mostly happy. sleeps a lot. Easy to meet her needs. 3 tri was miserable. I was in continuous pain. The heartburn. Fighting swelling and tons of contractions. I was using a ton of ice every night for the various pains.

Last pregnancy (baby 4) I had a c-section and then got a baby with reflux and a painful birth defect. I was a mess for a couple of months.

The other 3 babies were rotten pregnancy but then life was generally better.

[Dory]

I LOVED my newborns, even with the horrible lack of sleep, the getting up and feeding every 1 1/2 to 2 hrs, and the exploded diapers. My first two trimesters were hell on earth. My third one for some reason the nausea was always a little bit better, but then the heartburn would start getting bad.

 

I voted other since my least favorite was the the first six months, not the last three, or last one depending on which pregnancy I'm talking about.

[justamouse]

I voted last stretch of the pregnancy is harder? Why? Because they're STILL IN YOU. You can't do anything about the way you feel or how long you have to handle it-you just have to get through it.

 

WIth a baby, you can do MANY things to work around the problem areas.

[Amy in NH]

I liked having a newborn, but I hated post-partum yuck. Of course, 3rd trimester is always hard. So I voted both.

[kb44]

I don't think any stage is harder than another. There are pros and cons to each developmental stage...including pregnancy! :001_smile:

[Momma_Bear]

I would say pregnancy for all of mine except my 11 year old. She didn't sleep and cried all the time until she was a year old.

[AdventureMoms]

Newborn was much harder for me. But I was pretty comfortable, even in the 3rd trimester. I raked the yard for fun the day I went into labor with DD. I had some sciatica but not so bad... The newborn phase was exhausting, and she was not a particularly difficult newborn. After a week or so she slept a reliable 3-4hr stretch at least once a night. I don't think her newborn phase would have been worse if I had had a difficult 3rd trimester.

 

I'm pretty sure DW would say the same, and she carried twins and was miserable by the end (35wks, measuring 48, carrying more than 12lbs of baby, plus INCREDIBLE swelling. However, that newborn phase was with preemie twins and nursing issues and waking every 2 hrs, so that was worse, I think. Plus DW was EXHAUSTED by that birth (VERY long labor with baby A, plus some pit-induced insanity, surgery for baby B, no rest because of monitoring issues, etc). I'll ask her though.

 

ETA: if we were comparing to the FIRST trimester my answer might be different. I puked my brains out until 20 weeks.

Edited August 21, 2012 by AdventureMoms

[TravelingChris]

I am one of the odd balls that posted both since I am only thinking of my last pregnancy and birth (almost 16 years ago). I had a blood clot in my leg during the latter part of my third trimester and my left leg really swelled up. The doctor ordered an ultrasound and they didn't find it. (Fast forward fourteen years and it turns out yes, it was a DVT since now I had a second one with the same symptoms and this time with more modern equipment, they found a clot running up my entire leg and oh, I have a heriditary clotting problem). Anyway, then after birth, my arthritis came screaming back- I was dropping dishes and could barely use utensils. I was put on prednisone and plaquenil. Oh and the revving up of my autoimmune diseases also made me very tired. The one thing about being pregnant was that those went away for the most part but after pregnancy--AAAAAAAHHHHH.

[abacus2]

Other: It depends on the baby and the pregnancy. With my first both were extremely difficult, with the newborn time being worse. With my other two, I think the end of pregnancy was worse. They were easier babies and my physical recovery was better.

[LucyStoner]

I had a very easy pregnancy with my oldest. He was a pretty easy baby. I would say that his newborn period was harder but it was more fun than pregnancy. Note that I don't do well with not enough sleep.

 

My 2nd pregnancy was harder- hypermemis. Meaning I threw up more than daily until he was delivered. I was hospitalized for a kidney infection because it's hard to stay hydrated when you can't keep much down. He was a pretty easy baby, but I was hit hard with ppd and was caring for my mother in the last months of her life. So I would say the newborn stage was more challenging than even my difficult pregnancy.

 

I think it depends on the mother and the baby.

[Gailmegan]

If the poll would allow, I would vote three times for newborn stage being harder, because it was true for all three of my babies. I love being pregnant. All of mine were late and I think it's partly because I didn't want them to come out. I cosleep with my babies, but I still can not handle the sleep deprivation. We have thought about #4, but there is no way on earth I would go through having a newborn again. It's torture for me. Yes, worth it in the end - my boys are my life - but I really don't think I could hack it again.

[jujsky]

Other than some complications that didn't affect how I felt, my pregnancy was easy and not that uncomfortable. When DD was born (and for the first 2 1/2 years of her life, though it gradually tapered down to being better by 2 1/2) she was awful. She was the most miserable baby ever, to the point where we'd have neighbors we didn't know stopping by to check on us because they thought we must be beating her or something. She cried all the time and didn't stop. We brought her to doctors and were always blown off. I'm wondering at this point if maybe it was some sort of protein intolerance or something -- the doctor was sure she didn't have reflux. If I had to do it over, I'd try an elimination diet. God, I would have done anything to sleep! So yeah, for me, pregnancy was definitely much, much easier!

[GWOB]

I am a bit ADD. I am also the world's most impatient person ever. I completely lost interest in pregnancy around 5 months. Being a vertically-challenged person with large booKs, my gut went straight out while my bum expanded exponentially to counter-balance the front weight. I was not cute. I was not comfortable. I also enjoy fairly easy labors. I knew that a good 4 hours of labor would end the 9 months of misery. Give me a squishy baby any day!

[hollyh]

I voted other. 1st trimester is hardest.

[IsabelC]

Other - (a) it depends on the woman and the baby, and (b) usually whatever you are going through at the time seems worse! I spent many nights totally unable to get comfortable in late pregnancy reciting my mantra of "At least it isn't crying"!

[BlsdMama]

If the poll would allow, I would vote three times for newborn stage being harder, because it was true for all three of my babies. I love being pregnant.

 

:lol:

 

And I'd vote ten times for pregnancy being harder for each of my kiddos... Give me a newborn any day of the week. ;)

[melissad2]

Pffft. Pregnancy, hands down. I really did NOT enjoy being pregnant. I thought having a newborn was a breeze compared to pregnancy. :tongue_smilie:

 

:iagree:

[funschooler5]

I had my last baby in April. I say 3rd trimester of pregnancy is the hardest. I hated those last few weeks, they seemed to take forever. The newborn stage was a lot easier. Now, it's getting a bit more difficult. Three to four months old always seems to be harder for me (with my kids at least). They can't sit up or talk, but they really want to, and they get frustrated very easily. :001_smile:

[BakersDozen]

Love being pregnant, last trimester is my most favorite time of all, I'm usually super comfortable, feel very beautiful (sexy, even!), cry when my due date approaches, cry when the pregnancy is over.

 

Baby is born and I am a mess emotionally, physically, and mentally. I am overwhelmed and scared and wondering why in the world I thought having another baby was a good idea?!

 

I obviously vote that pregnancy is way easier than newborn stage, although I do love those precious little ones even when they wake me up at night or cry. Being in my "Hail Mary" years of fertility and not knowing what the future holds in this area, I cherish all of it even more from pregnancy through newborn (and beyond, of course).