Pregnancies can be like night and day. I have not one friend or family member who has been pregnant more than once that has said any of their pregnancies ever resembled one another.
Take me, for example. With my eldest, I had no idea I was pregnant until I willingly ate something I despised. I had actually CRAVED it. And then I knew something was wrong.
I pieced it all together. The fact my pants I’d fit just fine in a week before were suddenly too snug. Sore and larger boobs. Oh yeah. It was real.
And then the morning sickness kicked in. Though for me, it was usually in the afternoon and only made me nauseous. I never did vomit from it.
But then, I looked at how I was when I was pregnant with my youngest. I didn’t really have morning sickness with her. However, when I was about 4 or 5 weeks along, I felt something was wrong with me.
I’d remarked to a friend, “What if I’m sick? What if I’m dying?” They laughed and said, “I bet you anything you’re pregnant again.”
I sent my husband to get a pregnancy test for me, and lo and behold, it came back positive. To be safe, we went to the doctor, who confirmed it.
For my youngest, I felt mostly good during my pregnancy, save for that moment when I thought I must be dying.
So, I feel quite inclined to answer this question below. I’ve received it from at least 7 different mamas, so I think it’s hot enough to be its own topic.
Can you have morning sickness with one pregnancy and not the other?
In short, YES! Your second pregnancy could be completely opposite from your first. Some of you may have subtle differences, but it’s like night and day for others.
Now, that doesn’t mean that your second one will be easy and breezy just because you had a rough pregnancy the first time. But you may notice some things that are entirely different this time around.
Among those things, you will most likely see your bump show earlier than before. I’ve covered that in other posts. And you may notice movement sooner, but that’s likely because you have been keen on it from your first pregnancy.
For me, I definitely had morning sickness with my eldest. But I really didn’t experience it with my youngest. Incidentally, the younger one was, the easier baby to handle while clingier. I’m unsure if that’s because of her personality or if we just knew how to handle a newborn by that point, so we were less clueless.
So, if you had no morning sickness during the first pregnancy, maybe you will get it this time. Or it could be vice versa – you had it bad the first time, and now you don’t. Or it could be the same.
Didn’t I say this is all a crapshoot? I did in my other post.
So much can be different in your body from one pregnancy to the next. If you’re concerned about pregnancy symptoms you experienced with your first baby or are afraid of ones you didn’t have, it may help to talk to your doctor about them.
You may have sore boobs this time. Or more Braxton Hicks. This time, you may be more constipated. Or you may fart tons more without any way to stop it.
And your labor may have seemed to stretch forever with your first baby. But your second labor could be short and easy.
Your water may break all over as it does in the movies (like it did to me, the rare occurrence) for one baby, but it may slowly break and trickle over a week or so for the next one.
There is little rhyme or reason here. None of us can predict it. Your doctor can’t predict it either, but they can help you endure those symptoms a little better.
If you have morning sickness for your second pregnancy and had it for your first, at least you will be familiar with what to do. Maybe it will only show up at night this time.
In any event, it is completely normal for you to have different symptoms from pregnancy to the next. If any of them concern you or make it hard to get through your day-to-day, make an appointment with your doctor to get some relief!
Leslie Berry lives with her husband and two young daughters in Los Altos, California, where she loves helping other moms get comfortable with motherhood and embracing the insanity with facts peppered with laughs.
