Two very different pregnancies

Really, two pregnancies couldn't have been more different than my two have been. Going into this second pregnancy, I was expecting it to be pretty much like the first, since it was still happening in my same body. But no.

Here's a summary of the two pregnancies for you, so you can see just how different they were. (Use the handy-dandy numbering system to compare points.)

Baby L

1. Constantly nauseous from about 6 weeks to 4.5 months. Threw up a couple of times. Totally put off food preparation, and even vegetable gardening because I knew those veges expected me to eat them.
2. Extremely tired throughout pregnancy.
3. Horrible heart burn in the second trimester.
4. Aching pain in my ribs in the second trimester and first half of the third trimester. I literally had to tie scarves around my ribs to combat the pressure and get to sleep at night.
5. No spotting.
6. Iron levels remained good.
7. Hormones did strange things to my muscles, so I would be crippled for days after the lightest exercise.
8. My mood remained calm and happily stable throughout the pregnancy, without PMS making its monthly appearance.
9. All of L's antenatal measurements were normal.
10. Felt best in the third trimester.
11. Five days overdue.

Baby S

1. A few tiny bouts of nausea early on, quickly settled by eating cheese and crackers. No vomiting. Slightly put off food preparation, but able to carry on cooking dinners and gardening without feeling sick.
2. Extremely tired throughout pregnancy. (This is the one point that both pregnancies have in common.)
3. No heartburn until the third trimester, when I had a few episodes before baby descended into my pelvis.
4. A few instances of getting booted in the ribs, but nothing major. No need to tie scarves around my ribs.
5. A little bit of spotting at 28 weeks - thought to be an edge tear on the placenta.
6. Iron levels dropped really low in the third trimester, so I went on the iron supplement Ferro-Gradumet. However, I reacted to it with nausea and vomiting so switched to SPATONE liquid iron supplement and had no problems, plus lots more energy when it kicked in.
7. Hormones softened my ligaments and caused some back ache, but I was able to walk and carry out light exercise without being incapacitated afterwards.
8. I had a few bouts of (what Paul calls) "Sad Emmie" with this pregnancy, where I felt absolutely hopeless and like I wasn't doing a good job at anything, especially being a mother.
9. S measured 5-weeks too small at 32 weeks, which put me into a panic until I got re-measured at 34-weeks and all was normal. 
10. Felt best in the first trimester.
11. Three days overdue.

In Summary
Overall, my pregnancy with S was a lot easier - like my body had already been beaten into submission by L and didn't need to do as much work this time around.

I did get frightened by the spotting and too small 32-week measurement with S, so spent more of this pregnancy thinking about whether she was healthy and what it would mean if she wasn't. Happily, all signs so far point to her being a healthy wee girl.