Pregnancy symptoms -- any relationship to child's personality?

[msmiranda]

Forgive me, because I know this is probably the dumbest question anyone has ever asked on MDC, but I'm curious (and kinda afraid).  My experience has been this: pregnancy symptoms were moderately severe with my first pregnancy (nausea, heartburn, reflux), and my DS1 is a spirited child.  My symptoms with the second pregnancy were mild comparatively, just a little morning sickness but no heartburn or bad reflux (though I did get constipation), and DS2 is an easier child in same-age comparisons.  Much easier, honestly.  With this pregnancy, I had much worse morning sickness than with either of the others, and it has lasted much longer.  So my fear is that this child will be even more difficult than my DS1.  This is probably ridiculous, not to mention highly unscientific and irrational, but that's what I'm afraid of. 

What have your experiences been?  I would love to hear lots of anecdotes of horrible pregnancies and delightful, easy babies!  But honesty is more important. 

[LSUtwinMama]

Totally anecdotal, but my twins were an awful pregnancy. Severe morning sickness, SPD, unexplained bouts of severe bleeding early on, heartburn, edema, and eventually severe pre-e that required an emergency c-section at 30 wks to save Twin A's life.

However my girls have been the sweetest, most easy-going, totally delightful babies and now loving, gentle toddlers.

This pregnancy has been very easy.... I'm anxious to meet this little man, I have a feeling he's going to be a handful after how easy his sisters were....

[kawa kamuri]

symptoms - no

fetal movement and activity - yes and yes

[Curlyfry7]

It was the complete opposite for me-1st pregnancy was a cake-walk-pretty much NO symptoms, very little trouble rthrough out the whole pregnancy, baby was not extremely active, never gave me painful kicks, heartburn, etc etc etc. From the day he was born we have called him the vampire baby because he sucked the life out of us-very angry baby, VERY high needs, STILL at 4 does not sleep all night long, etc etc. Pregnancy #2-some ms, more tiredness (but of course I had that non-sleeping toddler) but otherwise a pretty easy pregnancy again. DD is also very high needs-not as angry but a million zillion times more clingy, another poor sleeper, extremely sensitive. She was a little more active in utero adn her kicks were a little more forceful.

This baby I started with worse ms, but then it subsided ino queasiness. I was going-to-die exhausted until about 14 weeks. I'm 16w2d and still have a little queasiness but otherwise am doing well. No kicks yet to judge by. I am praying this baby is more happy-go-lucky than his/her siblings.

So there you go-pregnancy symptoms had nothing to do with personality in my case. :)

[Peony]

None of my pg symptoms or even activity levels have ever been related to my children's personalities. 

[Italiamom]

Originally Posted by kawa kamuri 

symptoms - no

fetal movement and activity - yes and yes

Ditto.  My pregnancy with DS was pretty mild, symptom wise, and he is NOT a mild mannered kiddo.  But his movements were aggressive from the first time I noticed them.  So many punches!  So many swift, painful kicks!
 

[XanaduMama]

I had a much harder pregnancy with #2 (dd)--morning sickness, heartburn/reflux, yeast infections/BV, you name it. Her birth, however, was infinitely more peaceful than ds's, partly because it was a homebirth, but it was just overall much less intense. She is a MUCH easier child than ds, who is very spirited, intense, high-needs, energetic...the whole package!

I did notice that their movements were different: his was furious kicking/punching, whereas her movements (still quite active) felt more like rolling over/squirming.

[lillymonster]

I was much sicker with #2, lost a lot of weight, I had hypermesis with both, but #2 was much worse. She is so far, a much easier baby, she is only 3 weeks, but with my first at 3 weeks, I was in tears because she cried all the time. #2 hardly cries at all, only when hungry.   Both kicked and moved a lot.

[OkiMom]

My first was extremely active in utero, I had extremely bad symptoms.. She was a pretty needy baby but a great toddler (never had terrible twos or anything like that with her) and other than being very sensitive to other people shes a really easy to deal with preschooler.. She is still very active to this day, hates sitting still.. She was crawling by 6ish months, cruising by 7ish months and started walking right before she turned 8 months old.

My second was a lot milder in utero but a lot more "high needs" out of the womb. She needed to be held all the time, nursed constantly etc. She not as active as her sister but close, she held off on the walking until around 10ish months. She is a "typical" toddler, tantruming, causing problems etc, I'm always having to stop her from doing something she shouldn't be doing.

This one is a lot less active than his sisters but the symptoms are a lot worse than his sisters were. So, If the theory holds up he should be a less active but more needy baby. We shall see.

[preciousstone]

oooo... I love this thread. With my first, I had horrible nausea and heartburn and he kicked rolled and punched all the way to delivery.  He cried non stop as a newborn and now at 13 mths he has a bigg big personality, a big people person and everything is extreme- extreemly happy when happy, extreemly mad when mad, but generally on the happy side.   With this pregnancy, I've only had cramps so far at 6wks, no heartburn/nausea to speak of.  So we'll see.