Does the second baby usually come earlier than the first baby?
Most women deliver at full term or after 37 weeks whether it's your first, second, third or fourth baby. In reality most women probably deliver between 38 and 40 weeks on average. The chances of having a full term baby are great, overall the chances of having a preterm baby on your first are about 11% in this country. There are things that can increase the chances of preterm labor, things like smoking, drug use, being at a low birth weight or having certain medical conditions or complications during your pregnancy can predispose the woman to having preterm labor and deliveries. You asked a really good question, are second babies likely to come earlier than the first? No, not generally speaking. Not unless your first baby came early so the best predictor of future behavior is past experience. So if your first baby was preterm your at greater risk that your second baby will be preterm. If your first one is full term your likelihood of having a preterm baby is the same as the rest of the nation at about 10%.
Here's the thing though, second babies may not come earlier but they usually come faster. You're probably going to be at about the same gestational age full term some time between 37 and 40 weeks but once those contractions start it usually doesn't take as long for you to be in labor and doesn't take as long to push the baby out, so the actual labor length is shorter. If you have more specific questions for me, be sure to ask them on our facebook page at facebook.com/intermountainmoms and recommend us to your friends and family too.