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yes!!! sooo much easier! mostly because my labor was not as long and i pushed for a much shorter time the 2nd time around.

i always thought i was so sore from my stitches after my first labor but i tore in the same exact spot and had the same amount of stitches the 2nd time and i really wasn't that sore!

Harder. Simply because recovery with a newborn to care for puts a LOT less strain on your body than recovery with a newborn and a 1 year old to care for. I had c-sections and it took ages to heal the second time around, I kept irritating the incision with all the bending and stuff I had to do.

Physical recovery was soooo much easier the second time around. I had a csection first and a VBAC for my second LO. Our daycare doesn't hold spots so we kept LO1 in daycare and that helped me rest/get house stuff done. The weekends were a little crazy and tiring (I solo parent on Saturdays).

No, it was harder because I had to have a c-section. But third times a charm vbac) and I never actually felt like I had a baby, it was just like a bad period for a few days.

SO MUCH EASIER! I still tore, but it only took like a day to heal and not be crying in pain in the bathroom - it took over 4 weeks to heal like that from L!
Also, no PP Anxiety like I had with L. It was a *much* more pleasant experience.

Although... having a newborn AND a toddler is so much more mentally exhausting than you can imagine...

So much easier!!! I was up and about right away. Didn't tear, and labor was fast.

Sooooooo much easier!! But Logan was a little early, so he was smaller than Xander and had a smaller head, so I didn't need an episiotomy to get him out! I had a 2nd degree tear, but it hasn't bothered me nearly as much as my episiotomy did with Xander. But I also still have Xander in daycare full-time, so the majority of my day is just me and Logan!

My labor was quicker and I had a less severe tear, so my soreness was much more manageable. Emotionally I have done better as well.

Agree with @jedeve that after pains were way worse, at least for the ~2 days after birth.

It is definitely harder to rest / sleep when the baby sleeps because of the toddler running around demanding to be entertained, though!

A million times easier! I had a second degree tear and stitches both times but with my first, I definitely felt them for a week or so every time I laughed, coughed, sneezed, or got up/down from sitting. This time, I never even noticed them. Truly. I was home from the hospital four hours after having DD2 and felt like a million bucks....and I never really crashed. It was seriously a walk in the park.

I never used any postpartum 'healing' or pain relief supplies with either baby (no dermaplast, no peri bottle, no witch hazel, etc) so I can't comment on that. What I will say though is to stock up on Advil - the postpartum cramps the second time around are brutal for this first few days! I never had any cramps with my first, but with DD2, they were excruciating....and they hit when you start BF'ing so it's the double whammy of nipple pain and uterine cramps. Ouch. I kept up an around the clock Advil regimen for the first three or four days and it helped a lot!

I love hearing how much easier it is the second time, both physically and emotionally! I wonder what it is..

So much easier. But my cramps were awful, I dreaded nursing LO #2 because the cramps were so painful.