Midwife, specialising in home birth, AMA

[MidwifeAMA]

Hi :)
I'm a midwife of 15 years. I've worked in all areas of midwifery but mostly in midwife led birthing units and now specialising in home birth.

AMA

Second births are almost always quick and straightforward. Often second babies are born in cars etc as mums are so sure they have hours and hours (and hours) like the first time so take their time coming in and ping there's a baby.
I'd recommend Hypnobirthing for learning skills to quieten the mind and let positive thoughts flow over old fears.

Thank you! I suppose I thought an instrumental would make second births less smooth than a spontaneous one would, but sounds like that’s not the case?

Nope, it's really unlikely to need another instrumental. Much more likely that things will be straightforward and quick.
Sometimes looking at the reason for the forceps birth helps too. For example- if you had a long slog so had an epidural, then forceps for delay in the second stage, this is really unlikely to reoccur because second labours are much quicker, so much less epidural use, and then less difficult to push baby out.

The labour itself was quite quick, went from nothing to 10cm in about 8 hours, but then nothing happened! No urge to push whatsoever. I did some forced pushing but it felt all wrong and so I ended up with forceps. I want to know what the hell happened as everyone else talks about this need to push that never happened for me 😂

How were the contractions at the pushing stage?
Did they fizzle out, becoming less intense or less often?
Was baby in a funny position? Back to back of a bit on the wonk?
What pain relief did you have on board? Where you mobile or less so?

The contractions were intense and came thick and fast - barely a few seconds between them. I remember counting them and they lasted about 15 seconds at a time. They didn’t let up at all. I’d had an epidural but it only partially worked for about half an hour and then petered out and didn’t work again, no matter how much they topped it up! So I was completely immobile and lying on my back.

No question from me, just wanted to say I had a home birth with my DS(25) it was an amazing experience, felt so relaxed, had 3 midwives attending, one was a trainee and hasn’t done a home birth. Thoroughly recommend home birth if you can! 🤗

I had the same, no urge to push at all.

Midwife (and others) screeching at me to push, to move position, well done, keep pushing etc.

Baby eventually retrieved by forceps with an enormous welt on her head where I had been pushing her ever more stuck.

Natural birth, yeay!

Could be related to the combo of epidural and immobility, we know epidurals increase the chance of instrumental birth because you lose sensation/are less mobile etc so it's probably that you were the unlucky statistic. It might be worth looking at alternative options this time, whether you'd like to try the pool or different analgesia and you'll probably find you discover this illusive "urge to push", once felt never forgotten!

I wish I could try the pool but I’ll always be induced so it looks like if I’m lucky enough to have another it’ll be another lying down/drip job 🙁 thank you for the insight, very interesting!

We do wireless waterproof monitoring so you can have it whilst in the pool with your drip.... where there's a will theres a way! Ask your midwife what options you have, you might be surprised.
Also, if you are induced with a second baby often you don't need the hormone drip. Here if you only have your waters broken and then go into labour you can come to the midwife led birthing unit and hop in the pool.

All depends on the reason for the induction tbh but there's always little bits we can tweak for the best possible experience

Oh, I didn’t know any of this! Thank you so much - I will definitely propose it if there’s a next time, I would LOVE the pool.

@Wouldloveanother You don't necessarily need to push, I didn't with either of mine, and comatose/unconcious women have been known to give birth. It doesn't necessarily mean there's anything wrong with you or baby or that baby won't come out, there is a good chance that it takes longer though. There was a whole movement a while ago about not encouraging women to push because it increases tearing, not sure if that took off (and other considerations may have come to light on the matter).

Of course, forceps might have been safer in your case, that's why midwives are there, but I really wouldn't worry about not getting the urge next time.

Absolutely, and often if you've given birth vaginally before the baby just seems to appear with very little encouragement!

Oh I really hope so - due to various complications I never really made a birth plan or had any expectations, so the thought of maybe having a few preferences next time is quite exciting!

I hope it all goes well for you. :)

Thank you 😊

"Lots of women have a really fast second birth but generally the third is much less fast so if it's baby number three you probably have more time to be wherever you want to be"

Thats interesting, why is that? I just assumed they would get gradually faster?

I'm not sure.
The classic pattern seems to be longer first labour, super quick second labour, third labours often have a bit of a start stop start before they get going and then are usually quick.
Could be some psychology and perception involved... second time you assume you have hours so you keep yourself busy and then it feels like it ramps up out of nowhere, third time you think "I'm not leaving it so late snd nearly having the baby in the car like last time" and so you go in a bit too soon, get adrenaline that knocks it off, go home and niggle a bit more etc

This is amazing thank you 😊
I had a ventouse first delivery but not in theatre, baby got a bit stuck as his hand was over his head (I think). I was induced with my waters broken.
Second baby was emcs cat 3 for unstable lie, he was dinky. I had planned a homebirth but he kept spinning around.
I want another and the surgeons recommended a vbac when they delivered my baby if I had another. In my shoes, would you go for a homebirth? I don't have any other risk factors providing I don't have unstable lie again. I can't get my head around the risks. We're 20 mins from hospital. Thanks

Your best idea is to discuss the pros and cons of VBAC and then apply them to home.

www.rcog.org.uk/for-the-public/browse-all-patient-information-leaflets/birth-after-previous-caesarean-patient-information-leaflet/

Worse case scenarios have better outcomes in a hospital setting but the overall risks of long term harm are low. Perception and tolerance of risk are very individual.

I'm sad to miss the momentum of this thread.

I have five children - 2, 3 and 4 were born at home. My first was a good hospital experience which led me to question, why am I here?

My community midwife was a real evangelist for home birth.

The team, over three births, were brilliant. I felt secure, supported etc. And when I came out of the shower, into a clean bed, with the sound of the washing machine going...

My fifth child was an undiagnosed breech, in a USA hospital (home birth illegal). I had a fair inkling she was breech (bowling ball under the ribs was a giveaway). I did loads of research and landed on Mary Cronk. I felt really confident that if the labour progressed, then fine. If it stalled, then straight to C-section. Nothing in between - no acceleration, no forceps. Fortunately, she was frank breech and basically fell out of me.

My midwife was brilliant considering she was fairly newly qualified. It took about 10 minutes for anyone to respond to STAT, after which time DD was breastfeeding.

The next morning, I had ever so many visitors to see this breech baby, as if it were the Messiah Jesus. All they saw was me tandem nursing the new baby and her two year old sister.

I will say that my USA experience was empowered by my three sets of UK midwives. I would never had had the confidence to speak up for myself and go against the grain.

You need a really good quality discussion of the pros and cons of home VBAC to support your decision making. There's no right answer. There are increased risks when birthing with a previous CS scar, but these may or may not feel comfortable to you.