To ask you to share your childbirth experiences?

[xoguineas]

First time mum due on the 18th Jan and would love to hear all the good, bad and gory details

10lb baby, 3.5hour labour. Crowned in the waiting room, nearly gave birth in a wheelchair as I was frantically found a bed in an full labour ward. Stage 3 tear, lots of stitches.

Mine was as straight forward and boring as you can get. Slow labour for a few days, then a relaxed Water birth with just gas and air while listening to thief of time on audible. Was a bit of a slow process and had to have my waters broken. Panic button was hit at the end though because midwife was listening to baby's heartbeat between contractions, and lost heartbeat at very end. But baby was out before the cavalry even arrived so all was well

Ds1- 3 weeks early, had a show at 7am, contractions started at 7:30am, into hospital at 8:30am, gas and air, and he was born at 9:50am

Ds2- 2 weeks early, show at 1:30pm, contractions started at 2:30pm, into hospital at 3:00pm, gas and air, and born at 4:00pm

Really easy births, no problems. I've had worse toothache than I had labour pains.
However, because I only had that short window of contractions, I felt like I missed out on the counting between them etc. Not complaining though!

I've had three, none of them particularly eventful.

#1 son had his cord wrapped around his neck and had to be in NICU for a few days due to a pneumothorax but was ultimately fine. The labor was smooth and easy.

#2 son was born on 9/11/01, so it was a little crazy. I started contacting the night before and went to sleep, woke up a few hours later and my contractions were 3 minutes apart. When I got to the hospital I was dilated 8cm 😶 and my epidural didn't work because it was too late. He weighed 9 lbs 8 oz, so that wasn't fun but the pain was soon forgotten.

With the girl one, I was induced the day before my due date because my BP was elevated. Other than that it was a textbook labor and delivery.

4 births here, all very easy and straightforward. 1 in a birth centre, 1 hospital (although was meant to be a home birth), and 2 home births. My longest labour has been 5.5 hours, quickest active labour 2 minutes. Gas and air with 2, nothing with the other two.

They've all been early, from 2 days to 11 days. I was due on the 18th of Jan too, with my second. He came on the 16th in 2 mins, and 2 pushes.

Good luck!

@TovaGoldCoin 10lb!!! well done mama! Have heard the bed situation can be a bit hectic, hoping Jan is a quiet month for births and hopefully less stressful (fingers crossed)

Reading it back I realise it wasn't 100% straight forward, but I still consider myself to have got off lightly

I should add I had stitches with all but the last one, thanks to a brilliant midwife, and number 3 had his cord wrapped twice around his neck. But none of it was anything to worry about.

2 x C Sections!

Amazing!

All 3 were very different and i was quite lucky compared to others i know, 2 were back to back so a lot more painful than the very easy birth i had with dc2. The only thing which went wrong was being sent home repeatedly whilst in labor with dc1 and doing it without pain relief, a new midwife realised i was b2b and about to give birth when i turned up the fourth time begging for pain relief/help

I always remember in antenatal class the midwife saying when they say stop pushing stop or you will tear, i was so scared of tearing all 3 times i made a huge effort to stop and luckily between all 3 births all i had was abrasions with dc1, that was bad enough, i used to put water in the bath and wee in there instead of the toilet.

8lb1, 7 hour labour, water birth. Very relaxed and easy.
I found labour pains to be more like uncomfortable pressure rather than actual pain, which the water definitely helped with. I really loved the whole experience!

When I was 35 weeks exactly with my twins, I noticed my pants were wet. It didn't seem to be urine but wasn't a huge amount and it stopped. That night I was up all night feeling really unwell but it was hard to define - headache, sick, dizzy and it felt like I had a giant head. My midwife was due round the next day so I waited for her - she said it was probably all fine but made me an appointment to get checked out at 5:30pm.

They put me on a monitor while they took some swabs and they were very calm and smiley but I knew something was wrong. Then they moved me to the labour ward for the better monitors, out a drip in and did a scan - ten minutes later I was in theatre. One baby had stopped moving and had a static heart rate. They were born by 8:45pm (only delayed because it took 40 mins to get my spinal in)

They saved both of my boys that night. I don't think I ever would have gone in myself because I felt "weird" but obviously my body knew something was wrong. So I'm sure everything will be wonderful and perfect, but listen to your body and if you are unsure or worried about anything, go and get checked out. Don't be worried about being a nuisance like I was!

They're 15 months now and doing great, by the way!

DS- 16 hour labour. After 2.5 hours of pushing got taken into surgery and he was delivered by forceps. Had an epistemology and a fair amount of blood loss. Stitches took ages to heal for me and recovery in general took a while. My first and definitely my last

Back to back - horrendously painful, forceps delivery as he was stuck.

Honestly, it was awful. Sorry OP!

The 10lber was easier than my two 7lbers. I just walked around a lot, don't like being strapped down but foetal distress was an issue, and they thought she has Downs syndrome and spina bifida so were getting ready to whisk her off to SCBU. Turns out she didn't....

I was told that a quick labour is more painful than a ‘normal’ 24 hour labour.

My labour was 3.5 hours and very painful, but the actual pushing out didn’t hurt at all, it was exactly like having a big poo after you’ve been a bit constipated. Once the baby is out the pain is over and that’s it.
I had a 2nd degree tear but I didn’t feel it tear and obviously I was just a bit bruised for about a week afterwards, but looking back I can’t even really remember the bad bits, it all just went by in a bit of a blur.

My only advice to anyone having their first baby would be don’t be passive while you’re in the hospital, every time they say they’re going to examine you or do something ask what exactly is going to happen and why - because I got a hell of a shock when they examined how dilated I was and decided to move her hand around the baby’s head and the midwife just acted like I should have known exactly what to expect!

In labour 2.5 hours. Didn't realise how active labour was and was 6 cm. I took some paracetamol, ready to push 10 minutes later and baby born after another 40 minutes. Was an assisted delivery though due to baby's heart rate dropping quite low in contractions. Labour wasn't too bad I just had complications after as they left clots behind which resulted in me fainting numerous times and having extra treatment.

Hope all goes well for you.

First one; five days late, started contracting around midnight- got quite bad at around 4am so went to hospital as had gbstrep. Got given pethadine and intravenous antibiotics. Fell asleep off pethadine, awoke around 8/9 water broke around this time, didn’t have any more pethadine, kept running off to the toilet thinking I needed a poo after about my 5th visit to the toilet the midwife looked and told me I was crowning had normal birth, some stitches etc.

Second one, had about a hundred false labour starts before the real thing. Went to the hospital at half 7 to be almost sent home as wasn’t contracting enough. Had gas & air, didn’t need the toilet this time. Was born around 11:30 (my contractions were still 5 minutes apart right up until just before the pushing bit & my waters only broke when pushing)

Elective C Section here at 38+5. Was a wonderful experience. No paiin. Quick recovery. Would recommend it every day of the week.

Fab! Both of them
Quick, natural, no complications.

Slow labour for 2 weeks beforehand. Thought my waters had broken and knew I was having contractions, so went into hospital. Turns out my waters hadn't broken but DS had become distressed and pooed which came out of me. Nobody had ever said that might happen.

Didn't want an epidural but was exhausted and DS was stuck so it was either epidural or EMCS. Agreed to the epidural and my mum (my birth partner) remembers that they struggled to get it in the first time and it took a few attempts. I don't remember that. I was vomiting throughout labour and the gas and air made it worse.

After 6 hours in hospital DS was born with a ventouse delivery and handed to my mum to give the first bottle because I was still vomiting copiously. DS was transferred to SCBU afterwards because he had a heart murmur, I was taken up to the ward alone and was promised I could phone DH to tell him he had a son, my mum offered to do it but I refused because I wanted to tell him myself. The nurse on the ward wouldn't bring me a phone and so he didn't find out until the morning when he spoke to my mum.

1st: EMCS after 36 hours back-to-back labour due to 'failure to progress' (continuous contractions all that time, plus drip towards the end, only got me to 5cm).
2nd: crash section due to cord prolapse. Already had an epidural in but they knocked me out anyway as there was no time to top the epidural up. All a bit hectic. Failed VBAC.
3rd: ELCS. Fairly straightforward you'd think but there were complications during the OP which meant I was sent home with catheter in place. Had it for 8 days. Most unpleasant week ever.

So all in all you could say that mine were all traumatic, failed, horrendous births. But you know what? They're now 4, 6 and 8 and it really doesn't matter anymore. It doesn't define me as a person, I don't really think about it, and no one asks. The DC like hearing the 'dramatic' stories of their births Honestly, no matter how it goes you will forget the bad parts after a while and it will just become a lovely story to tell your DC!

My first baby ( I have 4 dc now ) I couldn’t push him out. He had been in there for a
long time and I had been pushing for so long I was exhausted. I had an episiotomy. Ds wasn’t breathing and after a good few attempts of getting him to breath. the midwife turned ds upside down and gave him a smack on the bottom a few times. He finally cried. It was terrifying.
The other three were straightforward.
Hope you have a positive experience.

Back to back 36h established labour, 2 pushes DD was out. Worst part was the retained placenta and needed a D&C.

1st was pretty average, 2nd was awful as she was back to back and I would have gladly shot myself if I had a gun, 3rd was fast and relatively easy.