Hi everyone
Just popping into to say my baby boy Gabriel was born last Wed. I had a spell in hospital so have only just got round to posting.
Things I have learnt!
Second labours are not neccesarily faster than first ones.
My advice is to people, if you are having pain that seems to be getting worse, please get checked out. Unless you want to be like me and have your entire labour at home with no pain relief because you are convinced it is a false alarm. I was very nearly in a position of giving birth at home or in the car. As it happened I needed to have an EMCS in the end so not getting to hospital in time would have been potentialy disastrous.
My contractions NEVER became regular. Always ranging from seven mins to three mins interval. I was also able to have a reasonably coherent if shouty conversation in between each one.
All this 'You will know' stuff - again, you can be uncertain.
I never had any vomiting or sickness beforehand.
It is perfectly possible to be in established labour and load a dishwasher in between contractions!
The urge to push is so powerful and uncontrollable. If someone tells you not to push during childbirth, it is really hard to comply!