long labour with 1st. will 2nd be quicker?

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Anyone else had a long labour of nearly 30 hours with first involving forceps at the end and being induced with chemical drip then gone on to have none of this and a shorter labour with subsequent babies?

thanks

labels

ds was 21 hours with ventouse - had waters broken and chemical drip. Had every sort of pain relief going and had epidural topped up several times

dd was 14 hours - had waters broken again adn chemical drip. No assistance with delivering her though adn just on gas and air.

Was told it would be quicker and once labour fully kicked in on second births it would be much faster. The pushing stage happened quite suddenly and was much quicker than ds.

Had bleed with both but with dd although bled more I didn't need a transfusion (as did with ds) and have recovered from the birth much quicker.

Yes. All of that plus lots of damage (3rd degree tear plus episiotomy) first time around.

Second time had about 4 hours of labour and 4 pushes. Second degree tear (but so minor - 15 mins of stitching if that as opposed to well over 1 1/2).

Similar sized babies. No pain relief at all the second time - except plenty of hot water in the shower and some amazing stairs that I climbed up and down.

My second birth was the best thing to happen to me (apart from the actual babies, of course!) I felt so elated and actually enjoyed the process. It was really empowering - especially after the first experience and all the fear that I felt prior to the birth. My amazing midwife definitely helped - she just let me get on with it and didn't even call the dr until DD2 was crowning. DH was pretty good too!

Good luck! Are you pregnant?

yes, 1st pretty much exactly as you said induced, forceps, drip etc. i think was about 30 hours? from the friday evening til sun early morning
but 2nd one very quick, much much easier. by the time i got to hosp with him it was only one hour, i had been in labour throughout the day but did not really realise until evening because it was so much less painful than the first one so was not sure it was the real thing...

Dillo! Mega congrats!! How is DS taking to it all? I'm pg with no 2 now and at that hideous sickness stage...so ill I'm off work...hope it passes soon as its blardy exhausting!

Congratulations! Whens it due?

I spent the last 4 months off work on sick leave due to mental health probs. Meant that maternity leave lasted for ages and not in a good way. Hope you are feeling better soon.

dd is 12 days old and has been brilliantly behaved so far - sleeps and eats! Ds has been really well behaved as well - it helps that he is getting a lot of attention from ILs. He turns on dd mobile if she wakes and fetches and carries for us. He won't touch dd though as he claims she is 'manky' (too much vomiting, plus umbilical cord) though he does claim to like her. The mind of a 5yo is a strange thing. Though the not touching is good atm as he has impetigo again.

Definately not having anymore though - dh already talking about vasectomy! I do not get on with being pregnant. Was worth it though.

Dillo - Glad everything working out for you. Baby due end of March...hoping for a VBAC this time around... not enjoying things atm due to sickness and stupidly came off of my ADs as soon as I found out I was preg (was on 40mg of Citalopram) so am pretty anxious and panicky but trying to ride it out as about taking meds in first trimester

This is reassuring for me, thank you! 36 weeks with number 2 and panicking after 43 hour labour first time round!

Meg - reassuring for me also - had 3 day back labour with DS that resulted in em cs! Really hoping for a smoother birth this time around!

puss - I luckily didn't have to take meds until 2nd trimester. How much longer have you got to go until then?

I also struggle with anxiety/panic and have paranoid delusions/hallucinations thrown in for good measure (the medication keeps them under control now). How are you coping with ds? I was lucky in a way that dh is still unemployed as no way was I capable of looking after myself let alone ds.

Am doing much better now but have sympathy for you as it makes a stressful time much worse.

I'm 9 weeks tomorrow according to my dates but I had an early scan and it shows me a week behind (I ovulated late) so technically 8 weeks tomorrow...am taking the scan date as more accurate rather than my dates

I am very anxious and panicky, which is not helped by fact that am feeling so sick and am off work, so I am at home all day, which I hate but what I am trying to do is wait until the sickness dies down and then try to see whether its the sickness/hormones making me so stressed or my depression coming back iyswim? Its hard to say in these early weeks as hormones all over the place anyway!

Coping fine with DS - but then, he's at nursery three days a week anyway. Although last week and this week will put him in on Thur/Fri also which I feel terrible about but I'm spending most of the day in bed so wouldn't be much fun for him and he'd be bored so better for him to be with his friends - its only v temporary (can't you tell I feel guilty about it! lol)

How are you coping with the post preg hormones?

labels i had 36+ hours of labour and all the drips and forceps stuff for dc1. DC2 was born 15 mins after I got to hospital as i didn't think I was in labour, after about 2 hours of not too painful contractions. DC3 at home after 6 hour labour only really hard for the last hour or two. GOOD LUCK!!!!

Hopefully then once your hormones calm down you might start feeling a bit better. Don't worry about ds I'm sure he's having a great time in nursery and its better than being bored at home.

I struggled in hospital (was in 2 nights) alot - but I knew I would. Luckily I was on a 2 bed ward (don't know if that was deliberate) and my problems were in all my notes so they were aware. There were some tears/bad episodes but mostly dh stayed with me as much as he could (as he was concerned on how I'd cope).

But since the first night at home have been fine - the first night I was sleep deprived and dd wasn't feeding properly so dh stayed up all night with her while I tried to sleep. Next day she started feeding and I was less sleep deprived so started feeling better. Am still on anti-depressant and anti-psychotic though so they were hoping that would protect me from PND. It seems to be working so far. I'm generally feeling better than I did when I was pregnant.

Am bottlefeeding as have to on my meds but this is really helping as means dh can do half the work. We are taking it in shifts so each get about 7 hours sleep which is really helping. Plus if anything gets overwhelming I can pass baby over to him. It's so much better than when ds (breastfed) was born and I used to faint from exhaustion. Definately the best thing for us.

Had 37 hour labour with dd1, including drip and ventouse.

Had 10 hour spontaneous labour with ds.

Had 12 hour induced (with pessary) labour with dd2.

DS same experience as you, long time in labour waiting for things to kick off.
DD born two weeks ago and my notes say labour was 34 minutes ! Had a long latent stage at home for a couple of days but once things kicked off was really quick - baby nearly 2lbs heavier too