Birth after a previous back to back..how does it compare?

[ldeeanna]

Hello, I hope you can help me. I had a baby in November and went through a traumatic labour, 36 hours long ending up with an emergency caesarean. She was back to back and the pain has scared me so much that as much as I want to have another baby one day..I think I will never have the guts. I think if I was pregnant then I would probably live in fear. Also my friend had a stillbirth two days after me and so as much as I am so lucky to have my baby..I now asscociate pregnancy and labour with general doom.
Is labour after a back to back birth miles easier..I heard it is, I'm living on that hope. I have searched for threads to find out but without luck. Or is the pain no different and I am just giant baby?
I really want to go over my birth notes but no one will help me..they never get back to me. I lost a lot of blood in the caesarean and the epidural wasn't strong enough so I felt the pain of the operation and it was dreadful..part of me wonders if they do not want me to see the notes because they are hiding something or they have just written 'this girl is a pain in the arse'!!! I am enjoying being a mum so much but I am just full of questions that I don't think is healthy! Thank you for reading this.

Am currently in this situation Puss - trying to analyse all day every day what position the baby is in because last one was back-to-back and this one was a week ago at 40+4.

You can tell most accurately if you can see limbs protruding from your stomach rather than sweeps of a back or bottom, and if you feel scrapings of their hands inside the front of your pelvis which is their hands playing with their faces, IYSWIM.

Have to say I spent two hours bouncing on a birthing ball the night before my appt. which declared that it's back-to-back again, so not holding much faith in that. Crawling on all fours seems more effective, and my trick (which I am not sure is working but I'm sticking with) is that whenever I feel the baby wriggling, I go into all fours to encourage a wriggle the right way. At home, not in Sainsbury's obviously...

Oh dear..it does seem that its a matter of luck really which way they end up.... Have to say though, DS moved an awful lot but I am not sure if I could have told whether he was scratching his face etc

Stupid midwife never told me he was back to back either..I read a lot of books and although there was a cursory mention of back labour, nothing much was said about optimal foetal positioning (aside from breech babies) and I think this is wrong because reading down this thread, it does seem that a lot (although not all) of back to back labours result in emcs or at least higher intervention...not to mention the pain..I wondered why I was in so much pain at 3 cms dilated...thought I was a wimp for not coping when had painkiller jab at 3 cms!!

A friend had the baby turned and managed to avoid c section as she then dilated much more efficiently...wonder why they couldn't do that for others?

DS was undiagnosed back to back. He was born without having turned, that was when we realised. His birth was waters breaking and 231/2 hours of constant cc. I was taken in and strapped to a bed as my waters had gone.

But on ds for 23 hr I was strapped to a bed ignored and no pain relief. After 23 hrs I went in to the tea and coffee room and started crying that I wanted to push the MWS didn't believe me they said I would be screaming so I said there is blood everywhere they came and checked and ds was born 30 minutes later.

DD much easier I still had back cc because I have a tilted womb but they came in waves as opposed to being constant and were much more bearable. I labored at home for 12 hours fine and went in for the last hour of my birth.

It does seem that way Puss, but you never know when they're going to start so I'm hoping to be in the right position whenever that is! Apparently 67% of OP labours don't start that way but it happens during, which is also not very heartening.

I know what you mean about the pain of OP labour. I was in vomiting agony at 3cm and the contractions barely had a break. I really don't think I have a low pain threshold, so feel pretty defensive when people who've had smoother, quicker labours talk about how strong they were not to have pain relief. I have to say, at hour 31 when I had an epidural, the baby turned and there were only 2 (quite blissful) hours of the labour left. I think the epidural can sometimes help to relax the inners and allow a turn, but only if timed right.

Big, when you say you had back cc because of your tilted womb, can you explain? I've been told by nurses that I have a tilted womb and have to 'tip up' IYSWIM for VEs, but didn't know it affected labour pains. I am super anxious at the moment as you can tell, and want to klnow whether I'm about to be dealt the same ordeal as last time!

I have a tilted womb which tilts back to my spine which means for me that the baby (regardless as to position) put pressure on my back resulting in cc there, sorry, I also get all my period pains there that is how my MW explained it I can have 100 babies and I will always have back cc (that is what my second MW said). However I hasten to add back cc because of a tilted womb are not as bad as back cc with a op baby.

They are not as painful and come and go I still had the brolly bum though when I had cc. Pushing stage much easier only 2 minutes and ds birth was horrid from the start but dd didn't start to really hurt until about 2 hours before she was born. Where do you get period pains?

ooosabeauta right re-read your birth story and firstly on ds I had 231/2 hours of constant cc dd 2 hours of constant cc. DS 30 minutes pushing (he was born looking up) dd 2minutes.

Yes I had back cc but it was still a walk in the park compared to ds. As for holding off labor I had loads of stress on dd and went 10 days over as soon as I relaxed she came so stay tense until she turns.

Even if dc2 is op you will have a much easier time of it, please don't panic if your cc are in your back it does not mean dc2 is op or that the labor will be as bad as your first. My second was much better than my first .

Oh thank you Big

I've just had my induction changed to Wednesday at +13 instead of Thursday, so think it's highly unlikely that it'll happen before then, but interesting that you say your overdue-ness second time was probably caused by stress. I really think that's what's happened to me because my fear this time.

It's really reassuring to hear you say good things about your second time. Thank you

That is ok you will be fine. I hope it all goes really well for you. I am 90% certain it was due to stress try to relax and not be induced though don't leave it to late .

I had horribly long induced first labour with ds - never sure whether he was definitely back to back but was in some sort of wrong position - had every intervention going bar a section, he was removed with high forceps the midwives thought had gone out of use and it was awful. Dd 21 months later - exactly the right position, 5 hour labour, 10 cm dilated on my first examination, waters broke as she was being pushed out, absolute dream and one of my best experiences ever. (yes it still hurt! but not at all comparable.) Good luck and try and relax, it really can be very different.

Thanks. Don't think I'm going to manage going into labour naturally in next 36 hours or so after this long, although would be happy to be proven wrong! Not going to go beyond 13 days now as every night is a tiring and near sleepless one, waking up with labour nightmares and just pacing the house doing odd jobs, so as dh pointed out to me today, I'm becoming less fit for labour every day

Good to hear it can be different, thanks both. I think I just need to do this now! Going to bed and hoping for a better stretch to get myself match-fit

This has been really interesting for me to read - also had emcs after btb labour with first child, had 2 epidurals, was begging for them and have always felt that maybe I was just being a wuss and if I hadn't had an epidural I might not have had a emcs. They didn't know it was btb until the last possible moment - had been telling me it was all fine even though I NEVER had regular contractions (they were paired up which apparently can happy with btb labours).

I am now recently pg and am already beginning to get flashbacks of labour and feel ill at the thought of another experience like that.

The thing which makes my experience different and why I am posting is that in my other life I work as a psychotherapist with people with post-traumatic stress disorder. I think lots of women have undiagnosed PTSD after childbirth - if you're having intrusive thoughts of the birth, flashbacks, feeling guilty or ashamed of how it went, feeling irritable and grumpy, feeling numb about it all, you might have PTSD. I am considering myself whether to get some help - the evidence is that trauma-focused CBT or EMDR are the most effective, not counselling. You could ask your GP to refer you or look privately for someone near you if you can't wait - it can make a huge difference to symptoms.

Sorry for long post.

my first labour and birth sounds very similar to yours, 37 hours in total, 2 hours pushing then emergency section - although she was stuck, took two surgeons 45 mins to get her out and had to have a vertical (t-incision) to get her out. Couldn't have a natural delivery after as risk of rupture too high. i was very upset about it but sat down with midwife at the hospital about a year after and went through notes, which really helped me put it to bed. Anaesthetic wore off too, luckily had epidural that could be topped up.

Second and third both delivered by elective, positive experiences both times.

For anyone faced with an elective c-section, i'd recommend requesting a combined spinal epidural. that way if the spinal wears off they can top up using the epidural. if only using the spinal block the only option if it wears off is a general anaesthetic.