MW said 3rd births can be very stop/start...

[NorkilyChallenged]

... I've read every 3rd birth thread under the sun. I know that basically everyone is different. But now I'm wondering how I'll know when to call in the troops (ie phone a friend or my mum to come and look after the kids).

Think I'm just suddenly panicking as had false labour last night - v strong braxton hicks, cramping front and back like period pain (which is how first 2 started) but then nothing. Haven't had any experience of this with the others. Am only 36+3. Had v long slow obstructed labour with DD1 (ended up induced/ventouse) then lovely, great, quick-but-not-too-quick with DD2 (no pain relief).

Come tell me about stop/start labour, esp for your 3rd, tell me it'll all be fine

Thanks :)

I'm wondering if a homebirth would have been a good idea, now I'll be wondering when to call in people to look after my older 2... don't want to do it too early but don't want to leave things too late. Oh well, I'm sure it'll all be fine

yy, 3rd births can be a bit long to get going, but once they do they tend to really go! My ob/gynae friend always says that 1st births are hard, 2nd births are easy, and 3rd babies mess around for ages!

Blimey not sure I like the sounds of "they tend to really go"! DD2 was 2.5 hrs from 2cm to birth....

Yikes

:) It'll be fine! I have to say, my 3rd birth was my least satisfactory in some ways (1st is always special, 2nd was a dream birth - 3.5-4 hours start to finish, mw arrived when 10cm,I thought 'perhaps labour was getting started', dd born 30 mins later , breathed her out, mw in house for less than an hour in total!, ds3 was overnight, 4 hours or so, and though had its scary moments towards the end, and was incredibly intense, was also very idyllic with kids waking up in morning to find a baby, whereas 3rd felt like a lot of hanging around, trying to get ds2 to descend, climbing the stairs loads, contractions enough to be painful but not doing a whole lot, but then the last half hour went from being able to potter around making tea etc to very intense labour, and no bother to actually get him out! I just found it a bit frustrating that it was taking so long - I started having contractions the previous evening, didn't sleep very well, then from early morning was having contractions, mw came 10.30ish, said I was about 5cm so she stayed, but he wasn't born till late afternoon. And I am very impatient and just got a bit bored with being in labour!

I'm 40+2 with dc3 and I've had a couple of days of BH at around 37 wks and then about a week ago. All v irritating. However dc1 and 2 both vv over due +8 (induced) and 40+10 so in a way didn't expect anything to come of it.
Booked for induction next week at +7 so in a way hope baby doesn't come til then as I'll have all the childcare sorted.

Ds2 was also my 'dream' birth. Ds3 took longer than ds1 or ds2. I'd had some 'pre labour' pains the night before but nothing got going. The actual night/morning he was born I seemed to have a long transition, perhaps because he was in the wrong position to come out of the birth canal or something. Anyway once it started, the pushing stage was pretty quick.

I had been worried about what to do with the kids but they slept through most of it and then when they woke up, dp put them in a different room to watch their new DVD so they were perfectly happy.

It's not too late to change to a homebirth (as long as you're prepared to argue your case). :)

My mw said same and she was spot on. Stop start for a whole week from 39 weeks. 4 Separate nights I thought I was going to go in to hospital but it all stopped. Got sweep on day 40 as mw took pity. He arrived the next day. Got constant pain from breakfast time, went to toddlers with other sons as thought not worth calling dh as another false alarm no doubt. By midday I was every 5 mins so staggered home and in hospital at 1pm. He arrived 3 hours later at 4pm. Fastest by far once we actually got going but it was a long week beforehand.

Uh oh.... think I need to adjust my expectations then.

I'm only 37+2 and already feeling v impatient so the thought of a whole week of build-up (which is what the midwife was talking about too)... ARGH!

Thanks for all your experiences, I'm going to try to be more realistic and not expect it all to be fast and easy like dd2

I wonder whether I should be more open to pain relief (didn't have any with dd2 and it was fine, well obviously sore at the time but over quickly and so fine), maybe need to think more about that side of things?

Yes night labour would be harder too. And the canula was almost the worst thing about labour with dd1, yuk!

DS2 was my dream birth. All very calm, natural labour, water birth and popped out even though he was 10lb 3.
DD1 (my 3rd baby) was definitely the most drawn out.
I had really bad back pain at 38 + 6.
39 weeks my waters broke, had 3 contractions and then absolutely nothing.
Was taken in to be induced at 39 + 1. Pessary didnt do much so was put on the drip. Contractions were all over the place but once they got the dosage sussed she was born really quickly and the pushing stage was over in a flash.

Pains at the end though were the most intense of the 3 labours without a doubt.

Thanks for good luck wishes. Am not sure if I feel better or worse

DD1 - epidural then spinal block (she was in distress after 3 days rubbish labour so they thought it was going to be emcs), managed to push her out with ventouse help so literally everything going in terms of pain relief. 7lb6

DD2 - 2 paracetamol, got in the bath (not the pool just a bath), went into transition, just time for a couple of puffs of g&a before it was time to push. 8lb14

So maybe get the tens machine out, expect to need g&a and hope for the best? No tear/no stitches would be great though, definitely

Okay really sore BH and cramping since early this morning. Quite unpleasant but not building or regular so think is more "practice" contrax... v annoying, making it hard to do anything much and also reminding me that this is quite sore (had forgotten and focused entirely on the euphoric feeling after dd2 was born ).

Gah.

I'm just posting this here as I don't want to tell anyone (except DH) in real life yet as it's probably just pretend-y but I do want to complain

Mine wasn't stop start!
Waters broke at 3am, contractions followed, delivered at 5.20am.

Yikes! That sounds a bit too fast, hope it was okay? DD2 was 3hrs or so from 2cm to birth and that felt quick enough!

Just had dd3 (10 weeks ago) It was quick, also she was 1 day early, dd1 and dd2 were both over a week late. I went for a sweep at 11am that morning, midwife did sweep, told me nothing was happening. Felt back pain at 7.30pm, got slightly worse, my husband rang my sister at 10pm, against my demands wishes, got to hospital at 10.30pm, was 7.5 cms. Dd3 was born at 1.30am. Good luck.

oh thank you for offering that ray of hope And congratulations on dd3 :)

How come you got a sweep at a day early? Wondering if I can persuade my mw of that???

BH easing off a bit now I think (part of me disappointed but not surprised)

norkily not sure how I managed to get the sweep a day early - had dd3 with a different midwife team, gps etc - we moved house so was in a different health board area etc.

I had sweeps with dd1 and dd2 and didn't work for either, was almost not going to keep appt, glad I did. I went for a walk straight after sweep, know its an old trick but it worked this time.