With 2nd labour, how do you know when things are really kicking off?

[marthamay]

Hiya all,

38 weeks with 2nd DC.

I keep hearing stories about 2nd labours being really, really fast and people nearly not making it to the hospital or nearly not getting other children out of the way, etc, etc...

SO.....when do you know it's the real deal? Should I be alerting people at the very first signs of contractions or will I get some lead up warning?

With my first birth I had quite pleasant gentle contractions for a day and a night before it all ramped up and I went into the hospital at 5cm dilated the next day.
My waters didn't break and I didn't really have a show until the midwives in the hospital did an examination and it came loose.

So if my waters aren't prone to breaking and my show doesn't come loose until I'm 5-6cm - how will I know when things are going to get speedy???

My sister in law coming to stay with my DS lives more than an hour away and I'm not sure when I should be contacting her - I don't want her to drive all this way for a false start but equally don't want to miss the boat and have DS thrust upon a neighbour or my DH have to stay at home.

Ugh, sorry for long and rambling post - pregnancy brain has completely claimed my mental capacity this evening.

I had the same worry. My first pregnancy, I didn't have contractions, I was induced, put on hormone drip and had an epidural. I also heard about how much quicker second time could be. I gave birth last week at 38 weeks. My waters didn't break. I woke up at 2am with contractions which progressed quite quickly. Within what felt like half hour or so, the contractions were strong enough, I couldn't walk properly and was yelling. They were coming every 2mins when I left to go to the hospital. When I arrived, I was 5cm dilated.10 hours later, I gave birth. My first took 17 hours. You can't predict how long this time will be. You will just know when it happens. Good luck x

Thanks Feellikerubbish and CONGRATULATIONS! I hope you are feeling well and recovered from the birth with your little one.

Your post confirms that sometimes there is just not too much warning about when things are going to seriously happen - but you did have time to sort out DC and get up to the hospital ok then.

My first labour took 9 hours from when I arrived 5cm dilated, I wonder how long this one will take!

My friend had her 2nd baby last week and was nearly pushing her out in the car on the ring road en route to the hospital, she arrived 20 mins after they got to the hospital. Her advice was to either stay put and do it at home or to move fast at the first signs.

Congratulations Hi, I had my second DD two weeks ago at 39 weeks.

With my first DD I had latent labour for about 12 hours with strong contractions two minutes apart for 6 of them. Went in when contractions were so strong I couldn't speak, I was 3cm and within 5 hours I was 10cm and pushing.

With DD2 I had contractions that started around 8am that were irregular and varying between 10-15 mins, by 11am they were regular and 8-10mins. They got to 6 mins regular contractions after lunch, then suddenly jumped to being 2 mins apart within half an hour which caught me by suprise. Jumped into the car to go to hospital and waters broke. Contractions immediately became back to back and I felt like pushing so ended up being blue-lighted to hospital in an ambulance where I was told I was 10cm and could push.

I would say you need to think about making your way in when your contractions get to 5 minutes apart and lasting over a minute, if they are so strong you can't speak through them. It can all happen quite quickly.

Oh and congratulations feellikerubbish :)

DS2 was born pretty fast. I always say it was lucky we'd planned a home birth, because he'd have been born at home (or possibly in the ambulance) anyway! My waters broke in the early hours and there were a few hours of mounting period-pain like contractions, but I was lying down, not upright, and also DS1 was in bed with us, which I think inhibited them.

Once I'd got downstairs, things started ramping up rapidly. We did inflate the pool but never got as far as filling it! I think I had about 45 minutes in established labour before giving birth. So that's 45 minutes from the beginning of not 'enjoying' things any more, and not being able to talk coherently through a contraction. I gave birth about 9 hours after waters first broke in bed. But several hours of that were pretty latent, and it really did go fast once I was sitting upright on a birth stool.

I'd consider a HB, frankly!

CONGRATS TO YOU TOO Zhen! Your first labour sounds very similar to mine with the timing, so maybe my second will follow along those lines too.

reshape Thanks for your experience. I've actually put everything in place to have a homebirth but my first choice is to go up to the midwife led unit. If they are closed for any reason then I will stay at home (rather than go to the delivery suite) my midwives are all fine with this and I have the homebirth kit all here just in case. I figure if I am happy and content at home then the option to just stay put will be fantastic. Equally, if I'm feeling a bit panicky and wobbly (and annoyed about all the mess....) then I can head up to the MLU.

It's been useful to hear your stories because it seems that although things get going pretty fast there is still a good few hours of obvious labour signs first. I guess that as soon as it feels regular and real I should prepare myself that things could potentially change and happen very fast.

Thanks everyone!

Err on the side of caution. I completely misread my early signs with DD2 - feeling sick and v emotional, D and V, tightening which I mistook for braxtom hicks. When it kicked off it was fast - very fast- and the one blessing was that DD1 was not around to witness it. So call your sister pretty pronto rather than 'waiting to see' and be very alert to changes which mean things are on the move.
One tip another second timer gave me is be sure to read about a) the stop position (to slow labour by using gravity to keep baby from pushing on cervix) and b) basics of delivery without medical assistance eg partner should not pull baby as it comes out, keep baby wrapped up in fresh towels when it arrives not bloody ones etc. Turns out this was good advice as we only made it to hospital with 15 mins to spare.

helium EEEEEK - exactly what freaks me out! Ok, I'm going to read about this stop position now and maybe I should write out an emergency 'what to do if you have to deliver the baby' for my husband
Am I sounding paranoid....!? hehehehe

I had 3 BH's, then contractions started 2 mins apart. DH wanted to call his mum (lives an hour away). I politely suggested he call the hospital first. He did. Then panicked, then we called a friend who was able to come round in 10 mins to sit with DS. Made it to hospital with ten minutes to spare, no time for heart rate monitor to be attached / antibiotics to be given. If we'd waited for his mum, she's have been born on the bathroom floor! 50 mins from first contraction to when she arrived. But my first labour was relatively quick (530-1005) and no sign of anything happening before.

I told DH to read up about what to do in case he did end up delivering her and he just laughed at me and said "but we only live 10 mins away from the hospital"...

Oh God thistlemuncher this is crazy stuff. In retrospect, do you think there were other signs before the contractions started that maybe at the time you dismissed???

No, I can't think of anything. I was convinced she would come 4 days early as it would have been the 29th Feb and DS was 4 days early too. But she didn't arrive, and didn't arrive... so I was looking out for signs and waiting for BH's etc but nothing. And getting more and more annoyed that she wasn't there. She came on her due date in the end. The only thing is that I was incredibly short-tempered with DS in the last few days, but that's most likely to be because he's a very annoying toddler at the moment (he's 2 and 3 months) rather than labour related. I also had back ache, but I've had that for weeks and still have now, courtesy of being pregnant and carrying 17kg of said toddler around...

That really is fast and I can imagine quite shocking. Congratulations though, I hope the birth was good despite how sudden it was. My husband seems to think a super quick labour is ideal but part of me hopes that I have some signs that give me a chance to get my head around what is about to happen.

I'm now 38+5 so could be any day. My DS came three days after his due date so I'm kind of expecting (and in some ways hoping) that I have a couple of weeks to go yet. My DS is 23 months and he is also playing up, reacting to the fact that I don't carry him around at the moment and I'm generally physically compromised. I think he really feels it. It makes me nervous about upcoming arrival!

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Thanks! It was a bit too fast to be honest. When the doctor visited me in the evening he said he thought I was in shock when he came in after the birth (he didn't make it in time!). My MIL seems to think that a very fast labour means it wasn't painful...

We've had no problems so far with him and the baby. He thinks she's wonderful, keeps asking for "huggles" and running to the sofa so he can have her on his lap and kissing her on the nose. He has not however, forgiven me yet! He no longer listens to me and we've had a bit of jealousy at night time especially if I'm feeding her. And he does everything he knows he's not allowed to do...sigh!

My second labour was really fast. I was lay in bed reading a book at 10pm that night, waters went with a pop and then the contractions started, immediatley back to back. My sister arrived to look after DS andwe got to the hospital for 10.40, where the midwife refused to believe I was ready to push. A quick check and she soon changed her mind. DD was born at 11pm, so 1 hour start to finish without a single sign before my waters broke.
With DS I had been having contractions for hours before my waters broke.

Good Luck!

I was in shock too. After DD2 was born I turned to my DH and asked shakily if I had had a baby. He said yes! For a few days after the afterpains terrified me as I thought another baby was coming and kept having to reassure myself it was over! I don't recommend super fast labours much..

It's different for everyone. I had a superfast labour and can highly recommend it (compared to 2 days of labour followed by 5 days in HDU with the first one it was bloody fantastic!) I went from 'ooh, I feel a bit strange but no contractions yet' to fully dilated in less than an hour, and we elected to have an unplanned homebirth rather than risk the 45 minute drive to the hospital. As it turned out I might have got to the hospital, but it would have been a bit of a panic, as I had a longish phase of nothing happening (about an hour) while the baby turned to a better position. Then one contraction fired him out like a ping-pong ball. Brilliant labour! I'd do it all again just the same tomorrow.

First labour was 8 hours long. Started with gush of water, contrations straight away every 5 minutes. Didn't know what I was doing and made it to hospital an hour before DD1 was born.

DD2, hum. I kind of guessed at 5pm when I started getting period pains that something might be up. 7:30 getting stronger, I was still looking after DD1 (22 months old) at this point. DD2 in bed, I ring the hospital at 8pm saying I think I'm in labour. Went to the loo at I think 8:20 to do a poo, realised it wasn't a poo, shreiked to DH to grab a towel and he caught DD2 quite nicely. Obviously never made it to the hospital. Officially recorded as a 2.5hr labour with a 10 second pushing stage!!

Am slightly nervous now as I'd really like to have my Mum and Dad look after DS but they live just over 2 hours away.....

I think I will call them pretty quickly then!

Ahhh, me too jaggy. I guess I have to get my head around the fact that it's not the absolute end of the world if my DS needs to be left with a neighbour for an hour until relatives arrive (SIL in my case). He'll survive....

These labour stories are FANTASTIC by the way. THanks for sharing. I love hearing about this even though it makes me feel a little anxious...
helium I can absolutely imagine feeling like that, what an incredible shock.

Now, can we please hear from someone whose second labour was a little longer!!! PLEASE!!!!

My 1st labour lasted 17 hours from my waters breaking at 39 weeks to DS being born. Am curious (but also a bit scared) about how much quicker this labour could be. Not due till August though, so just thinking and fretting ahead of time.

I remember talking to a woman at a toddler group who gave birth to her 2nd DC in the carpark of the hospital, she wasn't even in the car, she was waddling to the hospital entrance when her DD popped out

How are you martha? not seen you since the ttc while bf thread.

Am 33 and a bit weeks myself now, eventually got pg (can't remember if I was still posting then) :)

Hiya jaggy - Congratulations on getting up the duff! It wasn't easy was it!
I'm 38+6 today. Incidentally, I kept BF until I was about 5 months pregnant but very glad I stopped at that point!
Last night I felt baby move right, right down into my pelvis. Don't know if she is STILL there but last night it was pretty extreme. Woke up having strong period pains - got into bed with DS and DH (I'm in the spare room at the moment) and kept of getting strong feelings. Unfortunately when I got up and out of bed it has all seemed to have slowed down to nothing much. I was getting so excited! I've been for a long and uncomfortable walk and now might try and lie down to see if anything else starts to happen....

With DS2 my waters broke at 9pm, nothing happened, called hospital they asked me to go in, are you sure i asked? Called my mum asked her to make her way to me, but no hurry. They arrived at 9.45pm to find me hanging over the sofa with contractions every 2 minutes, arrived at hospital at 10, DS2 born at 11pm having not made it out of triage.

Hope your ok Marthamay and your DC2 has arrived!

nothing yet...no speedy labour for me today....sigh,....maybe tomorrow...

I keep thinking the same. MW has told me to get to MLU as soon as I feel things. DD1 started mild at gone 4pm ish.. then things kicked off but was managable then got to hospital at about 6:30 then she was out and feeding at 8:33pm....

I just dont know how to "plan" as such.....?
and arrange things for DD

I am not allowed a home birth due to PPH 1000mls+ 2hrs after DD was born. so need to be in hospital.

eeeek any advice here?

Interesting hearing all of your stories.

I'm 30+3.

sorry for slight hijack. not intentional just panicking a bit!!

only advice i can offer is if your help isn't likely to arrive for say an hour is there a nice neighbour who could have your other one till they arrive. my neighbour was my back up, she has 4 dc herself. we're not great friends, just to chat too but she would have had ds1 if necessary.