2nd timers : How did it compare to your first labour....Really?

[Littlerayofsunshine]

4.5weeks until EDD with DC2....

I hope its as straight-forward as DD's but maybe not as intense and speedy!

Umm...

DS1 - 36hrs irregular contractions at home, admitted 5cm dilated, AROM, monitoring due to meconium in waters, drip, pethidine 2.5 hrs pushing, episiotomy.

DS2 - SROM at 40+5, irregular contractions all day but no real progress, induced at 10.30am at 40+6, feeling urge to push by 12.30pm (but thought it was cause I needed a poo ), pass lots of meconium at 2.30pm, taken down to delivery at 3pm, DS2 delivered at 3.25pm. 3 pushes, no pain relief, no tearing just the small matter of him undiagnosed breech. Then ended up in theatre for a sodding retained placenta.

I have to add my voice to the list of very quick second labour.

1st time about 7 hours from start to finish - all in all pretty good and really couldn't complain. Some G&A and several stitches.

2nd time about 45 min from start to finish - pain much more full on, thought I was going to pass out and that there was no way I could carry on but that was because I had no pain relief! I got 999'd to hospital and when I got there the midwife told me to pant as she could see the babies head.....

I was admitted 7.58am DS2 born 8.01am!!!

Mymidwife did tell me baby was in very good posistion and 2nd baby's can arrive quickly. Good luck .

Messageforyourudy - WOW

That is fast. I thought my DD's was fast for a first, and the contractions were very very intense. managed naturally and a tiny bit of G&A. I had her within 2hrs of getting to hospital...

I hope I have enough time to get to the hospital this time. I dont fancy giving birth in the car or reception :S

Mine was almost exactly the same; perhaps a couple of hours shorter end-to-end and I could handle the pain better. DD was smaller so no stitching this time - yay!

I was induced botht imes as overdue.

Ds (dc1) - really easy labour, pushed for quite a while.

Dd - agonising pain - back to back though. Went from being 6cm - baby being out in no time at all. One push and she was out.

Both 6hrs from first contraction to last.

First: 34 hours from loss of plug til delivery. 17 hours at home, steady build up of ctx, got to hospital at 6cm, into birth pool for 8 hrs then transferred to delivery suite for a cascade of interventions resulting in ventouse delivery.

Second: 2.5 hours from first ctx to delivery! Fast and incredibly intense! Only just made it to hospital before she arrived.

Used hypnobirthing for both. Babies exactly same gestation & weight.

Reading with interest as I feel exactly same.

DC2 not due till Oct but DC1 was 6 hours exactly from first twinge to birth so am currently planning a home birth as worried I won't make it hospital and would happen in the car!

Someone joked I might not need a midwife so much as a wicket keeper - I laughed, then worried. Arf!

2nd time was a million times better for me! Dc1 was a 3 1/2 hour labour, just made it to hospital then had episiotomy and ventouse due to foetal distress. It all felt very scary and out of control and I was really frightened about doing it again.

Dc2 (last week!) planned homebirth with a doula. 2 1/2 hour labour but it all felt calm and relaxed. I had lots of stitches as dd had both hands by her head but it was still so much nicer than dc1's birth.

Ds - 8 hours and started with waters breaking.
dd - 3 weeks and 2 hours. 4 minutes of pushing. If I'd listened to the hospital when they told me to stay until the contractions were closer together, she'e've probably been born in a layby!

I liked my second birth more than my first although they were both fine.

First one was induced labour at 35 weeks due to pre-eclampsia and a six-ish hour labour. Confined to bed with an epidural and spent two weeks in hospital after.

Second time my waters broke at home and I had quick labour - about 3 hours although only 2 hours of contractions. It was a bit overwhelming but at least I felt like I'd been through labour unlike the first time around when I spent most of the time trying to sleep or being sick.

Both times were twin births and both times it was boy, head first and then breech girl. Bit weird really.

DD1(40+9) - a few niggles mid-morning, called DH at lunchtime, he arrived by 3.30/4pm we timed the contractions and headed into hosp. They checked me over (everyone fully expecting me to be sent home) 6cm dilated (at about 5pm) DD born at 7.02pm 8lb4oz G&A.

DD2 (40+4) - woke up at 3.40 am and waters broke. Went back to bed (to wait for something to happen!) 1st contraction at 4am 2nd at 4.05am went to loo to get dressed and couldn't between contractions! DH called 999, sent guest up to "hold my hand" as I could feel the head. Guest caught DD2 at 4.30 while DH was still giving our address to emergency people! MW & ambulance arrived 20mins later - fortunately there were no probs. I thought it hurt more than the first - but then I didn't have any pain relief...

Currently 27+6 with DC3 - I hope to have a planned homebirth this time!

Yes and no. 1st was induced, out of control, had every single drug available. Ended up with C sec. Second, labour started naturally, had full control of everything, could manage pain, pushed for an hour and still ended up with c sec.

Itala haha - sent guest up!!! Bet the guest is on that thread titled 'weirdest things some one has ever done when you have visited their house' - made me help them birth their baby!!! Hope it wasn't their first time visit!

Very, very quick!

Started with back pains about 6am. Had a bath at 8am and could hardly get out of it the cramps were so bad. Rang what i thought was the midwife - turned out to be Interflora
Yelled to DH that he couldn't go to work because it had started and he said "Are you Sure?"

Bit of a mad rush then, culminating in getting caight in a traffic jam thinking baby would arrive any minute, which was quite scary.

Hobbled into hospital, asked midwife how long it was going to be. She said any time now! 30 mins later and about three puffs of gas and air and she was born.

Wheeled past a few midwifes on the desk and they gave me a round of applause and said @That's the way to do it!" which was nice, but i wouldn't reccommend it.

It was so totally different to ds, i had a lie down for about an hour then they turfed me out and no stiches!!

gin she has been before. She invited herself that weekend, suffice to say she is "not available" to visit us anytime in the next few months! ;-)

DS: spontaneous labour at 39+5, 36 hours from first noticeable pain to baby in my arms on his due date. 3.5 hours of pushing (he was OP, 9lb+, and had a massive head which he'd tilted), I had gas and air from 6cm-10cm and then nothing for pushing. They wanted to do a ventouse but I pushed him out as soon as they left the room to gather their equipment. Second degree tear but I felt good, a bit of first-timer shell-shock (I kept telling DH "I had a baby"), I was in the shower an hour after delivery and walked from delivery to the ward.

DD: I had a small show and some niggling pains at 40+1 so went to see my MW for a sweep. She had a feel of my bump and couldn't get a HB in the lower portion of my bump (scariest moment of my life) but did get a big strong HB in the upper portion: "I think your baby is breech". Off to hospital we went and she was. I was booked for an ECV and an instruction to call an ambulance if I went into labour or if my waters broke. At 40+3 I went back for the ECV (where they try to turn the baby). The scan showed DD was a flexed breech. To complicate it further she had most of the cord wrapped in a figure-8 around her legs and the remainder of it was lying directly over my cervix, as if that wasn't enough I had abnormally low amniotic fluid (AFI score of 3). As I'd had a bigger show that morning and definite regular early contractions I was classed as an emergency case - DD couldn't be safely turned, a VB was too risky because of the cord position, if it didn't prolapse as my cervix opened it would probably compress as DD was delivered due to her being wrapped in it. I went from the scan room straight to theatre for an EMCS.

bring I didn't get a round of applause!! feel hard done-by now.

I enjoyed having dd2! Sounds odd in a way but I knew what I was doing, I was confident I could do it, I knew what would happen, pain was quite manageable with G&A and from waters breaking to her being born was only about 3 hours. The fab experienced midwife was the icing on the cake and kept everything calm and controlled even when she realised dd2 had the cord around her neck twice and was very cross about it.
As for dd1... didn't go so well but happy outcome.

1hour and 20 minutes from first contraction to DD's birth. Good thing we planned a home birth as don't think I would have made it to the hospital!

First labour was 17 hours start to finish.

i often think of this DS was a 3 day induction for PET. day one got the pessary day 2 got the jel EDD waters broken. Had 17 hours of induced labour with just gas and air. he got into critical fetal distress and was born via crash section. i had a PPH in theatre of just under 2l. Spent 6 days in HDU and had 4 blood transfusions and contracted sepsis a life threatening form of blood poisoning.

hoping for a lovely calm VBAC next time!

My MW told me that second labours are usually half the time of the first one - which I would have been happy with because my first was a hideous nightmare of over 48 hours, with every single intervention going, episiotomy, ventouse delivery and PP bleed.

So, I was prepared for a 20 hour marathon - but in the end she was a 6 hour sprint - and although she was back to back, I had no pain relief as by the time I got to hospital, it was too late.

Numbers three and four were really, really fast - #4 was almost born in the car park and arrived literally 5 mins after arriving at the delivery suite door!

Best of luck and wishing you a speedy and healthy delivery.

Dc1: just 5 hours of contractions before starting to push. Already in hospital due to high bp, but labour started naturally. Dc1 was back to back, and hynotherapy, tens and g&a worked for me. Unfortunately, dc1 had other ideas and decided to stay put. Had emcs after 2 hours of pushing. No complications, quick recovery.

Dc2: niggly braxton hicks for a good 3 days beforehand. Waters broke, contractions full on pretty much immediately and dc2 born an hour and a half later. No time for anything but g&a and booked elcs duly cancelled. No stitches, very quick recovery and, once my head had caught up with what my body had done, I was delighted with my unintentional vbac!

DS - 14 hours of established labour, straightforward but horrendously painful.
DD - maybe two hours of pain (but still only needed a bath/hot water bottle to ease it), nearly didn't make it to hospital.

I loved loved loved my second labour and that is from someone who said they definitely wouldn't do it again after the first time.

It was also wonderful to have had a short labour and therefore not feel quite so exhausted afterwards. I barely saw poor DS because I was too weak to hold him but with DD we had snuggles and cups of tea (me, not her) it was wonderful. Good luck!

DS1 - 24 hours in labour, contractions stopped, baby in distress, emergency c section, all v ER and traumatic. Felt crap for weeks after and emotionally traumatised - had never occurred to me I might need a cs.
DD2 - about 6 hours labour, by the time I asked for epidural was way too late, only gas and air, don't recall it being horrendous, but it probably was. Felt fabulous afterwards (didn't last..)