Does an easy pregnancy = an awful birth?

[jenrose29]

My first pregnancy with my daughter aged 4.5 was fantastic, I was sick at the beginning but enjoyed it all and was active until the end. I am now 36 weeks pregnant and have had a great pregnancy again. My daughters birth however, was horrendous! It was long and excruciating as she was back to back. Fingers crossed this one will be better, but amongst those I know it seems to be that those that suffer in pregnancy have an easier/faster birth and those with easier pregnancies have a worse birth. Are either of these true for you?

No, in short...

I had a lovely pregnancy with my DD & my labour was short & relatively easy (first period pain contractions late morning, show an hour later, proper 10mins apart contractions a couple of hours later, baby born 12hrs or so after the show...). I did have some tearing internally but I think that's just one of those things.

Preg again & feeling poorly with nausea & fatigue. Hope this means a shorter labour with no tearing

Not for me! Hard pregnancy - sick til 22 weeks with hyperemesis.

Awful awful awful birth, culminating in a failed ventouse, with an episiotomy, a caesarean section, complete with wound infection, split stitches in 3 places, and a blood transfusion....

I'm having a homebirth this time....

I've had 4 and I didn't have sort of correlation like that. DC2 and DC4 had quite easy pregnancies, but DC2's birth was practically perfect in every way and DC4's was incredibly rough, ring of fire multiple times and was rolled at the end to help his shoulders come out, but was really well managed which helped me recover better (DC1 and DC3 had rough pregnancies, pretty standard births, but rough recoveries due to a lot of poor management, particularly for DC3 where bad management led to a lot of problems).

Nope, DD2 was no trouble from start, 3 months to conceive, to finish. A copy book home birth and she knew how to BF

Her prawn of a big sister took 18 months of trying spread over 2+ years. Decided to be small for dates, low on fluid and generally wear out the hospitals heart monitor and her parents nerves. She still managed to be a relatively straight forward birth.

No. My last to pregnancies were straightforward and so were the births

to = two

Yes, the pregnancy angels work against the birth angels.
It balances out I think.

If you're worried about it, have a chat with your midwife, and best of luck!

No, definitely not.

Although I think my first dream pregnancy and birth had more to do with being 23 and in perfect health than any angels tbh.

My whole first preganancy apart from some nausea in the first few weeks was perfect and i was full of energy till the last day ...same with birth ...needed to b induced but all was great and so was the recovery ...this pregnancy ...oh my god.....sickness for 4 months at week 25 still always tired!!!!
SPD so will need an elective c secition this time....im dreading it all this time round

Hello - not at all, and in fact when I think about my pals who have all been P in the past few years I would actually say the opposite is the case. I have had 3 pregnancies all of which have been v easy, near the end of no 3 - so only 2 births to go on, but both easy - slowest being 6hr labour. My fusspot pal has had 2 very easy pregnancies and 2 v easy straightforward births. We have a pal who is a bit of a horror story teller and has had 4 children - all of which she felt awful with and had probs, and v tricky births - she's having a cs this time.

There is no rhyme or reason to it - old wives tales are a load of shite in most cases - i think being relaxed and positive can only be a good thing - try not to worry about it.

I think it's a matter of perspective. If you have a horrific pregnancy, you're probably so happy not to be pregnant anymore that you dont care what the birth is like. If you had a great pregnancy, then your expectations are probably somewhat higher.

Anyhow, I'm pretty sure there's no proven correlation

No for me too!

Was hopspitalised during most of the pregnancy with dd aged 8 with various complications like severe anaemia, diabetes, random chest pains and kidney infections... Was induced at 36/37 weeks and had a 70 hour traumatic labour with failed epidural, ventouse delivery and massive blood loss.

I'm now 33 wks preg with a ds and this time its been a walk in the park - except for some antenatal depression an anxiety relating to first birth... I'm booked in for an elective c section (materna request) in 6 weeks time so I just hope this time round will be a better experience... It has to be really!!!

I had a perfect pregnancy. No sickness no spd no struggles. Did go 17 days over but went into labour naturally. All seemed well until they thought I was ready to deliver but was only 2cm! Had drip put in and a few hrs after I was put under ga for emsc

I was the other way round! Horrific pregnancy, lovely birth, not sure which is preferable tbh...

I had a sail through pregnancy and an easy birth. 1.5 hours before dilated enough to push

About 4 hours in all!

Got the g&a pool birth I dreamed
Of and no tearing

no i have had 5 easy pregnancies and 5 easy births, (well ds1s was long and drawn out but still ok)

i dont think there is any connection some of us are just luckier than others,i feel incredibly jammy to have had 5 easy pregnancies and births, often felt i was pushing my luck! its just one of those things you cant predict :)

"I think it's a matter of perspective. If you have a horrific pregnancy, you're probably so happy not to be pregnant anymore that you dont care what the birth is like. If you had a great pregnancy, then your expectations are probably somewhat higher."

I can relate to this! Horrible pregnancy but "easy" birth - well, I say it was easy but whenever I say that DH keeps reminding me of the fever, antibiotics, puking, dropping heartrates (mine and DS'), episiotomy (sp), stupid trainee midwife buggering up the stitches etc. etc.

I was just pleased that DS was early so my pregnancy was shorter!

I've had 3 very similar pregnancies yet 3 very very different birth experiences, so I don't think you can predict a correlation....

DD1 pregnancy was sicky for 14-16 weeks, blooming for 14-16 weeks then sick, tired, bloated, tired, irritable, tired with massive heartburn for last 8 or so weeks - did I mention the tiredness...?

Ditto for DD2 and DS1 who is now 5 days old!

DD1 birth was 12+ hours following induction by pessary and AROM, had minor tear but did need stitches, up on feet quite soon after and was ok as first labours go.

DD2 was SROM (hind waters), then pessary induction to bring stronger contractions, followed by oxytocin drip and AROM of remaining membranes, 24 hours later I'd got to 5cm and wanted to push, so they told me to push and I ended up with a massive tear, retained placenta and a huge 2.5 litre PPH meaning I was in ICU for 2 days Didn't get out of bed for 5 days, and Then needed 2x blood transfusions to feel anywhere near human

DS1 was AROM, but no other induction, I had bulging membranes and good regular contractions which had started slowly and built up through the night

AROM was 2pm, gas and air from 4pm (phoned my mum at 3.30 to remind her to fetch DD1 from school!)
DS1 born at 6.29pm, felt the urge to push at 5cm again but midwife was fab and urged me to control it. This was at 5.50 and I dilated the other 5 in 20 mins

MW told me to start pushing at 6.10pm and 19 mins later - TA DA!!!

On my feet and showered half hour later, no rips, tears cuts or grazes, up in the ward within the hour feeding DS1 all the way and feeling completely euphoric!

5 days later, feel brilliant!!!

I was petrified of labour this time, but I've learnt you really cannot predict how your body is going to react

No of course not!!

DS1 was exceptionally easy preg (just a bit of heartburn towards the end) and was a very straightforward birth.

This DC has been a very hard pregnancy so far (severe MS, I'm 20 weeks and have only just got back up to my (low BMI) pre-preg weight, various other ailments - back pain, psoriasis, severe tummy bug just after I stopped getting MS.... etc etc). We'll see what this birth is like!

It was the case for me too. Easy pregnancy and then yucky induction, prolonged labour and a few complications towards the end. Has to be better this time round...I hope!

Nope. I had a horrendous pregnancy (lots of hospitalisations, liver and heart issues caused by hyperemesis) and a horrendous labour (52 hours, forceps with no pain relief).

Nah I had a crap pregnancy and a crap birth (4.5days , never been so tired in my life) I don't think you can guess you'll get what you get.

No. I had a straightforward pregnancy with DS (7) and a straightforward birth with no intervention/drugs. We shall see what happens this time around (due in September).

I can't think of any medical reason why an easy pregnancy would = a difficult birth. It doesn't make sense.

doesn't necessarily mean it, no.

i had an easy pg though, and the birth was bad.
the labour was fab, but dd had her hand up against her head, which meant she was trapped and i had to have an episiotomy to get her out.
followed by pph and transfer to hospital.

it was all circumstantial, though - all dd's fault