Questions on first births?

[Gonnabmummy]

I know every birth is different but would love to here about your first.

How far along we're you when labour started?
Was it obvious it was labour from the off or did it build up?
How long we're you at home before going to hosp and how did you cope at home?
How many cm were you when you got to hosp and how often we're contractions coming at this point?
Time from start to finish, times for each stage if you remember?
What drugs did you use if any?
How did you feel at the different stages?
And lastly your little bundles weight?
Thanks for any replies :) x

I was induced with ds1 at 42 + 5 so wasn't at home for any of it.

I was induced at 9pm and had some cocodamol a couple of hours later and put on my TENS. A couple of hours after that I got into a warm bath.
At about 3.30am when the MW asked if I was ok I asked if I could be checked and I was 9cms so DH was called and i was whisked down to delivery suite.
I had plenty of gas and air and ds1 arrived at 4.45 am weighing 8lbs 11 1/2 oz.
Crowning was the bit I remember most vividly - I remember saying to the MW that it really stung and she told me that was a very polite way of putting it!

Good luck OP.

My waters went when i was 39 weeks at 11:00am and I didn't have any contractions or pains at all until I woke up at 8 the next morning with contractions every 3 mins.

Midwife came at 11am and got into the pool (home birth) at 10cm at about 12:30 and needed to push and my girl was born at 1:00 weighing 6.7lb. It was a back to back labour and it was no where near as painful as I was expecting and was actually an amazing experience.

40+2 weeks

I woke up at 6am with a bit of tummy pain. It went away and came back 20 mins later. By the third time I realised it could be labour.

Very gentle labour all morning. Pain in waves as others describe. By mid afternoon the pain was strong so DH came home. Used tens machine to manage the pain.

Got to hospital at 5.30pm. Was 3-4cm dilated still coping with just a tens machine. Had gas and air at 6.30pm (loved it!!!).

By 8.30pm was fully dilated and pushing. Baby was born at 10pm weighing in at exactly 7lbs. No pain relief at the end at all (eek!). That bit was hard work but I can remember feeling totally pain free and peaceful between contractions.

Good luck! You'll be fine

How far along we're you when labour started? Waters broke at 38+2
Was it obvious it was labour from the off or did it build up? Contractions built up during the day
How long we're you at home before going to hosp and how did you cope at home? Had been in hospital on and off for three weeks due to high blood pressure (they were going to induce me at 38+3 but DS came along anyway)
How many cm were you when you got to hosp and how often we're contractions coming at this point? N/A although was 3 cm when I was examined when I was properly in labour
Time from start to finish, times for each stage if you remember? Waters broke 6:30am. Contractions v painful by 6:45pm. In established labour about 9pm. DS born 2:50am
What drugs did you use if any? Gas and air and Dia morphine
How did you feel at the different stages? Excited at the beginning then sore mostly. Had to have forceps as DSs heart rate not good and due to Dia morphine I wasn't good at pushing and he needed to come out. He was fine :)
And lastly your little bundles weight? He weighed 6lb 1oz

DDs birth was a bit more straightforward :)

40+3 we went for a loooong walk over rough ground and persistent BHs turned into labour. Latent labour all night so no sleep - had a bath, bounced on ball, read a lot, contractions every 3 mins or so, called hospital around 5am who said if I wanted to give birth there and not the place I was trying to avoid I should come in that morning, so went in at 7am when I was 2cm and they admitted me for various reasons, mostly to do with me really wanting to be there and not elsewhere (I loved my MW for that). Laboured in a side room until just after lunch, so around 1pm, when they came to monitor me and whisked me off to delivery and I was 9cm. Waters went around 3pm and body started pushing. 8lb 6oz boy born at 4.30ish, 40+4 by their dates (40 bang on by mine).

My labour was very similar to the Duchess of Cambridge's it seems!

36+1 now. Thanks for replies love reading them. Now it seems like I'm in the final run up however I feel like it could be another year till the big day! Time is whizzing by but very comfortable still getting around the same as I was and no niggles/pains. Apart from kicking a lot it's like he's not there! X

Just to add, listen to your body, it will tell you what to do. I did this with DC2 and had such a chilled out, easy labour and birth. It was amazing! Also, try to only have pain relied if you really need it, not because you're anticipating pain. Ask yourself after each contraction if, truthfully, you could do it again. If the answer is yes, don't have anymore pain relief at that time. So excited for you, would love to do it again but we're all done

• 41+5 at first contraction, 42+2 at birth.
• First proper contraction was mild but obvious but had BH and period-type pains for a few days before.
• At home for 110 hours before going to hospital. Not unmanageably painful until 48 hours before going to hospital at which point a Femme TENS with a boost button was my saviour. I would not have coped without it.
• 2-3cm, contracting every 5 minutes.
• 122 hours in total from first obvious contraction to birth. Latent phase/slow labour was 114 hours (contracting irregularly getting gradually stronger and closer together). Established labour was 8 hours.
• Gas & Air (didn't do much), Pethidine (didn't do much for the pain but spaced me out - didn't like it), Epidural (absolutely brilliant, loved it).
• Felt fine for the first few days and was managing to sleep between contractions. Second half of latent phase felt terrible, mainly through lack of sleep as irregular contractions were never more than 15 mins apart and getting increasingly stronger. As soon as waters broke and went into established labour I felt like I couldn't cope and was desperate for more pain relief. When epidural kicked in about 6 hours before birth I felt absolutely fine again and found the rest of labour and birth quite exciting and enjoyable.
• DD was 6lb 8oz.

Good luck OP!

How far along we're you when labour started? 39+5

Was it obvious it was labour from the off or did it build up?
Fairly obvious - in fact I started a thread, but very obvious once my waters broke 2 hours after first contraction and then were lasting a minute every 4 mins that this was 'it'

How long we're you at home before going to hosp and how did you cope at home?
Had to go in when my waters broke as DS had been breech but turned by ECV at 38 weeks so they wanted to check he hadn't moved, was 2cm and as they were quiet I stayed. This is a source of slight regret as I wanted to labour at home for a while (and would have definitely coped until around 4 am, and I knew that DS definitely hadn't turned around - I'd had a head in my ribs for 12 weeks and I knew what it felt like!) If I'd stayed at home I think I'd have ended up being more in control later on.
How many cm were you when you got to hosp and how often we're contractions coming at this point? see above :)

Time from start to finish, times for each stage if you remember? 12 hours start to finish with a 3 hour pushing stage. It was the most tiring thing I'd ever done, and the hospital were being very insitant about me lying down which again is a regret, I wish I'd just flipped myself over as I know it would have helped a lot - I had a lot of back pain at the end of pg that was made worse by lying down.

What drugs did you use if any? Paracetamol and gas & air

How did you feel at the different stages? Really powerful for established labour - managed fine with G&A, Increasingly tired and reticient during pushing as they insisted I lay down (due to monitoring), this made it really hard to push him out, I was distracted by my back pain which I had before labour started (I think the MW just assumed it was labour - it f'in wasn't!), but I was just too tired to fight - ended up with a ventouse in the end as DS got stuck in the crowning position! Strangely had no pain from the crowning though.

And lastly your little bundles weight? 7lb 12oz he was beautiful and despite a ventouse ending, no pain relief other than G&A and a massive 2nd degree tear I'd do it again in an instant. :) (He's 17mo now and I'm getting increasingly broody for DC2). The tear healed really quickly and I was religious about painkillers for 2 weeks and it didn't bother me at all.

Dd1 - 39 weeks. Water broke at home, so knew labour was coming. Popped to hospital who sent me home to see if contractions would start on their own. They started as soon as I got home. Got into bath, with hubbie timing contractions. Went back to hospital after about 4 hours & it took about 10 hours of contractions (gas & air only) to get to 10cm. Tried to push for another hour, but she wouldn't budge. Hospital got worried so gave me epidural, episiotomy & forceps. Turns out she was back to back. She weighed 6lb.

Ds1 - 39 weeks. Induced (pessary) due to heart condition with my baby. Nothing happened for 12 hours, then intense contractions started. Got more intense & after 90 mins waters broke & baby followed. No drugs (no time!) He weighed 7lb 10oz.

Both labours very different, hurt lots, but very manageable with no pain relief. It was obvious labour was starting. No feeling like it & you just know. Just kept focused on looking forward to meeting my baby! x