How common are back to back babies?

[Eminybob]

I've been worrying about this pretty much non stop since my antenatal classes.

The midwife did spend a lot of time discussing the implications of back to back babies and births, and I'm petrified of having one.

Are they common? At what point would I know? And is there anything I can do to avoid?

Two out of three - very fast births and actually glad it slowed them down as anything else would have been scary.

I've only had one and she was back to back, it was incredibly long (30 hours) it hurt like mad, gas and air or pethidine didn't even take the edge off it so I had an epidural after 26 hours.
It didn't take the pain away totally but the contractions were manageable and not toe curling.
However I'm now pregnant again through choice.

It really is true that it's worth it, you forget the pain instantly and if anything I feel really proud of myself, it was a painful but wonderful experience.

Try not to worry. My dd2 was back to back, and was still born at home with no drugs, very painful, but less then 8 hours, and better then dd1's birth.