Are childbirth conditions hereditary?

[FairyMagic7]

I am absolutely terrified of childbirth because my mum had very traumatic experiences. We are both very petite - short and very slim. She was in labour for 36hrs with me and eventually had a ventouse. She also suffered from really bad PND. I'm just wondering whether childbirth conditions are hereditary.

I think my mum was in labour for 48+ hrs with me.

Mine were 9 & 6 hours. So luckily not in this case!

Not at all. My mum and I had completely different experiences, both physically and mentally. We're a similar build and in terms of things like age at first period, etc, pretty alike. So not in my case!

Not for me, my mum was in labour for 3 days with me. I only just made it to hospital in time to have my DD!

For me, there were similarities.

We both developed high blood pressure in pregnancy.
Both were induced.
Both had babies go into severe distress.
Both inductions failed to a certain extent - Mum had an EMCS, I was fully prepped for one, when DD was born by ventouse as a last minute resort.

My first (and so far only) labour was not dissimilar to my Mum's first labour. Comparatively short, drug free, not overdue (my Mum went into labour on her due date, I went into labour 9 days early, DD was born at 38+6). Mum had a huge tear though and I only had a first degree tear, but I also have another birth injury which is going to need a lot more long term management.

My older sister had completely different labours to Mum's though. Induced at 2 weeks over, all the drugs, huge babies, small tear, no injury. I don't think there's necessarily a correlation.

My mum & I were very different.

She had a CS with me as I was breech, and a VBAC with my brother.

I had three normal, straightforward deliveries.

Our pregnancy lengths were the same though, all our babies arrived close to their due dates.

Nope. My mum was induced with all three of her children and had very long labours.
My first (and so far only) birth was spontaneous, ten days early, and over in six hours.
We have a similar build, not petite.

My DD was worried that she would take after me 14 pregnancies and 15 years to get 3 DC. Horrific births.

She had three in quick succession very easy labours. She walked to the hospital gave birth and walked home again.

Largely no - you only have to look at how the same woman can have hugely different experiences on their second, third etc labour to realise this. Similarly sisters can often have vastly different labours. If there were any evidence that family history could reliably predict your labour, then it would be a question on the medical history form.

By all means, discuss your concerns with your medical team but you should focus on you specifically rather than your mum's history.

Precipitous labour (less than 5hrs start to finish) is hereditary quite often, but longer labours tend to be a question of roll of the dice apparently - I don't think you need to worry!

My mum is teeny (like under 5 foot) and had 3 natural deliveries between 6-10 hours. I have had two natural deliveries but my labours were much much longer. My DSIS had to have two caesariens - we are both a few inches taller than my mum. I don't think it's hereditary. Try not to fret if you can - you will have your baby, and the professionals will make sure it happens in whatever way is best for you at the time.

I'd be quite interested to know if my mum had a similar experience to me, but she utterly refuses to discuss pregnancy or childbirth. It is like she wants to pretend that it didn't happen

All my sisters had different experiences though, to me and to each other, so it makes me think that if it were hereditary then we would all have been similar?

My mother always reckons that it's partly down to attitude - she always said 'it's called labour because it is just that, hard labour', but you get over it. That I am sure affected how I felt, which enabled me to get over two not completely straightforward births pretty quickly. I realise that there is an element of luck though!

Mum & I both had precipitous labours (me three) with exception of my own birth which was induced and lengthy though no intervention required.

I don't believe at all that it is down to attitude. I believe it is entirely down to luck.

I was not at all afraid of labour, I believed it was mind over matter, that it would be unpleasant but I would get through it, as women have since time began. I was relaxed, excited even. In reality it was a thousand times worse than I thought it would be, and ended with an emcs and a total bloodbath. I find it really upsetting now when people talk about it being attitude and mind over matter, as if all that wouldn't have happened if I had just pulled up my big girl knickers and got on with it.

I am short, petite and slim.

I spent a lot of time investigating whether the experiences of your mother were in any way related to your own. I suffered from severe anxiety over giving birth so I was actively looking for evidence to support the idea that it was related as my mother had a bad experience.

I trawled through every conceivable study going. However, everything I read suggests there is no correlation what so ever. It is more related to other issues such as the position of the baby, mobility in childbirth and where you decide to give birth (MLU, CLU or Homebirth).

The issue you have is probably more your anxiety - which could be fed from knowing what happened to you Mum. The best thing you can do for that is to discuss it and talk about ways in which you can help reduce that, which hopefully will have a knock on effect for a more positive experience. Especially if your current anxiety is problematic and overshadowing your pregnancy.

That said even then, there is no magic bullet here, and a huge part of it is down to luck.

Anecdotally, people will tell you differently and the danger is this could make your anxiety worse, but reputable studies have concluded to the contrary. It is definitely NOT a forgone conclusion that if you mother had a bad time you will. So say the experts.

I don't think there is any evidence that birth experience is hereditary. Though my Mum was late with both of her children and I was convinced I would be with mine. I do wonder if my attitude influenced when labor kick started for me.

Like treaclesoda I went in calm, relaxed and excited and ended up in an EMCS I've just been to hypnobirthing classes for my second and I am resenting being told that I had not prepared my mind properly and that is why I had an EMCS. But my attitude going in did help me cope with all that happened.

I completely agree that attitude has nothing to do with it and a painful or traumatic experience is in no way the woman's fault for having the 'wrong' attitude. Labour is likely to be the most painful experience a healthy young woman has endured to date in her life, regardless of attitude. There are lots of excellent ways to relieve that pain (I'm a huge fan of epidurals) and maybe OP it would help to explore pain relief options plus the possibility of an elective section with your doctor?

My grandma was in labour about as long as me (36hrs), so I'm inclined to think maybe? I have a vague memory about mum saying 16 hours with me though, but not sure. She died a few weeks before my son was born, so we never discussed it. I don't know with my gran on my dad's side. I found breathing exercises helped massively, but in the end I had an epidural. It failed though so there is no fool proof way to do a low pain labour - just prepare yourself as well as you can, with the outlook that pain relief might work if you choose to have it.

My mum had very quick labors with all 3, 8-3 hours. My 2 sisters had 72 hour and 24 hour labors so they didn't inherit the luck. Whereas I had a 3 hour labor for my first. Hit and miss!

We both seem to give birth quickly but my mum seems to cope with it better. She says she had positive labour experiences. Mine was mercifully short but extremely unpleasant.

you and your mom could have similar bone structure but....your child will have different genetics and the child's position in utero will never be the same so the likelihood of a similar labor is unlikely.

Nope, not at all. My mum had a 3 day labour + emergency caesarian with me, and I've had two natural, quick labours (7h and 3h) with no pain relief.

I slightly disagree with the posters above about 'attitude'. I think a 'positive attitude' often means naivety about mental preparation, so the friends I know who have been the most 'confident' about giving birth (ie I can get through it, I'm tough) have had the worst labours.

The people who have been more realistic, and have done work to prepare their minds to deal with the pain (e.g. through hypnobirthing) have had the best experiences. Of course there are physical issues that cause difficult births, but I have seen this trend in many mothers with no apparent physical causes of the extra difficulties. This is not to say it's anyone's 'fault' but why not optimise your chances of a good labour with mental preparation?