Second labour just as awful as first or pleasant surprise?

[Lizbiz89]

Were your second labours any better than first? I had a horrible first labour but feel more mentally prepared for this one. Did your second labours go a bit more smoothly than your first?

Probably not exactly who you're aiming this at but I had a bad natural labour with my first so opted for a section for my second. It was amazing. The recovery (for me) has been so much smoother and my outlook has been amazingly different.

Good luck xx

For me it was definitely a pleasant surprise second time round. First labour with my son was horrible, was induced at 37 weeks as waters broke but nothing happened. Failed ventouse followed by forceps. Poor little man was battered & bruised & so was I with a 3rd degree tear.

Second time with my daughter went into spontaneous labour at 39+4 & had a text book perfect water birth. If I knew it would always be like that I’d do it 100 times again.

Definitely glad the worse experience was first not second!

My first labour was actually ok but my second was very quick and easy.

First labour was the worst experience of my life. 16 hours. Truly awful. Second lasted exactly 4 hrs 20mins from start to finish. Low lights, soft music, laughing and chatting right up to the last 20 mins. Four good pushes. Done!

My second labour was worse - not horrific, but incredibly frustrating. Longer, I struggled more with pain, resulted in emergency c-section for failure to progress. I'd felt really positive and mentally prepared beforehand after a straightforward first labour.

It's tough - a positive outlook must help, I'm sure, but for me it all felt much worse as everyone kept telling me second labours were easier, so when it wasn't I felt really knocked back. Just another perspective.

Thanks for the replies. Sounds like second labours are generally a bit better than first labours. @EyeDrops sorry to hear about your bad second labour. I definitely won't be assuming it's going to be an easier ride but I do want to keep in a positive mindset this time. With realistic expectations of course. My first labour was unnecessarily taken out of my hands which I don't want this time around.

That was exactly the same as me OP. First time round I just let everyone else tell me what to do & went into it totally oblivious of how I could help myself. Was determined not to do the same again second time so did a one off 3 hour birthing course which did breathing, movement & positioning to help with labour & give myself more control. It definitely made a huge difference, I know you can’t really control how labour goes but at least I knew I was doing all the right things to give myself the best possible chance of avoiding complications.

My first labour was very slow, over 30 hours, had to have my waters broken, was pushing for two hours and I had to have stitches.
My second labour was a walk in the park in comparison, it lasted just over 3 hours, we were only at the hospital for an hour and a half before she arrived, they didn't even tell me that I needed to push, my body just knew what to do and she came out still in her sac because it all went so quickly. Two or three pushes was all that was needed. I didn't even need any stitches afterwards, it was an absolute dream compared to the first.

First was 36 hours back to back labour which ended up in epidural, ventouse, episiotomy and forceps. Hugely traumatic and awful.

Second 3 weeks ago was 3.5 hours all in just gas and air and a small tear. Recovery has been so much better. I was mentally more prepared for this one and more in control. First labour I felt like everyone made decisions about me without my knowledge or input.

First labour = traumatic hospital experience with many months of recovery.
Second labour = wonderful home waterbirth, caught my baby, went to bed and ordered a Chinese
My labour's were so, so different.

Well, I'm not going to pretend it was a pleasant surprise. It was neither pleasant, nor a surprise, but it was quick. (Although so was my first.) DS1 was undiagnosed breech though and got stuck, so anything would have been better than that. DS2 was a right old bruiser with a massive head, but at least I had a clue what was happening with him.

Shorter, easier, pretty much just sneezed the baby out at the end No pain relief except gas and air for the last few minutes. Would have liked the gas maybe 30 mins earlier, but apart from that it was remarkably ok!

The first labour was NOT like that at all!

Yes my second only lasted a few hours. First was over 20 hours and awful.

Both were induced labours, because of pre-eclampsia. In fact the second was a lot earlier at 35 weeks than the first at 37 weeks.

I regret having an epidural with the first. It didn't really work, and slowed everything down. Nightmare.

Second one was exactly as painful as the first (I was furious about this. Had convinced myself second time round the baby would sort of slither out painlessly on a bed of lavender) but it was MUCH quicker. And actually it was being so tired because the first one was so long that made it so awful. You can cope with a lot more when it's over in a couple of hours. Made recovery a lot easier too. Good luck, OP! Hope things go more smoothly this time.

Second was much better. I think the contractions were probably more painful as I was induced, but it was a lot quicker and I knew what I was doing a bit more.
With my first I didn’t realise I was having the urge to push, so went past it and my contractions stopped and had to be restarted with a drip. Second time round I knew what I was feeling and communicated it to the midwives. The pushing part was over really quickly compared to the first time.

2nd labour was insanely quick. Possibly too quick... Some mild contractions whilst I was eating my tea. Went to the loo, and then literally nearly had the baby there and then. Pretty stressful (understatement!) but quick. Didn't have time for any pain relief and didn't need it either. Thankfully I was already in the hospital.

Unfortunately I assumed the third would be even easier. How wrong I was! (no one told me third babies are often the hardest).

The pushing part was over really quickly compared to the first time.

Same, my second stage is recorded as 4 minutes on my notes!

Same as most above. My first was horrible induction with assisted delivery. Lots of recovery time.

2nd - water birth, recovered pretty quick!
Completely different experiences.

Mine did. It was a breeze compared to the first. 31 hours shorter, didn't need any medication 👍

Second labour was much quicker and less painful. Much less of an ordeal.

Pretty much the same in terms of length and pain but having a better idea what to expect made it a much more bearable experience.

As far as pain goes, I don’t think there was much difference between my labours, though second and third time, I did know what to expect, which helped, I think.

However, my second and third labours were shorter - my first was 37.75, the second was 24, and the third only 20! And whilst I was pushing for 90 minutes with ds1, I was only pushing for a couple of minutes with ds2, and literally only 3 pushes with ds3.

Pleasant surprise! I gave birth again just 15 months after Dd was born. Was induced second time around and it was a very positive experience despite being a high risk pregnancy.

Second one was easier. I was determined not to push as that was what scared me the most after a horrible first labour. Ended up just pushing a bit at the end. I had a good midwife who didn't try to hurry me and get me to push all the time. Waterbirth so was feeling comfortable (filthy but comfortable.....).

Pleasant surprise for me.