Tell me your DC3 childbirth experience....

[ladymary86]

I'm due DC3 in June.
DC1 was was a long labour, she was back to back. Very painful, had an epidural and she ended up being delivered by forceps. Pretty scary and unpleasant.

DC2 waters broke first then contractions started slowly. Was put on the drip to speed things up as DCs heart rate wasn't "behaving" during contractions. Went from 3cm to 5cm with a sweep then transition happened and it all ramped up very quickly. DC2 was born about 45 mins after the sweep. From waters breaking to delivery was just over 13 hours and only 40 minutes of it was painful. Gas and air only.

I have no idea what to expect with DC3.
DC2 is now nearly 6 so it's been a while.

If you've had 3DC how did your labour compare to your first 2?

All my births were completely different.

DD1 back to back, long (48+ hrs) labour, ended up on drip, epidural and episiotomy.

DD2 lovely home birth in the pool, 8 hours from first contraction to birth, perfect birth, the textbook "positive birth" experience.

DD3, 24 hour birth, went into labour the hottest day of the year last year. Had done loads that day with my 4 yo, think I overdid it and was tired before I even went into labour in the middle of the afternoon. Attempted home birth, poor positioning baby again, had to be transferred at 10cm, gave birth in hospital 20 mins after arrival by ambulance, baby had shoulder dystocia. All very dramatic.

However all my babies were fine in the end no matter how they arrived. I've had 2 crap births and 1 nice birth, honestly I think there is absolutely no predicting it. I know people who have had fantastic third births. Good luck- keep mobile, practice your breathing etc, don't overdo it (my one regret) try not to stress. I stressed a lot about "third births" and whether my third birth would be like my first or second and I think that didn't help.

Thanks @NamiSwan
I think I'm the same. Would love to be able to predict what's going to happen based on past experiences. I know it will likely be totally different again.
It fascinates me really that still to this day, no one knows what causes labour to start out what influences how it progresses.

First 2 births were quite straight forward with around 4 hours of active labour, pethidine and gas and air. Dc3 pretty much fell out on arrival at hospital. Active labour was recorded as 17 minutes with no pain killers at all.

@Tillytrotterisarotter I've got my fingers crossed for something close to this... although worried about being in hospital without DP and him missing the birth.
This is first and will be his only so I'd be absolutely gutted for him if he missed this.

Hoping to hold off being at hospital until the last possible moment so there's no chance of him missing it but given how quickly things progressed with DC2 it feels like a bit of a risk.

All four births have been different.

Dc1, induced, back to back, didn't descend and was ventoused out and I had 3rd degree tear and episiotomy and minor pph. Not long in the scheme if things but not nice either.

Dc2 My earliest and only spontaneous child at 40+9. From first contraction to birth was longer than DC1 but easier. She was born 6hrs after my waters broke.

Dc3 induced at 42wks. Waters popped and she was born 2hrs later.

Dc4 was induced at 40wks due to size, and took longer to get going so needed the drip (and epidural) he was 4hrs from the contractions being 4 in 10.

Expecting DC5 and expecting to be induced again but part of me wonders if I ever just flipping well went into labour it might be like dc3. Unlikely though.

We only just made it to the hospital in time, due to COVID DP had to wait outside until they established I was in "active labour". They realised pretty quickly, and he was in the room for about 30 seconds before she was born!

Congratulations on your pregnancy!. I had my DC3 last summer after a 9 year gap.

She was by far my easiest birth although took a while to get going. In the weeks proceeding I had 3 or 4 sweeps (can’t remember how many as they merge into one in my mind). Each sweep was followed by lots of mucus plug and strong BH’s which had me sure that d-day had started every single time!
Labour proper was started by a manual breaking of my waters and things went pretty quickly from then - 6 ish hours and 3 pushes.
I was pretty high on oxytocin and this it hurt it was all very doable. No stitches either but I did get a small recital tear which in hindsight I wish I’d got sorted as it’s caused a few problems since but honestly best of my three births by far! I hope you have a wonderful, calm delivery!

1st was water birth in the mlu, back to back but 6.5 hours from active labour to birth, gas and air.
2nd waters broke, risk of GBS so pitocin drip, 2 hours from labour starting to birth, gas and air.
3rd went in around midnight(mostly because it was late and we didn't want to get the kids up too late) and was 5cm, started gas and air at 4.30am, checked at 5.30am was only 6cm, broke my waters and gave birth at 5.50am.

Thanks @Mynotsoperfectlittlefamily and @Sobloodyexhausted
These are all definitely giving me some hope of a calm, positive experience!

And @seaduck! I really hope it's not as close for us tbh! 🤣

My 3rd was born 3 hours after the first contractions. Lovely home birth.

I also had 3 very different experiences. The first one was a forceps delivery, on gas and air. My second was a c section due to baby being breech. My last one was a vbac, very quick delivery with no time for any pain relief. I went from 4 cm to baby being born in less than 30 minutes. This one was by far the easiest birth and recovery.