Second time labours: please tell me your stories!

[Emerald4512]

Due to give birth to 2nd DS in a matter of weeks. After a very traumatic birth with my first son, I'd like to read other's experiences of second time labours and whether they are easier/quicker the second time round!

First = 36 hours. Epidural at 9 cms.

Second = 5 hours. No pain relief.

First, I wish I had had the epidural earlier. Second, I wish I had got to the labour ward earlier. I found i couldn't start having ds seriously until I knew dd was safe and cared for, so had a couple of hours of bearable contractions until my friend came over, and I knew dd would be fine with her. Then suddenly it all happened in 2 hours and we barely made it through the hospital doors.

Good luck, OP!

Good luck!

First labour 72 hours, back to back epidural, episiotomy, very traumatic.

Second labour planned home birth, 8 hours from first twinge to baby being born, calm water birth with no pain relief. Was really so so much easier!

My first wasn't bad, 16 hours, epidural, straightforward at 36+6.

My second was fast. 40+6 and I had a sweep the night before. Began feeling crampy at around 10pm but nothing really happened until about 3am. Arrived at hospital at 4am, waters gone and dilated 2cm but baby's head not engaged so stayed in hospital. Sent to antenatal. Things progressed quite quickly and she was born at 8:10am before the midwife could get her gloves on. Not particularly painful either, just had a bit of gas and air at the end.

The third...well let's just say we didn't go for number 4!

Second and third labours were so much easier. Same length of time but pain felt less intense and I was way less stressed and anxious as I had done it before

These messages are really comforting me, and making me feel much less anxious so thank you all for commenting!

With DS1 it was a 52 hour labour, back to back, cord wrapped round his neck twice, stuck, lost his heart beat and so we weren't sure if we'd lost him or not. Was about to have an ECS however managed to (somehow!) get him out before getting into theatre. Had a forcep delivery and was cut.

Shortly after birth I haemorrhaged and a week later my stitches came undone. The doctors said they wouldn't re stitch it, not that I'd want to do through that again, so there's a running joke now that the midwifes won't know which direction the baby will come out of 🤣

Laboured at home during the day (carrying on as normal and pausing to have contraction), then active labour was about an hour..maybe two. Home birth. He arrived ten minutes after the midwife did 😂😂 fist labour was a 4 hour active stage! Contractions were painful but I mean, he was on his way out! But absolutely fine with gas and air so not that painful really!

Birth 1 was hideous (on reflection, at the time it didn't seem that big of a deal!) - induced, involuntary pushing, failed ventouse, forceps, 3rd degree tear, couldn't sit down for a week .

2nd time round was a perfect water birth, labour was actually longer but I'd take that any day, pain was awful but never got to the point where I didn't think I could cope.

Good luck for when the time comes

Spontaneous labour, 41weeks 1 day . waters broke at home at 4am, DS born at 5.55am. Much less intense labour than my first where I was induced. 8lbs 2 ozs.

So quick. Pain was different.

1st birth - 28hours of regular back to back contractions, bleeding in labour, failed epidurals, episiotomy. Traumatic as left without support for most of it and felt completely out of control.

2nd birth -4.5 hours (only the last hour was properly painful). Gave birth within 30mins of arriving at the midwife suite. Fully supported by 2 midwives the whole time and only had a few puffs of gas&air.

It was really healing. I went on to have a third and I almost enjoyed it 🤪

I do know 1 person who had a worse 2nd birth but the vast majority seem to have better births.

2nd was very quick once my waters broke (up to that point, I wasn't sure if I was in labour).

Waters went at 5pm. Got to hospital at 5.10pm. Had him at 5.20pm. VERY VERY painful like I never could have imagined. No time for pain relief though.

I had an extremely quick 2nd labour, 30mins from the first twinge to baby arriving. So quick that the midwife only just made it in time (planned home birth) and there was no time for any pain relief at all. My 1st labour was relatively speedy though (6 hours from start to finish). My 3rd was an absolute dream, 4 contractions and 2 pushes!

Second was much quicker and not an induction (not that I had a 'bad' induction on the scale of things). Can't say it was less painful for me but I felt so much more prepared for what labour felt like I was able to mentally manage the pain but better and not panic so didn't feel any where near as bad, obviously being much quickly probably helped with this as well.

First labour, 49 horrendous hours, epidural, forceps.

Second labour, less than four hours, just gas and air, bloody LOVED it and would do it again if I could!

Can I ask, were your second babies early/on time/late? Had to be induced with DS1 at 41+3 but have a feeling this one might be early.

1. 40+6 labour, 40+1 birth
2. 41+6 labour and birth

I was induced a week early with both.

Second so much faster! Like so quick no time for pain relief. Weirdly third ( baby 10 days old) was alot slower. Good luck x

The end stage was much quicker, I didn’t make it in time and had him outside the hospital.

Hi @Emerald4512 I had a looong induction ending in forceps for 9lb dc1. Two weeks overdue.
I was of course very worried for dc2.
Was one week late and even bigger than dc1 - however i genuinely could not have asked for easier birth. Was painful yes but it was so much quicker it was bearable, no time for pain relief anyway. Good luck!

First dc was 31hrs, 6hr second stage, failed ventouse, failed rotation, emcs, haemorrhage. Baby was asynclitic (ear first) and her head was transverse (facing my hip). She was very very stuck. We both had birth injuries.

Second labour was 38hrs, didn't get as far as major intervention due to risk of rupture and went for an emcs. However it was a v joyful experience as I didn't go through all the stuff beforehand.

There's no way of knowing really. Mostly 2nd deliveries are quicker and a bit easier but sometimes they're not. I was mentally better prepared for the 2nd as I hadn't pinned everything on it being perfect, I just had a plan for each eventuality and a supportive team behind me. It was a joy in the end.

Extremely fast! Nearly didn’t make the hospital.

I've had two fairly good births. The second was much quicker than the first - 3 hours vs 8 hours active labour. But that said, it was more intense/ramped up quicker because of that.
I tore first time round, but second time round was fine, despite baby being bigger and having a "big head"... thanks midwives!! ;-)

1st DD labour an awfully slow 30 hours. 2nd DD ended with emergency C-section but only coz she was face presentation. Labour only 11 hours and far more bearable.If it wasn't for being unlucky with babies position would have thought it was a walk in the park compared to 1st DD birth.All births are different but I think most people say 2nd much easier.
Good luck!!