Second labours - what was yours like?

[fja]

Was your second labour quicker?

Less intervention?

Better recovery?

Did you feel like you had it more under control from remembering the first time?

Thank you!

Less than an hour for DD2.
Same for DS. Both times I was kept down in the labour room because I had all the delivery hormones still whizzing about and I was high as a kite.

Exactly the same as the first! Tedious, long, drawn out and painful 'latent' Labour at home (over 2-3 days for both 😩) followed by several long hours of hospital build up and then a speedy matter of minutes for the actual pushing and delivery.

My first labour was 21 hours so my second was a dream at 11 hours.
I'm not gonna lie, I found it much more painful than my first so opted for an epidural and it was bliss.
I watched Netflix on my phone until it was time to push. Didn't feel a thing once I'd had the needle.

Both were inductions started at 37 weeks. Both required the drip to get things going.

DC1 was born vaginally after 11 hours on the drip. DC2 came by emergency C-section after ~17 hours on the drip only got me to 5cm. But DC2 was in a position that could never be delivered vaginally, so it was always going to end that way. Still happy I tried at least. I was just one of the unlucky ones whose baby didn't come quicker or easier.

I did cope with labour much better for longer though. Even if it wasn't a progressive labour. The epidural in the last few hours was nice too.

@fja How was it?

Hideous and traumatic, but that was due to induction.

@Raindancer411
Hell on earth.

My waters broke at 33 weeks, they managed to stop the labour. Baby was measuring very small though, had a fetal Medicine scan which showed stress on babies brain so made the decision to get baby out at 35 weeks.

He was born 4lb 1oz, I didn't get to see him, he got whisked off to special care. He couldn't breath on his own, had various issues.
Then in recovery my blood pressure soared and struggled to come back down with medication. It took 5 days of different medications to stabilise it. I was in and out of scbu, weren't allowed to hold him for the first few days.

Eventually I was discharged but baby wasn't. After 11 days he was finally discharged. I struggled mentally for the first 8 weeks (insomnia, appetite loss, depressed) got help for it so much better now.
He is now 4 months old, weighs a lovely 11lb and is thriving 😊
So it started badly but he's happy and healthy so that's all that matters now 😇

Sorry to hear that but glad all well now and a late congratulations!!

Bit different but….

DC #1
2 sweeps, 12 hour labour with just gas and air, forceps, episiotomy and lots of internal stitches. Recovery was hard but mainly as I was so shocked that I would need to recover! I was very naive! No lasting issues except the odd twinge of the episiotomy scar during my period (so random!!)

DC #2
DC was measuring big and I was being very heavily pushed for induction. Talked with friends who’d been through inductions and c-sections, talked to a very kind and honest midwife, had a proper discussion with doctors at the hospital. Chose elective c-section when they gave me my choices again. I thought it was worth mentioning this as I know if this had been my first DC I wouldn’t have felt confident to talk through my options throughly with medical professionals and feel at peace with my decision. C-section recovery was also hard but also the right decision for me and I have no regrets.

Sorry OP I didn’t realise this was an old thread that had been updated. So sorry for your experience, that sounds very stressful. I do hope you’re doing ok now xx

Quicker and easier, possibly as I knew what to expect. First labour I resisted the epidural as I’d internalised all the hippy bollocks and then it got pretty bad and had to wait two hours for epidural by which point I’d have accepted a bullet to the head if it had been on offer. . Second one I literally said “ can you call the anaesthetist?” as I walked into the birthing suite as I knew it was going to escalate and he was there in 20 mins. Also. Dc2 was born in the middle of the night which was a lot calmer and the midwife pretty much stayed with me. When I had DC1 the labour ward was very busy and midwives v stressed.

A billion times better all round!
I chose home birth over hospital second time around and it’s the best decision I could have made.
My labour was longer (10 hours, compared to 3 hours first time around), but was so much easier to manage. The difference between induced contractions (ie no break inbetween and unbearably painful from the off) and contractions that come with spontaneous labour is incredible.
I made it very clear after my first horrible experience in hospital, that I was captain of the ship, and everything would be done on my terms. Basically: midwife there as an emergency precaution only. Leave me alone to get on with it. Don’t touch me at all. Don’t touch my baby unless there’s a medical emergency.
Everything went perfectly.