Those of you who had very long (days not hours) first labours, how was your second?

[UnwieldyRhombus]

STM, first labour lasted four days and was not a walk in the park. I'm assured the second one is usually faster and easier but just wondering if anyone who had a very long first labour would be willing to share how and how long their second (or subsequent) labours were?

I've heard stories where the first was something like 12 hours and the second more like 6, but I don't know about women who had labours lasting 2 days to a week. I've also looked at studies that confirm that the second labour is usually shorter but these typically don't cover women who laboured for a very long time with their first. What I'm trying to ascertain is whether a very long latent phase with the first will typically be a lot faster with a second birth, or just a bit shorter. Should I be preparing for a marathon or for another ultramarathon?! 😅

First Labour was 5 days
Second was about 8 hours
3rd even less like 4

First was 42 hours, second 14 hours (or 21 hours if you count the bit where you know it's going to happen that night but you aren't actually in labour yet)

First 30 hours
Second 5 hours
Third on off for 3/4 days, by far the longest and worse latent phase, then maybe 6/7 hours when it didn't subside again. 3rd was the worst for energy levels etc.

First 46 hours, second, second 8 hours from first contraction

I wish my hospital gave me the chance to have a long labour!
I went into early labour hardly any pain 11pm. Went to hospital 7am was 6cm dilated. I was so surprised as it just felt like mild period cramps.

Body then shut down soon as I was in hospital. I think because it was day time and I was in unfamiliar surroundings.

12 hours later I was still 6cm dilated and was having hardly any contractions. I should have gone home as I was just sat chilling.

Midwife pestered to break my waters every 4 hours soon as I arrived despite it saying on my birth plan to not do this and despite me being low risk and no medical need. When I asked her why she said 'because you might get tired'. Why didn't she encourage me to sleep then???

She asked a consultant to convince me to break my waters. I gave in whilst crying my eyes out as my instinct was telling me to not let her do it.

2 hours later was in theatre with emcs due to swollen cervix as contractions were slamming my poor babies head against my unprepared cervix.

So I wishhhh I had been given more time to labour and not rushed into detrimental interventions.

I think my hospital was possibly understaffed and that's why they wouldn't allow me to have a long labour? Stepping Hill.

The Birth-Ed podcast about second babies with Natalie Meddings is really worth a listen on this!

My first was over 40 hours and my second happened easily within one day. I wasn’t sure it was definitely labour until mid morning and she was born around 7.30pm that evening.

First was 2 and a half days

Second (2.5 years later) was 8 hours from first twinge to birth, only a few hours of actual really painful labour. very manageable home birth, basically just amazing and a perfect birth all round

Third (4 years after my second) was 24 hours-ish and a failed home birth

All my births ended up being vaginal births, just for baby 1 and 3 they got stuck in odd positions so took ages to actually get out. My first was far and away my longest and most tiring birth. Baby 2 I was much more active leading up to birth and baby 3 was during lockdown, which I think screwed things up for me.

My second birth was a dream though! Couldn't believe how much easier it was! Good luck!

First was 4 days from contractions starting to emergency c section for failure to progress. Second was 30 hours from start to emergency c section (and was nowhere close by that point so would have been loooong again). Third was an elective c section, clearly my body doesn't labour well!

My first was horrendously painful and long (2.5 days ish). My second I wasn’t sure I was in actual labour until I was almost fully dilated. I live rurally and the local midwife just popped in to check on me as I cried to her down the phone when I rang to let them know things might be starting. It was an unplanned home delivery which took a couple of hours. I think the first paved the way for the second 😬

Thank you everyone! This is reassuring and makes me feel a bit more hopeful 🙂

I'm two months away from labour but I'll try to remember to come back and update with how it went.

@Goldencup
I am always confused by what is meant by " labour" in these threads: first twinge or admission to LAabour ward at >4cm.

Sorry, I meant that I was just short of 4 days in labour from first contraction to arrival of baby. 3 of those days were spent in early labour (prodromal?)/latent phase, but that didn't make it easier - the contractions still came every 5-15 minutes and were painful, which meant no sleep for those days. So I definitely count them as part of my labour, as the final 24 hours spent on the labour ward (I think I was 5cm by then?) weren't really that much more exhausting or painful IIRC. I don't know why my cervix took so long to open and I'm really hoping this time it opens faster given it's done it before!

At med school they said it was like a balloon so once it had been opened once was subsequently much easier.

First was hard, agonising contractions for four days. 29 hours in the delivery room and 2+ hours of pushing. For some reason I had another less than two years later. Some mild not painful contractions for a few hours then got going properly from about 4pm, baby born at 7am.

So probably longish for a second baby but a walk in the park compared to DC1!

I am not planning to find out how long a third labour would be.

Second was quite a lot shorter, but it still felt so long mostly I think because I had been awake a whole night again due to the time it started. The early labour part was the bit that was much shorter second time round.

First labour - about 29.5hrs long, birth via ventouse.
Second labour - about 16hrs long, birth again via ventouse.

First labour a week from knowing it had started to emcs. There were three days of regular contractions that weren’t doing anything.
second labour a 24hours of twinges and then 12 hours of action

1 - over 3 days and ended in an emcs
2 - 11 hours from waking and thinking something felt different but no contractions to baby in my arms.

1 = 36 hours, horrific back to back
2 = 3 hours
3 = a slightly longer initial phase, about 12 hours all in but very manageable, it was overnight and slept easily between contractions. Left for the hospital just before 9 and had baby in my arms just after 10.

76 hours for first. Six for second. I was in my 40's but much fitter and stronger and managed to get my giant son out pretty easily. Unfortunately, you just don't know what sort of labour you'll have.

I always like it when OPs come back and update their threads, so here goes:

Unfortunately I have no idea how fast or slow my second labour would have been! It took 3 hours or so from the first contraction, but I was induced and ultimately had an emergency c-section because I had covid and the baby wasn't doing well with it.

I was all set for a home birth but went in to the hospital with reduced movements and feeling unwell myself and it turned out we both had high heart rates that wouldn't go down so they induced me. Baby wasn't coping well with the contractions after 2 hours, so EMCS it was.

Definitely disappointed about the lack of home birth (and the community midwife who came round to do the heel prick said it was a real shame, that I would have been a 'great candidate' and that 'he would have plopped right out' 🙃) and also kind of sad I'll never know whether it would have been faster (last baby!), but it is what it is.

As a data/stats nerd and a birth story lover, I enjoyed reading all of the posts on here, so thank you all for your replies!

Huge congrats Op 👏