How did your first vaginal birth turn out?

[littlemisssunshine247]

If you aimed for a vaginal birth for your first baby, how did it all turn out, particularly if you have a low pain threshold?

Did you have pain relief? Did you find hypnobirthing/deep breathing helped if you did that? Did you need forceps or a c section in the end?

I'm just trying to decide on the type of birth to go for, from real experiences. Worth adding in an absolute wuss with pain!

Mine was good, 12 hours end to end, 7 hours in pain. Found it to be a mental game of conquering pain. I had gas and air for the last hour and absolutely loved it. My last morning sickness was during labour so I could finally enjoy food the moment she popped out!

2 vaginal births. Epidural with first. Very empowering. Had a very wise midwife that said if you think you might have an epidural don't spend 80% of labour in pain just to "see how it goes". Second baby was unexpectedly large. But both pushing stages were around 15 minutes.

I’m a wimp.

First was induced at 39 weeks. Nothing happened after rupture of membranes, so they went to the drip. Advised me to have an epidural. I wanted to “see how I got on” - hahaha, silly me. Vomiting and shaking from the pain (although no paracetamol or gas and air offered so maybe I could have done better). Got an epidural. Was amazing. Googled hypnobirthing for a bit then when ready to push just went into the zone. Had a tear but not too awful.

Second was induced at 40 weeks. Less than 3h from the initial gel to delivery. No time for my much-wanted epidural. Painful but short-lived. Gas and air was great. No tears. Ate a Deliveroo, had a shower then walked down to postnatal ward.

Waiting to see if number three will come out without being medically coaxed! 😂