how much faster is it the third time around? and what signs do you have that its going faster?

[dreamymum]

my first and second childbirths were identical in terms of length, pain, etc. now i am pg3 and am worried i may be too relaxed when labour sets on? how will i know if its going to happen super-fast? is there a chance it will be the exact same experience the third time?

I expected my third birth to be early. It was late. I expected it to be quicker than the second birth which had been three and a half hours; it took 8 or 9 hours which was about the length of the first one.

I don't think you can be too relaxed in labour. Relaxed is good. You won't know if it's going to be super fast, except one indication that it's not long now, is really fierce contractions that make you think "Whoah! Wasn't this hard at this stage last time! How am I going to manage several more hours of this fgs?" And there you are in transition.

I think the chances of having the exact same experience again are slim but not impossible.

ok so as long as its not extremely painful i can stay relaxed? last time i let my dh sleep throughout the night and just woke him up in time to drive me to the hospital for the birth!

I said one indication - not failsafe sign of quick birth. If you are planning a hospital birth, get there in the early stages because you never know when it might suddenly accelerate.

Have you considered a homebirth? Then you wouldn't need to go anywhere and you wouldn't have this worry.