Induction contractions vs. natural labour contractions - how did yours compare?

[titferbrains]

Am not pg but am curious to know if anyone has had an induced labour and then a natural one and whether they noticed a difference in the contractions. My first was induced and the middle bit of the labour went very fast and I was in a lot of very intense pain, I remember "double" contractions where I'd have one big one then a a littler one but they were so close together I didn't have time to get over them.

I was at a dance class and overheard someone saying that she had had natural childbirth for her first and then for her second she was in hosp (in slovenia) and they put something in her drip to speed up labour and she said contractions were horrendous and totally different.

Is this true for you? I spent so much time trying to prepare myself mentally for my labour and was really sad that I couldn't experience it all naturally, I had an epidural with ended with me birthing dd on my back with lights on and everyone peering at my fanjo, exactly what I really didn't want.

Am very broody atm and just thinking about #2. I was induced because of cholestasis and there is a high chance I'll get cholestasis again so will have to be induced again but I can live in hope that it won't happen, right?

I was induced with dc1 as my waters broke,contractions never really started and 12 hours later they were all panicking about possibility of infection (that was in the US). I was at term, tested negative for strep B, huge overreaction imo. Anyway, yes, it was horrendous, because the pain started quickly and became intense fast. I had epidural and then all was fine.

With dc2 I didn't want to spend to much of labour in the hospital, so my contractions started very early in the morning and I spent whole day in the bath , going for a walk, resting. Pain was so much easier to deal with, I felt in control of my body, I could breath through it. Around 6 or 7 that evening it cx were every 5 minutes, still didn't want to go to the hospital yet, so proposed a game of Scrabble to DP and won (stopping every 5 minutes for the contraction). Went to the hospital before 8, and there I was strapped to all kinds of monitors, wasn't allowed to walk. Pain then became much more difficult to deal with- I don't know wheter it was because I was dilated a lot, or just the enforced position on my back made it worse. Had epidural almost at the last possible moment and everything was ok.
I definitely prefered my second birth and it seems like the pain with induction was worse, because it jumped from 0 to 10 in a matter of minutes, while with natural birth I could adjust to it, iyswim.

I've had both:

ds1 - induced, very intense contractions from the start, couldn't get a handle on them at all. 12 hours from start to finish, asked for an epidural quite early on. Had forceps, episiotomy, stirrups etc,etc - about 10 people in the room.

ds2 - natural labour, much more gradual in building up intensity. Mild period pain to start with that each time got a bit stronger. But I really, really felt in control of it, refused an epidural when offered at hospital. 5 hours from start to finish. Still ended up on my back with lots of people around (was minutes away from a cs as ds2 was stuck - luckily one big push got him out ) but it was totally different.

I felt like ds2's birth was a positive experience and now would even consider a home birth if we have a dc3. I can't overstate how different the two experiences were.

HTH

thanks for these posts. Am really beginning to understand that maybe my contractions were more intense than in a normal labour!!! Am so sad at the thought of being induced again, but I guess I will just have to deal with it with a positive attitude, baby more important. WIll defo try for a doula this time tho, I REALLY don't want to birth baby on my back again, I had a 3rd degree tear despite having a tiny baby!

I've had an induced and a natural labour, too.

I would say that the contractions were more intense with DC1 when I was induced. But having said that, I didn't need any pain relief (I had G&A with DC2) so p'haps I'm not remembering thing quite right!

The main difference with the births is that when induced I was stuck on monitoring machines and couldn't move about, whereas with the natural birth I stayed at home until an hour before I gave birth so could move about freely. I was probably more relax as a result.

Try not to worry about it too much - every birth is different. There is no reason why you shouldn't have a more positive birth next time.