4th labours/births

[PowPurry]

35 weeks today with lovely DC4

DC1 due date - long and hard old labour. 26 hours in total.
DC2 induced due to pre-e at around 39+4? 12 hour easy ish labour.
DC3 due date and labour was an absolute breeze. On off contractions all day then once it kicked off properly I think recorded active labour was 30 minutes!

What were your 4th births like?

I’m also convinced this one will be early, regular BH, he was 3/5 engaged last week. I feel very low and heavy.

I, too, had a magnificent third birth, second ok, first nightmare.

Fourth was same as third for first 3 hours. First twinge at 7.30 pm once I'd put the others to bed, slowly increasing up to midnight when I was involuntarily pushing. And then it all stopped - I was cold, the other DC woke up, MW called for back up, I had a bit of a tantrum, then loads of G&A (none with DC2&3) and DC4 was eventually "chinned" out at 5am. Basically his ear was pinned back and I had a cervical lip. In hospital or with a less experienced MW I would have ended up with a CS but she was constantly monitoring, she has another MW there and back up waiting

• she called to stand down an ambulance afterwards. Chinning is an old trick - she got a finger under his chin via my arse (poor thing) and helped him out. It was disappointing, and unfortunately because I was so convinced it would be like DC3, I did spend the wee hours of the night in tears at how unfair it was that it was not going like that which slowed it all down.

1st was your standard shit first induction 42wks 12-3 hrs but ended in theatre, ventoused, 3rd degree tear and episiotomy and pph.
2nd spontaneous at 40+9 6hrs from waters breaking but probably around 18hs from first contraction, I can't count 😂
3rd induced at 42wks, waters broken and she was out in 2hrs.
4th induced at 40wks due to size (so early for me) was hoping for one like 3 but waters breaking didn't do anything. So ended up on the drip, it took 3hrs to get my contractions up to 4 in 10mins and a further 4hrs for him to be born. I had an epidural which I'm glad about as like my first they ramped it up until I was contracting 6 times in 10.
So it was a 4 hour labour, not as easy as 3 but easier than 1 And 2, I suspect if I actually ever went into spontaneous labour it would be quick and easy but that's unlikely.

My fourth was also not as easy as my third but easier than 1 and 2! Fourth was only one back to back hence not as easy as third!

First labour was 17 hours.
2,3+4 all less than 3...all at 40 weeks.
Beware after pains were hideously worse than labour. Someone should talk about them!!

Oh how lovely!

My 4th baby was and remains to be the most stubborn child ever!

1st, 39 weeks indication 6 hours from first contraction
2nd, 42 weeks induction and exactly as above
3rd, 42 weeks induction, 20 minutes from 1st contraction!
4th, waters went nothing happened. In for induction 48 hours labour, 24 hour wait for induction due to busy labour suite. 22 hours after drip went up he finally graced us with his presence!
Worth every minute

@THATbasicSNOWFLAKE how funny. Now how was your 5th so I know what to expect for June!

@BurningBenches, fifth was the worst of the lot (so far) sorry

Oh man!

I'd go in with low expectations. I was quite annoyed when it became apparent i was not getting an easy ride

1st 4h 20mins
2nd 2h 30mins
3rd 45 mins
4th well due to SPD and the last one only being 45 mins we decided I would go to hospital (last two were home births) and have an induction, I had a gel at 11pm on my due date, by about 2am I was gritting my teeth as the pains were a bit sore and I didn’t want to wake the other sleeping women!! The MW said this is your 4th baby isn’t it? We will take you to the labour ward just in case. The pains weren’t actually they bad (with the others I didn’t get a build up to labour or a break in contractions they were horrendous start to finish). First time I was examined I was 5cms, I asked for my waters to be broken as I was fed up, approx 5 mins later DS was born, it wasn’t that bad, those last 5 mins were a bit intense.

Thank you all for sharing your experiences!

I am convinced this one is going to be early. Had a lot of pressure earlier, I was too scared to go to the loo incase he just came out there and then...

And wow @sweetkitty that does sound intense. My 3rd was a bit like that, I remember asking DH to take her off me within minutes of her being born, as I think I went into a bit of shock with her coming so quickly.

@THATbasicSNOWFLAKE I generally do, my body is pretty good at growing whopper babies but pretty rubbish at the actual releasing them into the wild. I can't imagine this one will be any different and I'll be induced at 41wks.

@Snowymcsnowsony I am absolutely dreading them already, I remember them being horrific after number 3.

@powpurry I'm lucky I've never had them in 4 births. I'm setting myself up for them this time aren't I?

1st was 7hrs after waters broke, vaginal delivery, epidural, scary DD heart rate kept dropping and was resuscitated.

2nd was 18hrs after waters broke, vaginal delivery, epidural.

3rd was 5hrs after water's broke, vaginal delivery, no pain relief.

4th was 9hrs after water's broke, could see on monitor I was having contractions but felt nothing. I had one massive contraction and he took everyone in room by surprise by literally shooting out of me 🤣

@Seasidemumma77 wow! My contractions have always been manageable up until about 6/7cm, then I just lose control then coming through the transition phase. Where the shouting and swearing occurs! It was all over very quickly last time though, I didn’t even realise she was out! (Gas and air)

First (7lb6) was 10 days late, very quick and resulted in third degree tear. Oh and pooed inside me so needed watching for a bit.
Second (7lb7) was 8 days late, even quicker than her brother and was an unplanned and unattended home birth. And another third degree tear (not quite as bad as the first)
Third (6lb6) was 1 day late. Waters went at 7am and I spent the morning bouncing on the birthing ball. He finally started making progress after lunch and I had a beautiful and relaxed planned home birth mid afternoon. Only a second degree tear that time which was stitched at home.
4th (7lb7) was 8 days late. Went for a sweep and was twingey all afternoon. Contractions finally kicked in at around 8:30pm and he was born less than two hours later in another hone birth. It didn’t feel as relaxed as number three but I think that’s because he needed a bit of encouragement to breathe properly. There was some pretty vigorous rubbing of his chest for a couple of minutes. Luckily no stitches required!

My fourth birth was the easiest of them all, I really enjoyed it! It was my second home birth. It was the first one where I had done an online hypnobirthing course beforehand and that really helped me to focus on my breathing and relax. My labour started the same way as them all with my waters breaking first, only this time it was another 3.5 hours before my contractions started as opposed to my others where they started straight away. Once they did start they came quickly. I was comfortable bouncing on my birthing ball and focusing on breathing through my contractions. After one hour 15 minutes I got into the pool and it felt like such a good pain relief. I felt able to hold off that gas and air until I got to the pushing stage. I gave birth leaning over the side of the pool, it felt like the most natural position and I could feel him moving down with each contraction which really helped. He was born into the water 2 hours 20 minutes after my contractions started, and I guided him up to me out of the pool. Our children came to meet him before he was 5 minutes old and it was just such an incredible experience.