Tell me about 2nd time labours

[Ivortheengine8]

Was yours quicker?
By how much?
Easier?

I am hoping mine will be quicker this time around :) , am now 29 weeks and starting to think about the birth.

I also wondered how long you stayed in hospital after the birth?
I had to stay in 24 hours with dd because she had meconium(sp) in the waters. I hated staying in overnight!

Finally if you had an episiotomy with your first did you have one again with your second?

Thanks :)

Mine were completely different.

DD: slow early labour for about a week. Suddenly into full scale labour and she was 2.5 hours first contraction to birth. Third stage didn't happen and ended up in theatre after 5 hours of fiddling; PND and a very sad start. Utter nightmare :(

DS: Sweep at 40 wks. 1st stage 4 hours, second stage 16 minutes (!), 3rd stage 40 minutes (as I couldn't be arsed to move!). Third stage entirely natural with no intervention. Best thing I ever did! I just lay there cord attached breastfeeding my boy til I felt the urge to stand up and out it came. In my case, my body is very efficient at childbirth (so say the midwives) and it's best to let it get on with it

Second time is so much better, you know the system and know what you want.

Good luck!

First DD I was induced (with just gel) as was border line pre-eclampsia, but was already in labour when I arrived for induction - just didn't realise, very mild contractions and 1cm dilated. After induction DD was born 8 hours later, had a cut (twice as she couldn't get out, and second time without anesthetic, ouchyyyy!), stayed in for 3 nights because midwives wanted to make sure my blood pressure had returned back to normal - it had within half an hour of birth so was not too happy about being kept in. Was booted out after a midwife who knew what she was doing came on shift!

Second DD I woke up at 3.15am to find my waters going but no contractions, rang hospital who told me to come in for a check, so had a shower, dropped DD to my sisters, contractions now quite strong, got to hospital and DD was born in the examination room at 4.56am, no pain relief, tiny tear, 1 stitch and home later that day for cuddles with my big girl.

Expecting number 3 and planning a home birth as not too keen on giving birth in the car!!!

DD1, 2 days of early labour then 7 hours active, one hour of pushing in there.

DD2, 2 days of early labour then 4 hours active, one of which was pushing as she was posterior all the way out and bloody hard work to get out!

1st labour, straight-forward 10 hours. Waters broke, contractions started immediately and survived on gas and air and pethidine.

2nd labour, 17-hours with DD2 lying back-to-back. Was a complete nightmare from the beginning as the labour ward was full of emergencies, so was on the ante-natal ward. The midwives kept telling me to be quiet and told me i was being silly when i said something was wrong. DH wasn't allowed to stay with me and when he came back at half 7 in the morning, i told him something wasn't right and he barked at the midwife who finally put a monitor on DD2 to discover her heartbeat was dropping and not picking back up.

Was rushed up to labour ward and things were progressing but got stuck at 7 cm from 11 to 14 hours. They gave me epidural as i was in complete agony and pain relief wasn't working, took me into theatre at 16 hours to prepare me for an emergency section as her heartbeat was very low. Discovered she was too far down and gave me a drip to speed everything up and one hour later I had her. My placenta was torn, which caused me problems a couple of weeks later and at 6-weeks DD2 was diagnosed with a hole in her heart. It did heal itself at 18-months, but the consultant said it was likely to have been caused by the stress she went through during labour.

Thanks ladies.
what a horrid time you had michglas. It brings that programme a week or so ago on maternity wards back to mind! Glad your dd is doing well now though. Is it normally a very busy ward?
Slinkymalinky - you make it sound so easy!

I am not the person to ask! Although second time is easier for most people, so much depends on size/lie of the baby. Odds are that it will be easier for you, I hope so, best of luck.

Thanks beatofthedrum. :) did you have an awful time?

ivor not easy at all! I was completely silent with dd but went all out with the mooing with ds! My dh didn't move out of the way either so I clamped my lovely nails into his hand and held on tight

With DD I was in hosp for 36 hours before I discharged myself (stupidly, I really should have listened and stayed in for another day), with DS I was offered a 4 hour discharge but had to wait for a senior midwife or paed to come on duty so I was actually there for 12 hours.

Second time is easier/better though. You know what's coming up so you feel more in control; for example I knew that things would move quickly with me so as soon as I got twingey I had a shower and got myself prepared. Just this small thing made me feel so much better. With dd I thought I had hours to go (all first babies take at least 10 hours apparently ) but I had a bed bath after birth (just bloody awful) and didn't get a shower until 24 hours after she was born.

I hope you get the labour and birth you want. I actually have fond memories of birthing ds...that's probably a bit wrong isn't it?!

DC1: about 12 hours, gas & air, straightforward labour, pushed for approx 1h, episiotomy, in hospital for a week (baby a bit poorly). Seemed to take ages to recover from epi.

DC2: about 15 hours, gas & air but seemed much more painful, baby OP, threatened with EMCS, pushed for 20mins, baby born face up, second degree (almost third) tear. But up and running within a couple of weeks.

So, although I felt a little cheated as I had expected a quicker and easier birth than DC1's relatively quick and easy

Aargh!

...birth, the rapid recovery more than made up for that. Second time round seemed soooo much easier to heal. Perhaps that was a tear vs an episiotomy though.

Good luck

No Its not wrong to have find memories of a not so easy birth

I thought tears happened less so now because episiotomies were more common or is it the other way around?
Does a tear heal quicker then rainy?

My late pregnancy and then birth experiences v different first and second time round

1st time - started getting high BP from about 34 weeks. In and out of hospital from 35 to 38 weeks and told it was PE and I would be induced. In the end DS decided he was going to take charge and waters broke (spectacularly ) at 38+2. Had niggles all day and by 6:45 proper contractions. Went to delivery suite about 9pm and he was born at 2:50am the next morning. His heart rate went v low, had scalp sensor thing and they decided he needed forceps (along with the episiostomy) to get him out. He was fine, but I lost 3 pints of blood, had a second degree internal tear and got sewn up in theatre for 2 hours afterwards. Also had an epidural after the birth and had alarming moment to look down and find my legs were like -- which I had no idea they could do. Had a transfusion later on that day and stayed in two nights (had been in hospital for 5 nights before his birth so was ready to leave). Also found out I had GBS so DS needed some monitoring but had no problems.

2nd time no high BP. Had a sweep at 40+2. Woke up at 6:30am next day. By 6:45 am was having definite contractions so woke DH about 7:15 I think. We got to hospital about 9 or so and when I got examined a while later was up to about 9cm. Took a while for me to push properly but DD was born at 1:26pm. I didn't need any stitches :) I think I could have come home later on that day but I wanted to have a night just with her (and the other people on the ward of course). Much better experience all round than with DS. I bizarrely loved the moment of crowning - it was a sensation I never got with DS's birth.

1st labour - 13 hours, MW-led birthing unit, laboured in pool with gas and air but delivered out of it (was supposed to be being examined prior to getting back in but DD1 had different ideas....). 2nd degree tear, needed stitching and was a bit sore for a few days.

2nd labour - 6 hours, home birth, TENS for first 3 hours and then got in hired inflatable pool. Hardly any pain for first bit, last hour more ouch-y than first labour, but then baby was 9lbs 10 oz as opposed to 8lbs 5.... Second stage only 5 mins though so it was all over very quickly. Had 2nd degree tear again but better than first time and they stitched to be on safe side more than anything. Felt so much better the following day and recovery much much faster.

So, to answer your original questions, much quicker, much easier - more painful at the end but for much less time.

Fingers crossed for you!

First - 7 weeks in hospital due to pre eclampsia

3 days inducing

24 hour labour ending in theatre with forceps in case they didn't work there was going to be emergency cs. was in hospital for 4 more days

DD - went into labour about 6.30 at 37 weeks, went to hospital at 8 and she was born at 10.42. and went home lunch time the next day.

First labour - 8 hours start to finish. Had pethidine and gas and air. Slight tear in the end that needed stitches. Recovered in 8 weeks.

Second labour - 25 hours start to finish. Had gas and air, pethidine, epidural (which they tried to site about 6 times and then failed to work ), ended up having a spinal, episiotomy then forceps delivery. Had to stay in hospital for 2 days. Loads of stitches, an infection which took about 6/7 weeks to clear up. Was horrific. Took almost 3 months to fully recover from that horrible experience.

Third labour - 1 hour 40 minutes from waters breaking to having DD2. Only used gas and air, slight grazing, no tears and no stitches. Took a blissful 4 weeks to recover.

So my second labour was by far the longest and most horrific. I had to go into hospital when I was pg with DD2 and couldn't even get up to the maternity ward as I was crying, shaking and having panic attacks at the thought of going back up there again.

However, saying all of that, I think it was the experience rather than the birth itself. They broke my waters and left me at 3 cm for nigh on 12 hours. When I asked for epidural (because by then I was hallucinating) I was refused about 6 times and then, the icing on the cake was when the MW came in, lay across the end of my bed and told me to push (when I didn't need to) before falling asleep.

I'm sure you'll be fine though because most people I know all say the second is by far the easier, I don't believe them though

I didn't have a good experience Ivor, thanks for asking, but my second was a big boy (head 98th percentile) and he got stuck. My first was a petite girl and a pretty much average birth as far as I understand. I didn't expect an EMCS second time BUT I was unlucky, the last thing you need is horror stories. Most of my friends have had positive second births. Wishing you all the very best and I hope you go into it in a positive mindset (I found it hard to do that and I do think it must make a difference, in getting through the early stage at least).

In my (vast!) experience, yes, my 2nd, nearly 3rd degree tear healed so much better than my episiotomy.

But, not sure how much of that is down to knowing what to expect second time round IYSWIM. Also, I was in hospital for a week with DC1 and all that time sitting/lying around make things worse I think.