How about you?

[MiauMau]

As I'm having my very first baby, I have no guideline to how the birth will be apart from some wild guesses and some family stories. I now know both my grandmas, mum and sister's but, as an "egocentric" soul I would like to share my own birth story with you ladies and would love to hear yours!
My mum barely felt me moving throughout the pregnancy and hadn't support or any knowledge so it wasn't surprising at all that I was born at 40+23. Especially at a time that only a couple of hospitals in Portugal did c-sections (only 34 years ago, I'm not that old!) The hospital where I come from was too scared to even look at my mum and as I was breeched (apparently I was very comfortable sitting on her bladder) they packed her off to Lisbon all by herself. By the time they finally got me out, I was looking very old, wrinkly, the tips of my fingers were purpling up and hadn't a hair anywhere in my body!
Although I was born with a healthy weight (3.3kg), I lost a lot of it throughout the first few weeks, and according to the doctor, hadn't it been for my mum's sheer stubbornness by force feeding me breast milk I wouldn't be here to tell you this story.
All I can say is that with all the knowledge that I'm arming myself with for this birth is that I hope that I can be just as amazing as my mum was :)

Are you still in Portugal? Not sure what it's like there, but in the UK they usually don't let you got more than 40+14 now. Having said that there is no reason that you will go over just because your Mum did. My Mum's first baby was late and she had an horrendous time. My first was 38+1 and it was all fine, just a few small stitches.

The thing that I did was to read up on my pain relief options, so that I knew all the pros and cons and could decide as I went along through the labour.

Have you read any books like this one? What are your birth options like? Will you be able to have a homebirth or waterpool? There are some nice birth stories here.

If you are in the UK there are some Stats on Maternity Hospitals here to help you decide on where to give birth.

Congratulations too .

No, I'm in the UK.
Maybe I didn't explain myself properly, I'm not afraid that the same will happen to me, luckily I have a lot more support and knowledge that my mum when she had me all the way back in 77. I just thought that it would be nice to compare mum's to be and new mum's own birth stories to their children's. For myself, I'm hoping that I'll more like my paternal grandmother who had really quick painless births and was ready for the world in just a few hours.

Hadn't realised that sorry, perhaps you could start another thread, something like "What was your Mum's birth like compared to your births?".

I always find it interesting that my mum, her sister and I all had very similar first pregnancies and labours. Very easy pregnancies and very healthy throughout then we all went more than 2 weeks overdue (mum was 43+4, I was 42+2 and auntie was 42+1), all had an induction which didn't work and all ended up having a c-section. Even with the gel and pessary I never had as much as a twinge never mind a proper contraction. My mum was one of the first ladies at her hospital to have a c-section with epidural rather than GA and although the op went well the aftercare was shockingly poor - I was taken away straight after the op and she didn't see me for 24 hours plus they forgot to top up her pain relief so she was in a lot of pain during the night. Luckily my experience was equally as good during the op but the aftercare was also fantastic.

We all had girls first and both my mum and auntie then went on to have a boy - both of them went into labour around their due date the second time and had very quick easy labors. I am now pregnant with my second and I'm really hoping that I won't have as long to wait this time (by 42 weeks I was very bored) and of course a quick easy labour would be nice . I know it won't necessarily be like that for me but it's fun to speculate. I am hoping to find out the sex of DC2 in January and strangely I think that if it is a boy I'll be more convinced that I could have a normal labour this time around - we all joke about the lazy girls in this family who get very comfy and don't want to make an appearance!

JiltedJohnsJulie Having found ourselves agreeing on other threads, it saddens me to say you are wrong when you say in the UK they usually don't let you got more than 40+14 now

It is entirely the mother's choice as to whether she is induced at 40+14 (40+10 or 40+12 in some areas) or goes for expectant management and waits for things to happen on their own. None of this 'not let' please

MiauMau My mother went over 40 weeks with four of her five pregnancies, and I think was induced with two or three of those. My brother was born at about 38 weeks but the pregnancy was troublesome and he did well to stay put that long.

I don't know about my Nan. My Auntie (DM's sister) I think has gone reasonably close to her due date with all hers. My sister (problem free pregnancy) had her daughter very quickly at 38+2 and my DD was born at 42+2 (induction with lots of intervention) so totally different!

Fliss do know entirely what you mean and I didn't express it properly at all. It is entirely the mother's choice, its just my experience that how the information is presented to many women they feel that they have no choice.

As you say though it is entirely upto the woman and I did phrase it badly, sorry.

I hope I take after my Mum, she only went to about 38 weeks with all four of us! Apart from me (feet-first breech) all her births were apparently over very quickly.

With my eldest brother they didn't have a chance to get her to the maternity ward and he was born in the nurses' cloakroom. With my sister my stepfather didn't have time to drive the 20 minutes to the hospital between them ringing him to say she had gone into labour and my sister being born.

Not many details from my Nan, except that the midwife apparently told her that she was "the kind of woman who would give birth in a telephone box" - whatever that means! :)

Mikocat Good luck!!
My baby seems to be very unlike me, he (apparently) has been upside down for a few weeks now and is extremely active, so I'm hoping for a less drawn out labour than my mum's (fingers cross!)

Jilted No worries - it's just my pet peeve as like you say, many women don't know that actually they have a choice as it's never presented to them as a choice, so if I spot it somewhere, I stick my oar in

No worries and I had actually unwittingly added to the myth of no choice. .