How similar where your birth stories to each other?

[taylor1990]

At my midwife appointment yesterday she asked me about my previous labour and when I asked if this time could be totally different she said it's most likely to happen the same way it did last time but just to progress quicker as second labours tend to be quicker.

After thinking about it over night I'm actually quite shocked as I didn't think similar labours were as common as saying 'most likely' or maybe that's just because of my friends/families experiences?

Did yours start/progress in the same way?

My first started with reduced movement, contractions for 24 hours before they got strong enough to call maternity, another 6 hours of contractions at home before I was admitted and was 4cm then waters didn't break until I started pushing almost 12 hours after that.

She said because my waters broke when I was pushing last time that will probably happen again.

Anyone care to share theirs? Similar or completely different?

Unfortunately mine both became high risk and traumatic/ babies in special care. Both inductions, both long painful labours, both failed epidurals.
My second experience was worse and i didnt think it could get worse after the first time! Sorry op, i appreciate this is not what you want to hear and i hope you have a better experience! Everybody is different and there really is no way of calling it.

Forgot to say
1st was 28 hours
2nd was 20 hours

Mine were very different, but I think that’s mainly because DC2 was back to back and his head was tilted upwards, so he got stuck and needed forceps. Contractions also felt very different second time round, much more painful but took a lot longer to dilate. I wonder if this is also due to his position but I guess I’ll never know!

Yeah mine were quite similar but totally different too, the differences were down to the choices I made second time though if that makes sense. So long first labour.. made longer by stressful hospital situation and an epidural that meant everything slowed down and I needed a catheter etc so very 'medical'. Where as my second was a very quick very easy homebirth in water.
Contractions both started in the early hours and progressed the same and so on... just knew what I was doing second time around I think!
I would try not to worry, positive affirmations and imagining worked for me as well as faith in myself second time (and third hopefully!)
Good luck!

Same hospital, healthy babies, DH was there every time.

that's it.
7 kids, every birth was totally different

Very similar.
Both started spontaneously
Both a bit early, but no worryingly so (36+5, 39+0)
Contractions started and waters went at once
0-10 cm in 7 hours
Both ended in emcs, one with an epidural, one under GA.
Both resulted in healthy babies, one boy, one girl

Watching with interest! I’m 38+5 with my second, first birth was great, MLU water birth, waters went in the early hours before contractions started, had her that evening. Hoping for similar!

Mine were really different.

Dc1- contractions started on a Friday afternoon but didn't hurt that badly. Went in to the midwife led unit at 7pm Saturday and was 7cm dilated.

Had DD at 06:30 on the Sunday morning. Waters broke at 10cms and she was born 20 mins later after only 3 pushes. Very positive experience, lovely water birth, easy recovery.

DC2- was induced after a week of stop and start contractions, was in for three days before I was booked in for a csection at 8am the next morning.

1am I had a bath and when I got out my waters broke. Was checked over and was 3cms dilated. At 4am I was still 3cms but couldn't go on without pain relief.

Dc was back to back and I had an epidural around 5-6am. DS was finally born after over an hour of pushing at 16:30. He had got stuck and I had to be stitched up like an old blanket afterwards and DS has to be given oxygen as they couldn't get him to breathe. Was stuck in one position the entire labour. Felt like it took ages to recover.

I was not prepared for it to be so bad as everyone had told me the second time is easier and quicker so it all came as a bit of a shock to me when everything seemed to go wrong.

The second time didn't put me off for long though as I'm due DC3 next week. I'm hoping for a more relaxing first baby type experience this time.

I'm not trying to scare you with my "DC2 was a nightmare" story. I just meant that my two births were more different than I'd been prepared for so I don't think the talk of labours being similar helps as it can vary so much. I'm trying to visualise the different types of birth I might have and mentally prepare for each option.

I was so upset not to get my nice, pain relief free, water birth with DC2 that I really pushed back against the offers of pain relief when really I should have just gone with it a bit and I probably would have had a lot less pain and maybe a slightly less stressful delivery.

Mine were all totally different! First I had to be blue lighted to hospital from the birth centre because I was bleeding even before I'd had my baby. Resulted in very distressed baby, delayed hours because there was no Dr to check me, I was ready to push him out but I wasn't allowed in case I bled badly. I had totally retained placenta so had to go to theatre to have that yanked out (joyous)
Second, birth Centre, pool birth, really quick, lovely relaxing, absolutely perfect. Third should have been birth centre and in the pool but waters went with meconium so I was went to the main hospital and had her, nothing terrible but a lot more stressful than the second birth. First was 2 weeks early, second bang on due date and third 10 days late!

Totally different.

Dd1, straightforward pregnancy. Labour went wrong, she was back to back but the midwife had attached the heart monitor on the wrong way round and didn’t notice. She got stuck and I ended up with an EMCS. Went into shock afterwards and spent several hours in recovery. Didn’t even get to hold her until she was about six hours old.

Dd2 was born in about an hour and a half. Again perfectly normal pregnancy. Progressed so quickly I didn’t even get to have an epidural. Totally fine natural birth, no hanging around and no problems.

These are my fuller birth stories.

DC1: Planned home waterbirth with gas and air.

Was in early stages (1-2cm) for about 24 hours.
Contractions ramped up slowly, but I became unable to cope/fatigued/overwhelmed by about hour 20.
Decided to go into hospital to get pain relief (opiate) and sleep. This calmed me down a lot, although I was still very emotional.
On arrival at hospital, discovered that I was around 3-4cm dilated, so decided to go into pool room and carry on (didn't take pain relief at this point).
Dilated to 10cm over the next ~8 hours. Got into pool after 2-3 hours, started using gas and air 2-3 hours after that. All manageable.
Everything stopped. I did not know about the "rest and be thankful" stage (this can apparently happen between end of dilation and start of pushing in long labours) so I assumed I was supposed to push now.
Broke my own waters pushing(!) but nothing happened with the baby, so they got me out of the pool.
Was being shouted at by a lot of people to push and then suddenly not to push as I had a "lip", although by this point my body was pushing involuntarily and I had to be coached to breathe instead.
Then allowed to push again. End was a bit of a blur but probably took 20 mins crowning. I had a small tear/graze that was stitched up.

DC2: Planned hospital waterbirth proceeding to epidural if needed (no G&A, not UK)

Labour started by waters breaking, but contractions didn't start immediately. When they did start, they ramped up very slowly.
Was GBS+ so went into hospital at about hour 8.
Was in early stages (1-2cm) for about 13 hours. Became overwhelmed/fatigued by about hour 10 and asked for epidural.
Epidural siting calmed me down, but didn't actually kick in, so I started to panic and shout a lot again.
I was examined and they found I'd dilated from 1-6cm in an hour (!) and then took about another hour to get to fully dilated.
Everyone shouted at me because I was trying to push but I had a lip. Could not prevent my body from pushing until they gave me specific breathing instructions, which coincidentally were the same, I'd just forgotten - 10 year gap.
Once I was allowed to push I shot DS2 out in about 30 seconds because I did not want to experience crowning for any longer than necessary. They thought I'd torn but it turned out to be really tiny so didn't bother to stitch it.

So there are similar patterns there.

Long latent stage, leading to exhaustion, frustration and panic.
Promise of pain relief/resolution calms me down enough to actually begin dilating.
Dilating happens but stalls at the end, can't stop myself from pushing.
Once this "lip" opens, everything goes smoothly.

The main differences were that my waters broke at the end with DC1, at the start with DC2. Also the speed at which I went from 2-10cm, but the overall pattern was pretty much the same.

I found the second labour much harder. I felt like things were manageable with DC1 once they got going. The fast dilation was really hard to cope with especially with no pain relief.

Oh and I didn't have a "rest and be thankful" stage with DC2 :o I presume because it wasn't long enough to need a rest!

First labour just over 42 weeks at by the time he arrived. Week of contractions, pethadine, drip, epidural and ending in a cs
Number 2 I knew it was starting but only about a day of contractions, went to hospital, missed my pre op for my planned cs as I was busy pushing. 2 hours of pushing and an episiotomy. Much better second time. Much smaller baby though and only just over 38 weeks.