Worrying about second labour after an induced first birth

[Nervousmummy2]

hey

I’m only 12 weeks tomorrow and I’ve already got a daughter who is 4.5 years old. In my first labour my waters started trickling at 36+2 and then at 37 weeks I was induced using the pessary then manual waters broke and hormone drip. I felt like I had some form of control until they threw a gown on the bed and told my partner to help me into it and I was adamant no not a chance never.

It was quite smooth to be honest I was really chill and really settled within the 5 days between slow waters/labour to being fully induced obviously the hormone drip hurt however if I knew I was going to go through all of that again the same way I’d feel confident

however I’m already worrying and dreading labouring and I’m not even due till October! I just have this fear that everything went marginally well the first time it could be so much worse the second time 🤦🏽‍♀️

I don’t even know what I want from this I know they say second tends to be faster and better but I’ve also heard some horror stories!

Congratulations on your pregnancy!

Pregnancy can be such a challenging time with hormones/ exhaustion and just not feeling in control.

Is there anything specific you’re worried about like your waters goijg early again or just generalised anxiety?
I can understand why you’re apprehensive but also sounds like you had a relatively nice birth as they go (unless I’ve misinterpreted the post) so I would actually re frame it as - you had a good birth last time, your body remmebered and knows what it’s doing more this time and go into positively. If there’s things about the first birth that are playing on your mind and your close to the hospital, lots of maternity units will do birth debriefs where they go through notes etc and explain everything that happened which some people find quite helpful.

I would try not to worry about the birth (I know easier said than done) and focus on all the lovely bits after - newborn cuddles/ holding baby for first time, tiny baby smell etc. and re horror stories I would ignore - bad news travels fast and the straight forward, non complicated births rarely spoken about in detail but the harrowing ones get repeated and repeated which can skew the reality of what childbirth is like for many people.

Hi, I had an induced first labour, was horrific. However really quick and easy second one that was lovely. Try not to worry too much, congratulations!

I think almost everyone feels like this going into their second birth. Because you don’t have the luxury of ignorance, essentially! It’s pretty normal, and you will be absolutely fine.

Hey
Thank you so much, it wasn’t on my bingo card but I always said I wanted my children 4 years apart and thankfully this is my last!

Thank you so much for your response,

I suffer with anxiety on a general basis usually so it’s kind of probably that doing all the thinking and talking.

I did have a positive experience besides the first half the first time round to be honest I had a lovely 8 day stay in total and even at one point they were like do you want to go home for a night I said absolutely not 😂.

I think for me it’s the fear of a c section, the midwife I had on my induction from 4-8pm didn’t really talk to me she sat on the computer and only really came over when the monitoring was off and she pressed the button which then flooded the room with Drs which is where my waters were broke. I then realised I had to wait till 8pm for night shift so you bet I held on to 8pm asked for pethadine and my baby was born just under two hours later to a lovely student midwife and a lady who was much more present in the room.

I was so calm on the run up and during everyone in my family were so shocked and because of COVID rules I only could have one birthing partner which I couldn’t fault him but I’m definitely taking up my mum this year because I know she will be the calm I need and he’ll be the strength.

I think from what you’ve said what I will do is talk to my midwife when i meet her ln May and tell her how I feel and also if I see the same midwife in October I will be sure to talk to the midwife in charge that day 😂.

It will be so lovely once the labouring is over I’m sure and the one thing I’m glad I’ve experienced is the hormones in the first few days to the first year.. I know what I’m heading into with those!

x

100% this. I found my first labour not a nice experience and quite traumatic and I was so so anxious about not coping with my second labour. But in the end, it went as well as it could have done and I ended up finding it quite a healing experience. I'm now a month away from DC3 arriving and having mixed emotions of "it might be ok vs it might not"... lack of control is hard to deal with alongside pregnancy hormones for sure. Most people I know had a positive 2nd birth story. Sending you positive vibes OP x

I had an idyllic first birth but was aware of how it could have been so different if a couple of things had rolled out differently.
My waters went before labour but baby was born within 12h so I didn't need inducing
I nearly have birth at home as I laboured quickly and had realised I was getting the urge to push. I was 10 cm when I got to the hospital and thankfully the journey to the hospital had slowed things down a little so instead of being born in the toilet at home she was born half an hour after getting to the hospital in the pool.
She got her shoulder stuck and I gave birth to a rush of medics running into the room as it was able to be freed without issues.

My second pregnancy was very different. I developed complications and became acutely unwell in my third trimester. I was having contractions from 32 weeks and had two threatened preterm labour assessments by 35 weeks and two admission for severe fatigue by 36 weeks. I had severe icp and most probably the start of hellp. At 36+6 they decided enough was enough and the induced me in the hope that my body was strong enough to give birth. I was unable to stay awake for more than an hour and spent nearly the entire day a sleep. I struggled to be awake enough to eat so was losing weight. They did a sweep the first day and a pessetry the next. I started to hyper stimulate with the pessetry so they removed after 4h. I laboured ok when I could stand but I kept having to sleep. I slept through most of my labour. I had the pessetry at 8pm and around 8 am I could no longer stand. Labour stalled and at 1 they had to break my water. By rapidly descend and went into distress. They lost his heartbeat for 3 contractions in a row with calls to press the red button. They did another exam and decided birth was imminent having gone from 5 to 8cm in 30 minutes. He arrived within the hour. He was born blue with the cord around his neck but was soon crying and pinked up nicely.

I am truly in awe about what the human body can do. Both births could have gone so differently but I feel blessed that on the days I got the best births that the circumstances allowed. From the moment I was diagnosed with ICP I knew I was going to need inducing. It gave me chance to think about what I wanted about birth. In the ended we made a plan based on my health which was lets give induction a try and if it's too much have a low bar to switch to a c section. I couldn't have an epidural as I had low platelets and I didn't have the strength for a long induction