Second Labour's - were they as painful as the first ?

[DefNotYummyMummy]

Just wondering about your experiences.
My first was c-section.
Second was VBAC. Didn't prepare at all and boy, did I know it. Screamed through the lot of it. Trying to be a bit more organised this time with the third as people seem to say that breathing and relaxation techniques can help.

I need to do something as last time it really wasn't pleasant. Epidural didn't work and I would prefer to go natural if I can.

Any tips gratefully received.

xx

Mine were both as painful as each other - but second time was so much quicker that it didn't seem as bad.

Also because I wasn't pushing for as long (10mins instead of 2hrs) I wasn't nearly so sore afterwards.

SO it ain't all bad. Agree that relaxing and distraction help. Had first at home with no distractions. Second time I went into hospital and found the car journey helped as I was distracted and didn't focus on the pain as much.

I did worry more the second time because I knew how much it hurt and there's a certain inevitability about it when you know you have to do it again! But I spent far more time worrying than the labour actually justified iyswim.

2nd was very quick so sort of more painful as it was very intense, also DS was
8lb 7oz as opposed to DD's 6lb5oz so I was certainly more aware of the pushing stage.

However, water, aromatherapy oil(suggested by MW) tens and a bit of G&A really helped.

Good luck.

1st was hellish. 2nd wasn't even in the same league, not nearly as painful.

Second was more painful as my epidural didn't work!

sorry but mine went in reverse order of painfulness!

1st was long but manageable... never really felt overwhelmed by the pain (frightened due to things going wrong but that's not the question) Only time it hurt unbearably was when they tried to get me to push on my back.

2nd was long as well but i found the pain towards the end far more intense and came closer to not coping that time... turned out he was back to back and stayed that way to be born.

3rd was incredibly painful from the moment it started and the contractions were close together, strong and long for the whole six hours.

All that being said i never felt i couldn't cope without pain relief, didn't use g&a as i didn't like the thought of feeling whoozy.

The trick is to just concentrate on one contraction at a time, each one you get through is one closer to it all being over. Focus on the out breathe and just relax into the pain. Use the time between contractions to rest before the next one... walking is all well and good if it's slow and not very painful but if the contractions are draining you then it's best to rest between each one.

2nd was a breeze in comparison to my first very long and very painful labour.

my second was much, much better. my first was hideous and when it was over i was lying there croaking that i was never going to do it ever, ever again.
after number 2 i was high as a kite and wanted to get pregnant just so i could have another fantastic birth! lol

like you i was very unprepared for my first, i screamed a lot, i had a lot of pain relief which led very quickly to a cascade of intervention which in turn caused problems with breastfeeding. it was not good.

second time around i read a lot about gentle birth methods, positive thinking and visualisation. I breathed my way through contractions and kept rtying to remind myself that they'd be over soon. It was astounding.

I also think that being at home helped a lot for me because I was a lot more relaxed in my own surroundings, and the 2 midwives I had were just fabulous

Still can't believe with my first natural birth I just turned up on the day - I don't know what I was hoping for !

I was in agony for 4 hours and pushing for 20 minutes. The pushing was a doddle compared to the rest.

I just hope I can cope this time around. I need to learn relaxation techniques and breathing.

Thanks for your stories. Still hoping it wont be so bad.

xx

Problem is, you never know how it's going to go. DD was only 6lb 3oz (average sized head, mind)!