# Second Labour Stories



## Louisa K

How was your second labour?

Is it true that your second labour will be faster than the first?

Was your second labour easier than your first?

Just trying to prepare myself! lol

:dohh:


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## xxema&bumpmjx

good post this i was thinkin the same xxx


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## honeybuns72

Yes definately for me anyway. With my first I had to have a ventouse and forceps delivery so there were loads and loads of stitches :wacko:

With my second son it was a lot easier. He weighed more than my first ( only just) but he flew out after a few pushes :thumbup: All the midwives agreed that because I'd already had one child it's usually much easier to give birth second time round.

My third son took ages to come out though but I would still say easier than the first so IMO the first was the hardest.

Good luck girls , I'm sure you'll be fine

xxx


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## trumpetbum

Louisa K said:


> How was your second labour?
> 
> Is it true that your second labour will be faster than the first?
> 
> Was your second labour easier than your first?
> 
> Just trying to prepare myself! lol
> 
> :dohh:

My second was Long but manageable.

Generally 2nd is faster I believe but my 2nd was an OP natural labour (well over 24 hours) and my first was induced and only 5 hours.

My second was easier as it was more relaxed and more manageable.


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## Sparky0207

Great thread, will be keeping my eye on this one! xx


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## Kirsti

My first was 19 hours start to finish and i loved every second of it :) My second was 11 hours start to finish and it was harder but certainly worth it :) xx


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## midori1999

My first labour was six hours, second 4, third 3 hours, so mine have got progressively shorter and I have been lucky enough to have short labours anyway. My contractions pretty much startd at two minutes apart each time. 

Second was easier, for several reasons. I knew a bit about what to expect, so it wasn't as frightening. I also had Dia morphine, which I suspect helped a lot, it was much better than the meptid (like pethidine but doesn't affect the baby as much) I had in my first labour. I also had a very supprotive and lovely midwife. 

The above is in spite of the fact that my husband had been working away and didn't get to the hospital until an hour before I gave birth, so I spent most of labour alone. I also had a bigger baby the second time, my first was 9lb, second was 10lb. I was with a friend during my third labour, as husband was away again. I am not sure if that had any effect at all, but some health professionals do feel labours are easier without husband's/fathers. 

I didn't have any intervention either time, although first baby had his hand next to his head when he was delivered, so they had to sort that out before his body could be born. 

I am quite looking forward to labour this time, althoough I migth change my mind once it is here! :haha:


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## bunnyhop

My 1st labour wasnt nice at all took over 24 hrs, my second from the 1st contraction till getting to hosp was 2 hrs and i was 8cm when i got there i had a loverly birth


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## Conkers

My first labour was around 14 hrs long. My second one was round about 7 hrs and started with my waters breaking so was much more painful from the start.


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## priddy

Oh definately, my first wasnt that long at 7 hours with episiotomy but second was 47 mins, midwifes had just checked me and said was no where near and 5 mins later I needed to push and they could see head, after that it was quite easy and only a very tiny tear with no need for stitches!!!


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## Louisa K

priddy said:


> Oh definately, my first wasnt that long at 7 hours with episiotomy but second was 47 mins, midwifes had just checked me and said was no where near and 5 mins later I needed to push and they could see head, after that it was quite easy and only a very tiny tear with no need for stitches!!!

47mins!! Wow!! That's a record surely!! :thumbup:


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## Tasha

My second was soooooo much better. My first was 27 hours in established labour, awful experience with an epidural. My second was 1hr 30 minutes from the first contraction to baby being born, with no pain relief. My third was 45 minutes from first contraction to end (with a paracetamol for pain relief lol). My fourth was an induction with a hard posterior cervix so went from 0cm to 6 cm in less than 2 hours when I needed a section, all of the subsequent labours were much better as I knew my body and felt much more in control.


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## Ley

Second labour was much shorter, first was 3 1/2 hours, second was 45 minutes.
Second labour was all natural as opposed to having everything aside from an epi in my first.
second labour was much more relaxed than first
oh and first labour waters broke before labour began, second labour waters broke as head was born
xx


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## X.EMMA1984.X

I have been wondering about this too. My first was only 7 hours so hope i follow the trend and have an even shorter one this time around!!


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## bubbles

this is making me feel better. Really hope I have a short labour this time, anything below 36hrs would be nice :haha:


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## carmen

Great thread ... i m going to be watching this one. My first was not how i wanted it, ended up having epidural which made me not mobile for almost 20 hours and then i ended up with vacuum and epstiomy (spelling? lol). So i am a little bit anxious this time around but so determined not to have pain relief.


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## kerrie24

my first labour was 6 hours,induced and my second was 3 hrs from pains waking me up and only 50 minutes after getting to hospital.


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## MrsP

Love this thread. Hope its true for me, this is my 2nd baby and my first labour was 8 houes - induced. SO hopefully we can better that time x


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## faun

My first was 18 hours start to finish and my second was 2 hours from first contraction to birth i got to the hospital 38 mins before she was born my waters broke 8 mins before she was born and i was pushing for only 4 mins. My third was a different experience i was in slow labour for 48 hours before he was born and my waters didn't break and i was pushing for 2 hours.


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## GersPrincess

My first was just over 7 hours and was incredibly hard, I spent over 2 hours trying to push him out but didnt get that "urge". I dont know if this was because of the pethidine or not though.

My second was just about 2 hours and much easier, despite my little girlie coming out upside down! She flew out with a couple of pushes. I only used gas and air that time. And really felt the urge.

My third, bless her, was 35 mins from first contraction to her being born, between the ambulance pulling up at the hospital and her being born was only 6 mins !! Not very comfortable being moved from an ambulance trolley to a hospital bed whilst crowning I can tell you!! I barely even had time for gas and air. (mind you, she was 15 days late and due to be induced the following day)

The very fact that my labours have got so much quicker and easier is the main reason I'm not having a 4th baby lol.


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## babythinkpink

In my experience it gets easier!

My first, days in labour, epidural, induced, forceps, cut, tore, stitching inside and out, blood transfusion, not good at all!

My second, induced, gas air and pethidine, 6 hour labour, born in 1 push easily, no stitches.

My third, induced, gas and air, 3 hour labour, born easily in 1 push, no stitches.

My fourth, not induced (yeeesss!!) gas and air, 5 hour labour, born in a few nice controlled easy pushes, dh was napping during my labour it was that laid back!

I really prepared for my second, i did yoga, and the breathing and relaxation helped me so much with all of them.
The body goes into auto pilot and you have done it b4 so it is so much easier, faster and you recover so much faster.
If i had to give any tip it would be Relax and Breath!!

Good luck everyone!:hugs:


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## wannabubba#4

Hi ladies

I too am hoping for a progressionin ease of labour lol -although I know everyone can be different.
My first - 24 hours + pethidine -made me hallucinate and vomit and I was so terrified, legs in stirrups, lots of stitches and 3 days in hospital due to bad reaction to meds, about 7 days later until i felt like myself again lol

my second - 8 hours, G&A home next day, no stitches felt good

my third -2 hours, baby arrived less than 10 mins after arriving at the hospital (much to the delight of the student midwife who was due to go off duty about the same time lol) - home 4 hours later, went to my older son's nursery family day, felt great lol.

Hoping for one similar to number three this time lol


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## sobersadie

My labour were 4 hours, 2 hours and 3 1/2 hours respectively. 2nd labour was the quickest but also the most painful because he was 8lb 10oz (first baby was 7lb 9oz and 3rd was 6lb 4oz) and he had a huge head!! I enjoyed my 3rd labour the most as i did it only with gas & air and didnt feel out my face like with the previous 2 with diamorphine etc.


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## Kiree

Great thread! I had 17 and a half hours from my waters breaking, v painful and irregular contractions, episiotomy, forceps and blood loss. I'm hoping this one is less of an ordeal!

Can I hijack a bit and ask- some of you ladies have said your body knew what to do 2nd time round.. do you think this would still apply if you had an epidural first time? Just that I couldn't feel to push so I'm windering if it would feel familiar to my body even though I didn't consciously experience it.


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## babythinkpink

Kiree said:


> Great thread! I had 17 and a half hours from my waters breaking, v painful and irregular contractions, episiotomy, forceps and blood loss. I'm hoping this one is less of an ordeal!
> 
> Can I hijack a bit and ask- some of you ladies have said your body knew what to do 2nd time round.. do you think this would still apply if you had an epidural first time? Just that I couldn't feel to push so I'm windering if it would feel familiar to my body even though I didn't consciously experience it.

Your body still did all the stuff, you just didn't feel it with the epidural, I had epidural first time round and would never again, it totally left me nothing to feel and i couldn't push when i needed to.
My second it was brilliant feeling the urge to push, its overwhelming and brilliant!! :hugs:


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## Kiree

Thank you babythinkpink, that's what I was hoping to hear! X


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## Lliena

My first labour was 12 hrs and I was induced, hoping to not be this time and that its much faster :D


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## tuesday

My labour went quite well which lasted 6 hours from first contraction. I was quite terrified at first as the contractions started strong and fast and i think i lost control a little bit from that pressure feeling kept running to toilet and didn't want to take pants off as i felt safe with them on...lol

I want a silent, calm birth (the ones you see on home and health :) ..) am i asking for too much?


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## Hoping

Oh god, I am so worried about this, first time I dilated from 1 to 9cm in just 20 minutes! I dread to think what will happen this time!


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## Aimster2908

i am hoping second labour isnt as bad! Only a 12 hour labour from waters going (and contractions starting) but my LO came out with hand on his head and gave me a 3rd degree tear! So my "normal" delivery ended up in theatre.

3 weeks to go, so hoping for a quicker birth with no epidural!


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## mumof1+1

Super thread, very informative however everyone is so different grrr!!! My first labour was easy, I went in at 8.45am 4cm dilated and she was born at 12.55pm, labour started at about 12am but wasn't painful at all, survived it only on G&A. Requested homebirth this time and hope its either as easy or easier than the first, either is good with me :D xxx


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## allanaMummy..

hey guys, my first labour was 3 and a half hours.. i was so lucky but i live like an hour away from the hospital so when the second one comes i hope i make it there. lol
xx


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## lynnikins

my first labour was a very long drawn out process, recorded from my second trip into hospital at 13hrs45min but they had confirmed i was in labour at my first trip so from that mark it makes it 50+ hours of labour 2 hrs of pushing and ventouse delivery with episiotomy, 
so its understandable that i want this one to go a bit quicker, but im 4 days off my due date with no signs whatever appart from slight effacement pains a couple of times a day and the odd BH but nothing strong or crampy and im starting to get down


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## karenmack

I hope I am like most ladies and have an easier 2nd labour. My first to be fair was not that bad was induced in the end due to waters breaking and being lazy and not contracting!! Actual labour was about 4 hours and hardly any pain relief was amazed and in awe that my body just seemed to know what to do! Heres to happy labours xx


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## Louisa K

Thanks to all who have replied, I think overall it does seem that second labours are faster and sometimes easier than first labours. My first was only 4 hours so I probably shouldn't hang around this time!

And as Karenmack rightly said, heres to happy labours!


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## lottie_2007

My first i was induced at 37 weeks after my waters breking, labour was 7 hours in total, this time i got to 39+6, my contractions started at 5pm and i had him at 9:25pm, i got to hospital at 9:17pm so in my notes my diagnosed labour was 12mins with delivering the placenter too! Definately quicker! I'm demanding to be admitted to hospital on the first contraction if we have a third, i think i'm licky to have very wuick labours!
Also lottie was 5lb13, ventouse delivery, episiotomy and stiches- Harry was 7lb7, natural delivery, no tear/stiches etc! :hugs:


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