# How was your birth experience?



## mrs_park

Just thought it would be interesting....

I found my birth absolutely traumatizing! It was the best and worst day of my life!


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## alc316

I was very lucky and had a short, "easy" labor and delivery:cloud9:. Am interested (and afraid) to see how the next one goes! :shrug:


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## bumpy_j

27 hours, dry labour without any sort of pain relief till near the end, and my friends mum who took me to the hospital didn't leave the room for the whole thing which was super awkward especially since my OH and mum were already there. I HATED IT, next time I want an epidural done it naturally once know what it's like and don't need to do it again. :D


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## cowboys angel

scary, fast, dramatic...and I'd do it over again in a heartbeat. My birth story link is in my signature for details


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## Lilly12

Mine was great tbh.
34 hours of back labor and a home birth.
Being at home was amazing!


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## nullaby

My first was emergency csection at 31 weeks and it was horrible. My 2nd was a VBAC and absolutely amazing. I was epidural free until the last min when i started to doubt my vbac was possible. So happy i proved one of the drs wrong who told me to "just get another csection" I still have some perineum pain but that was the best day of my life.


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## ann89

Horrible :( Induced and no pain meds (wasn't able to).


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## Brieanna

Horrible and traumatizing. Back to back labor. 24 hours med-free labor at home, then went to hospital for 6 more hours then pushed for 3 hours and ended up having to get a emcs anyway after all that work because she wouldn't fit! The epidural failed so I had to get general anesthesia and didn't get to see/hold/nurse my baby for several hours. Even my mil saw my baby before me, which kinda made me jealous tbh. I am still in pain.

Still it was worth it and I like how they still left it a surprise if I had a boy or girl.


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## mumandco

My first one was on paper truly awful but I thought it was amazing! I went 15days overdue had my waters broken and the contractions came thick and fast and very painful I had g&a and pethidine after 7hours of labour bAby got stressed got ru shed down to theatre given an epi for a c sec but ended up having a ventouse birth down in theatre! AS in hospital for 5dAys before signing myself out the epi had paralysed my bladder!


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## mumandco

With ds2 1 day before my due dAted I started having contractions woke my oh up and told him I thought I was in labour,determined I was so had a shower washed dried Nd straightend my hair lol phoned up hospital they sId they'd phone back but they never did next thing I know my waters break phone the hosp they tel me to go in,we drop ds1 off with my dAd and off we go get to the hosp and stRted pushing in the lift,get into delivery 35 mins later After 6 1/2 of hours of labour baby was born! Few hours later we go home I even carried my own heavy hosp bAg didn't feel like I had a baby! It was amazing


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## charlotte-xo

I wont bore you with the details lol but it was horrificly awful is that even a word :lol: I can honestly say ive never ever experienced anything like it and never wish to do so again :haha: I will say though after allthough the pain was reaaaally bad when i saw him (sorry to sound cheesy here) but it just all faded away :cloud9:

<3


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## lozzy21

To keep it short, it was the worst experience ever.


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## emilyjade

both of mine was amazing and id do it all again in a heartbeat x


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## MiuMiow

Sleepy... Contractions started at 8.15 am, by 10.30 the doctor decided on emergency caesarean (LO was facing the wrong way, cord was wrapped around etc...). I'd had an epidural an combined with the anesthesia and months of sleepless nights, I just zonked through the whole thing :blush:...


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## Sarah_

I had a horrible time, I found it really traumatic I am not sure I have really come to terms with it yet, I am not really sure the OH has either. BUT we are already talking about when to have the next one:haha:


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## minibeast

it's really sad that so many girls have traumatic births. mine was too


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## Lettuce

Traumatic too... :( I was fine during it happening, but struggling to cope with it now. :(


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## blinkybaby

mrs_park said:


> Just thought it would be interesting....
> 
> I found my birth absolutely traumatizing! It was the best and worst day of my life!

Technically my labour was 'easy' (no intervention) but I too was traumatized and it was awful! I was pushing for 2 hours which was the very worst bit, Louie ripped my bits to pieces as well which wasn't nice!

I think I'm just a wimp because so many other ladies had more traumatic births than me! I think I just wasn't mentally prepared, I was so frightened.

xxx


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## bathbabe

I loved it, i could of pushed out quads :haha:


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## emzky90

My labour was amazing, went overdue so induced at 41 weeks they broke my waters at 8am and id had her by 12pm. 4 hours in labour 24 mins pushin =] loved it x


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## anna1986

my daughters birth was very traumatic

waters went @ 35 weeks - checked @ hospital not in labour but had 2 stay in - 30 mins laters ended up being rushed in for emergency c-section n knocked out due to a prolapsed cord - Sophie was delivered within 2 mins of them putting me to sleep and i didnt get to see her as she was in SCBU until she was 5/6 hrs old :(


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## Thegirl

Booked in for a home birth. Midwife popped in to have a quick check how I was after three hours of labour, baby was in trouble, transferred to hospital, crash c-section, they got my little man out with just five minutes to spare according to the cord tests. They don't know what went wrong.
I was asleep so I think it was more traumatic for my other half.


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## pinklizzy

Mine was just odd! I was admitted due to contractions (breech baby and c-section scheduled for next day) Spent most of my labour in the ward bathroom as I didn't want to wake the other ladies. MW's ignored me as I wasn't making 'enough fuss' until my waters broke, by which time I was 10cm and pushing!


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## Starmoon

So bad that I would NEVER do it again. I was in for 6 days being induced, my epidural failed an had to be resited when I was about 8cm and in agony. My placenta would not come out and I had to have it torn out by hand in theatre (I was not fully asleep) and lost 2.5 pints of blood which they decided after saying they would, not to replace. So for a few weeks postpartum I had zero energy at the time I really needed it. It was horrendous and a wonder that I didn't get PND.


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## Lover

Best day of my life, amazing experience and I can't wait to do it all again. My waters broke at 7am, I gave birth at 10.30pm after 45 mins of 'established' labour :)


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## xSophieBx

Traumatic... Well the actual labour bit was easy going once I'd had the epidural, but the pushing bit was horrific(forceps and episiotmy, narrowly missing a emergency section). Would do it all over again for her any day thou :) x


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## supertabby

Awful.. and I didn't even have a single contraction.

I was hoping for a water birth, I had a straightforward pregnancy with no complications. I was a week overdue and had just had a check up where everything was fine.. when I got pain in my ribs. I rang the hospital who told me to go in, pre-eclampsia was diagnosed and induction started (the gel insertion was really painful as Isobel's head was in wrong position and I wasn't dilated at all).

I had two hormone gels and no contractions when my blood tests showed I had a rare complication of pre-eclampsia called hellp syndrome. It can cause liver rupture, convulsions, stroke and death and often involves a blood transfusion - fortunately I didn't know most of this until after! I had to have an emergency c-section under general. To treat the condition I needed a massive dose of drugs before going into theatre, the doctor said it would make me feel hot and flushed - biggest understatement of my life! It was like I was injected with fire... I could feel it move through my veins from the drip in my hand and it was like my blood was boiling! It was horrendous and made me throw up. Afterwards I had to have more of it for 3 days but in a slow steady drip so was much easier, however you can't have much liquid intake with it so I was only allowed an ounce of water per hour for 3 days - and it was so hot.

On the plus side though... my beautiful baby was unaffected by it all. She scored 9 on the first apgar and 10 after that. My liver was ok again 8 weeks later. I'm scared about having another though as if it happened earlier in the pregnancy Isobel would've been premature, and I am at risk of it happening again.


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## Mum2b_Claire

Contractions were bloody painful but I learned to manage them quite early on, I was in control the whole time, no interventions, and it was a very rewarding experience.


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## Lydiarose

traumatising and horrendous in hostpital for a week with pre eclamsia,in labour for 18 hours after 3attempts of induction the last pessary worked contractions came on vry very thick and fast and knocked m sideways i spent 5 hours in a bath wanting to drown with pain when they finally gave me the epi it was PARADICE the relief was overwhelming i worked for around 8 hours i had so many drugsand hormones oscars heart then stopped but luckily thank od picked up again.

My placenta wouldnt come out so had to have it taken out by hand ;sick: but at his point i wasnt botherd as i had my beautiful little boy!

Until i realised i couldnt wee because it was likeburning acd going into a wound whre a grazed for 3 weeks.


Plus the fact dan kept moaning about his foot hurting :dohh: :dohh:


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## BabyBoo36

Mine wasn't great, but not as traumatic as some. Went into be induced on the sunday. Due to no staff, I had to wait 36 hours between the 2nd and 3rd pessaries, so didn't dilate and eventually, my OH demanded to see my ob as nothing was happening. It took the staff 4 days to believe me that a) my resting heart rate is always slightly high, and b) they were taking my BP with the wrong sized cuff which was giving a high reading. During this period they made me have ECG's at 2am and all sorts. I also had staff tell me I was on my 2nd pessary when I was on my 3rd! I eventually ended up with a section (which was fine) but after, the paediatric registrar was a jumped up little a***e. Freya had some special needs, and wasn't BF'ing (due to a tongue tie they missed!) and she told me I couldn't go to the children's hospital with her as I wasn't breastfeeding. I'm not traumatised specifically, but I am meeting the hospital birth "Afterthoughts" service to discuss what happened. x


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## GeorgeyGal

It was completely unexpected, nothing went to plan, I had planned a home birth but LO was 17 days late, ended up getting induced which was manageable even though the contractions were all in my back I didnt know at the time but LO was back to back, after 10 hours of not being able to lie down because the contractions were back to back and intense, (I had my TENS turned up full and didnt even feel it was on!) I got an epidural as was exhausted and it was fantastic!!! 10 hours later fully dilated bubs not dropping so went in for c section which was great, I loved it, didnt feel any pain at all, epidural was just topped up, would have no worries having a c section in the future! 

Next time Ill throw away the birth plan, not go overdue so much, gas and air is fab, and go from there! x

The worse part by far was the stress of going overdue and being monitored, not sleeping for 2 weeks before the birth as unbeknown to me I was in slow labour, and the 4 day recovery in hospital was hell, I didnt sleep at all, was hot and noisy and half the nurses were moody. I was sore, struggled to breast feed, didnt feel I got much help at all, my notes were not accurate at all!

First 2 months I thought never again, now I cant wait to start trying for no 2!


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## LockandKey

mrs_park said:


> Just thought it would be interesting....
> 
> I found my birth absolutely traumatizing! It was the best and worst day of my life!

you're not alone there, mine was horrid and ended with a nightmare, only good thing was that DD was alive and healthy. I wanted an all natural labor and birth, so when labor started at 3 am, water broke at 5 am, I was ready. Everything was going well until I reached 5cm, then I had contractions on top of each other, it was horribly painful and my progression stopped because my body wasn't able to rest. I had to get an epidural, but I was able to avoid the pictocin that my doc threatened me with.

Right as DD's head was engaged, I pushed but she wouldn't come out, her heart rate was dropping, and before I knew it, a million people were in the birthing room. I was given an episiotomy without being asked and they first tried to get her out with vaccuum, when that didn't work they had to use forceps. They got her head out but her shoulders got stuck, her collar bone was broken in order to get her out. Basically she was much too big for my body, I'm 5'2 and 118 pre preg, and she was 8lbs 6oz and 23 inches long. Well I couldn't hold her after she was born as I was being sewn back up by a student, and then I wasn't able to bf her till 3 hrs after she was born. Her collar bone is now healed, but she needs to go through physical therapy. If I do have another, I may opt for a either an early induction or an elective c section to avoid going through the same experience a 2nd time


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## poplet

not great, waters went 3 days prior but no contractions until just before I got induced, but they stopped so I was induced, with terrible contractions at just 4cm - epidural done wrong and turned into dural tap, episiotomy and 2nd degree tear. Fair amount of blood loss, kept in for 4 days then home but had to return for blood patch as had terrible migraines due to dural tap. Still, the more weeks pass by the more I come round to the idea of going through it all again lol! I ythink had I managed to avoid induction I might have been ok, as I was managing contractions well until the midwife ramped up the dosage all at once - then I fell apart :(


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## Armymummy

*Traumatizing, scary, fast and has scarred me for life!!

xx*


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## SazzleR

Tbh mine was great. Quick for a first labour - 7 hours from waters breaking which was first sign to him being placed on my chest. And nowhere near as painful as I dreaded. Had G&A between 8cm & 10cm (was already 8cm when examined otherwise would pron have had it a little earlier!) but they tool it off me for pushing. Pushing was the worst bit. Went on for an hour & half. He was just not getting past the u-bend bit!!! Turns out it was cos he was big (9lb 1oz) and tried to turn too early so his shoulder tore me internally. But once they started talking about episiotomy & forceps, I pushed with all my strength & got him out quick sharp!


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## jackiea85

First time: horrific! Painful, begged for epidural but was too late, ended up with ventouse after pushing for 2 hours and getting nowhere, had an episiotomy that was sore for months, a post-partum haemorrhage and a blood transfusion.
Second time: Amazing! Went in to be induced, told them I was having an epidural as soon as labour started! In the end, did it on gas and air and it was over within an hour. Had a second degree tear but compared to the pain of my episiotomy it was nothing!x


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## Cupkake.Luver

It was awful because of what happened to me and LO. However it was the most beautiful day of my life because it was the day he was born.


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## Louppey

I had an elective c-section, and it was relaxed and absolutely amazing. Best day of my life, and i'd relive it everyday if I could :cloud9:

My story is in my siggy :)


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## lynnikins

first was 56 hours , very much an exausting experience that "failed me" ( how i felt ) because after all that he was still stuck and i needed episiotomy and ventouse to get him out,

second, induced and under 8 hours, aside from the induction which was pretty simple just one lot of gel then it was a beautiful experience and i loved it even with the spd making it difficult to get around 

could have done without the stiches both times though my body doesnt accept local anesthetic so i felt it all when they were stitching me up both times oWWWWW!


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## poppy

My first labour was quite complicated: 27 hours active labour with an epidural and needed forceps, leading to a near third degree tear. The placenta also stuck which had to be manually removed in theatre afterwards.

Second labour was amazing: done only on gas and air (the last hour), five hours in total and only two in the hospital - 14 minutes pushing and placenta came out on its own. Breathing techniques really helped and the pushing was no where near as painful as I thought it would be!


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## teal

Definitely the best day of my life but my labour and birth were awful xx


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## VieraSky

I had back labor, and it lasted for 18 1/2 hours, i pushed for 2 1/2, they used forceps and ended up having to have a c-section. Then, most of the nurses who took care of me for the next couple of days were complete crap.


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## mum22ttc#3

I was lucky, I loved all 3 of my labours, all at 3 hours something.
1st was induced with pethadine and gas and air, 2nd was back to back labour with just gas and air and 3rd was 'normal way' labour with just gas and air.
:flower:


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## blhanson1

x


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## angel2010

First of all I am very happy Carter came out healthy, but looking back I HATED everything about it! Nothing went the way I thought it would, I can't wait for my next one so I can have a re-do!


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## VieraSky

YES! I'm a diabetic and my nurses, especially the one on my last day there, obviously had no idea what the hell to do with one. If I had low blood sugar, they took half an hour to bring me anything with sugar in it. If I had high blood sugar it took them 45 minutes to bring me insulin! 

ALSO! When this one nurse went to clean an area of my skin, she was going to use iodine.....I am ALLERGIC to iodine! >:I


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## Lettuce

blhanson1 said:


> For the ladies that had traumatic births...do you feel that there was anything that the hospital staff or you would do differently to make things less awful?

No, actually, the staff were excellent, what happened was unavoidable, and thanks totem me and my daughter are alive, and I have the chance to have another child someday. X


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## angel2010

blhanson1 said:


> For the ladies that had traumatic births...do you feel that there was anything that the hospital staff or you would do differently to make things less awful?


Yes, they could have included me in the decisions made. They didn't seem to take me into consideration at all. I also feel that they did not explain everything fully. And after it was all said and done, know one asked me how I felt about it or if I was okay emotionally. Also as far as breastfeeding I feel like they were too quick to tell me to try nipple shields and to use top-ups of formula. I know that it has to be very hard for lactation consultants to find a happy medium, but I feel like these things set me up for failure.


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## cowboys angel

blhanson1 said:


> For the ladies that had traumatic births...do you feel that there was anything that the hospital staff or you would do differently to make things less awful?

Hospital staff? No, they were excellent. I was a celebrity that week. Apparently it's not normal for babies to be born in their mother's sweatpants. :haha:

My OB on the other hand........she pissed me off.


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## blhanson1

Birthing a baby into your sweatpants?! Hell yes you should be treated as a celebrity!


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## lucy_lu10

I had a good experience. :)
Got to 5cm dilated without even knowing it (aka silent labour), water broke at 6am in the morning after a full night's sleep, 5 hours of labour with some gas & air, 2 hours of pushing, and my son was born! Got up and walked to my recovery room an hour or two later and my hospital had awesome food!! haha
Looking forward to the next one! :happydance:


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## carla92

Loved every minute of it ! my midwife was eexcellent ! , 38 hours of active labour stayed at home 24 hours went to be checked was 4cms and said i would have to stay on the ward because delivery was full i said no ill go home, had two paracetmol went to sleep for nine hours lol, woke up at ten the next morning was at the hospital for 2.30 waters broke at ten to 5 and he was born at 6.29 :) only 19 minutes pushing no stitches or tears just a graze full natural birth not even gas and air :D would do it again in a minute


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## Cat_pj

I had a very good experience. Completely different to how I imagined it! I had wanted a very medicated birth, but now I'm SO proud of myself for just having G&A, and I had back to back labour. It was quick too. I'm so lucky I had an ideal birth (aside from posterior).

Can't believe how quickly I was discharged though! 3 hours after she was born I was out and it was sub-zero and 1am on a January night!!! 

Next time I'd love to go for a home birth :thumbup: if my OH would let me!


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## cowboys angel

blhanson1 said:


> Birthing a baby into your sweatpants?! Hell yes you should be treated as a celebrity!

Haha. All week it was "Oh YOU'RE the one that gave birth in her pants!" "You had no epidural????" "That last scream you gave out stole everybody's nurses from their bedside..." "IN YOUR PANTS!?!?"

It was quite the experience. There was no medical staff in the room when my daughter was delivered, lol.

But I spent the week before she was born calling my OB daily and telling her that something was different, this baby was coming soon. She kept telling me to stop worrying, I still had over a month to go, she wasn't coming. I kept telling her no, this baby's coming soon. The DAY she was born, my OB told me I was over reacting and to go take a nap. We barely made it to the hospital in time, thus her being born in my sweatpants.

And 2 and a half months prior to that, she didn't believe me that I lost my mucus plug and told me to go back to bed, only for me to race to the hospital an hour later to stop labor.

Grrrrrrrr


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## Charlie189

My labour experience was hellish! Was induced due to pre-eclampsia, it took 48 hours and 4 pessarys to be able to break my waters, even then, they couldn't find my cervix for ages and the pain of the internals was about as bad as labour!! 

She was back to back, and my contractions on the drip were all over the place, up and down like crazy, my blood pressure was far to high and they couldn't control it so i had to have an epidural. I was sick countless times during labour. 

Then when i reached stage two, i pushed for an hour, and her heartrate was dropping because the cord was wrapped around her neck! She wasn't moving because she was facing the wrong way, so they preformed an episiotomy and she was born via ventouse delivery! 
Then i was bleeding to much and it took them almost an hour to get it under control and stitch me up.

But it all worked out in the end and that's the most important thing.


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## Black_Rose

my birth was long and hard (30 hours which includes 6 hours of pushing). it was 100% back labor and baby was posterior. BUT it was the most divine experience of my life. It was an out of body experience and i can't wait to have that again! :cloud9:


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## madcatwoman

:wacko:tramatising!. i replay it most days in my head. i was induced and went from 0-100%pain within 5 mins. LO in the end was presenting face 1st so no-one really knew what to do!


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