Second/third babies - slower labour?

[ballena]

Hi ladies!
I'm just curious about your experiences... I had a really fast labour with my daughter (just over an hour in total) and I'm now 38 weeks pregnant with my second. I've been advised that my next labour is likely to be quick again, but obviously no-one can predict or guarantee that.

I was just wondering - is there anyone who has had a slower labour second or third time around? Or is it almost always faster?
Thanks for your opinions! x

 

[george83]

Wow that's very quick! I had a four hour labour with my first and had been worried about an even quicker one this time but I've actually read lots of stories of people having slower second labours so I'm trying not to worry this time, if it happens it happens! How far are you from the hospital?

 

[Guppy051708]

Hmm...well im not sure how to answer.
From my water breaking to first contraction with DS1 was less than 10 minutes. Then i contracted anywhere from 2-5 minutes apart for the entire duration of labor. But i didn't get into active labor until about 15 hours later. I was in transition for 9 hours and pushed for 6 hours. The reason why is bc he was posterior (face up) and asinclictic, so it took a long time just for that.
From my water breaking to first contraction with DS2 was about 18 hours. Then i contracted pretty regularly until about 30 hours in. Then finally i got to 4cm at 30 hour mark. So it took a long time to get to active labor but once i got to active labor, it was 1 hour 15 min from 4CM to PLACENTA. so about an hour of active and baby arrived. I only pushed for about 15 minutes.

so in some ways my second labor was faster, but then in others they were very similar (~30-32 hours post waters breaking, naturally) . I would say though, as a whole, DS2 birth was faster, especially considering the large differences in the active labor porition of each.