What was your SECOND birth like?

[akgrown]

Bump

 

[PepsiChic]

first was natural in hospital at 40w 6d's, from first contraction to birth was 6 hours 53 minutes in total.

second was in the front seat of my truck on the side of the road at 40w 1d,from first contraction to birth it was 3 hours 30 minutes.

 

[Eleanor ace]

Was it better or worse than your first? Better in that I got more of the birth experience I'd hoped for (water birth, DH there from the start and labour starting naturally) and tore less. But more painful lol. But still manageable
Longer or shorter? Longer I think- DS (number 1) was 6 hours start to finish. With DD (number 2) I had contractions through the night which were pretty mild. From 7am they got progressively stronger and she was born at 1.39pm. I was 8cm when I got to hospital so I'm not sure how long I was in active labour for, but on my notes they guestimated 7 hours.
Earlier or later (weeks of pregnancy)? Earlier. DS was born at 42 weeks, induced. DD was born at 41 weeks, spontaneous.
Did you have more drugs or less, and why? Had gas and air for both.

 

[kelmarie33]

I cant wait to be able to put my second labour and birth experience. I'm so hoping it goes well with no interventions like I had with my ds. This is a great thread. X

 

[hellohefalump]

1st birth, 8 hours, 39 weeks, healthy 8lb baby.

2nd birth, 8 hours, 38 weeks, back to back terrible ordeal. Babys heartbeat Wasn't monitored and he came out with an apagar score of 2. They brought him round though and we ended up with a healthy 8lb baby. But he slept for a whole week not even waking for feeds and had to be fed by a syringe. They said this was because his birth was traumatic for him. Don't mean to scare you but that's what happened, I'm angry he wasn't being monitored while I was in labour.

Gas and air both times.

 

[bubbles123]

1st baby 2 days of pre labour/mild contractions, about 12 hours of labour. I got to hospital at 9cm dilated. Just gas and air. Tried to push for 2.5 hours, had no desire to push at all, just tried to push when they told me. Contractions started to die out so they put me on the drip (synotocin or pictocin, not sure which) hell with just gas and air! Baby didn't move so was a ventouse. Baby was back to back. 2nd degree tear. 6.13oz healthy baby.
2nd baby pain started just after midnight and baby was born about 8am so about 8 hours. Got to hospital at 10 cm so told to push straightaway, had no desire to push. They were worried and said baby was too high for ventouse and my contractions started to die out so they tried forceps but it was too painful for me (I had no pain relief). They wanted to do the drip but I said no as I know how awful that is with no medication. So they decided to take me to theatre and give me a spinal and another try with the forceps. The forceps worked this time, the spinal was amazing. Back to back healthy 8.3oz baby with an episiotomy.
Oh, my first was born on his due date, my second was 10 days late.

 

[lucy_x]

Lucy, what's your secret? Sounds amazing! Was that a home birth or did you get to the hospital really quickly?

i reckon its raspberry leaf tea (and im being serious!!), and a lot of self belief. I was in to be induced so had had my waters broken. But they couldnt feel my cervix dilating or effaced at all, 57mins later they were shocked!

 

[MummyNovember]

Im expecting my second in June and ive been getting more nervous this time round then I was with my first. I know what's coming that's why lol also i had a good labour an birth with my son. He was 10 1/2hrs with a prolonged 3rd stage which resulted in an episiotomy as his head was sideways. But i still class it as being a good labour an birth. This time round i have it in my head i won't b as lucky! Been trying to think positive an posts like these help just want to sneeze an she comes flying out! Lol

 

[Maria1234]

First labour 28 hours, induced at 38wks due to PE had epi and had to have ventouse.. Didn't even feel one contraction but was given a lot of drugs to control my blood pressure.. After birth I was in hospital for 5 days. Very scary but all worth it.
Second labour which was last Sunday!!! Started contracting at midnight and went to the hospital at 1am and gave birth without any drugs at 5.15am!! Was out and home by lunch time... Very different to the first and I was so scared as everything happened so quickly that I didn't have time to get any pain relief but amazing amazing experience

 

[Amygdala]

I thought I'd just bump this, maybe there are some new second (or more) time mummies around?

 

[NDH]

My first my waters broke at 40+9, no contractions for about 8 hours, went in for monitoring, they weren't happy with her heart rate so was induced 30 hours after my waters went. Though I was a stretchy 3cm with contractions 5 mins apart by then so pretty close to active labour on my own. She was born 8 1/2 hours later, 6.5 hours active labour. Worst parts were 2 hours not being allowed to push and then 2 1/2 hours of pushing due to being exhausted from not pushing. But no drugs and no assistance were necessary.

My second was almost a week earlier at 40+4. Time from first contraction to birth was 7 hours and 10 minutes, active labour was an hour and a half. So fast and easy and I laboured pretty much entirely on my own except for the last half hour when I started to go through transition. The major difference between my labours was that my second was breech. But also I think that just pushing when I had the urge and not getting checked and possibly told I wasn't allowed to made all the difference. My first labour could have been up to 4 hours shorter if I'd listened to my body IMO. No drugs for the second labour either .

 

[OmiOmen]

My first was a planned c-section mainly because DS1 was breach but I also had pre-eclampsia, strep-b and basically issues from start to finish in the pregnancy. The recovery went well; I was up and about the next day and the day after that went home and did my weekly shopping on the way back.

My second was supposed to be a VBAC and after going overdue I was induced. At only 3cm I was in agony and had to ask for an epidural which didn't work. Suddenly the pain got even worse and I knew I was about to die and got the MW to get the doctor. He could see any sign of anything wrong but DS2 had showed a normal level of decelerations and I was not progressing well so he suggested an EMCS. I was put on code amber but then DS2 showed major signs of distress and I was put on code red and rushed into theatre. When the surgeon cut into me he yelled "S**t" and I could feel what he was doing was not a normal c-section; his hands were at the top not bottom of my bump and it was slightly painful not that washing up feeling. It turned out I had uterine rupture and DS2 was outside of the uterus only still alive by luck that the placenta had attached to the top of the uterus. I had bad tearing in my uterus, vagina and bladder although they thought the damage was even worse to start with. I now have to were a catheter for a month to help fix some of the bladder damage. Not only is there the huge physical trauma but the emotional ones too for me and DH as in theatre is really seemed like me and DS2 were not going to make it and every doctor we have talked to said we almost didn't.

So in my case it is fair to say that my second delivery was substantially worse. Of course what happened to me is really rare but I have found the whole experience very traumatic. So although I planned a vaginal birth I never got more than a few hours of labour before it went wrong.

 

[Tasha]

My second was sooooo different to my first. My first I was being induced at thirty-six weeks for pre-eclampsia. Forty-eight hours from first contraction to birth, twenty-seven hours of that was established with an hour pushing. I had an epidural with him. I tore and needed ten stitches.

My second I went in to be induced for pre-eclampsia and whilst waiting for a bed went into labour, pretty much immediately the contractions were two minutes apart. Ninety minutes from the first contraction to holding her, about twenty ish minutes of established labour. One push and she flew out so fast her cord ruptured. No pain meds. No tear.

(My subsequent labours were faster too, three was 45 mins from the first contraction to holding her, fourth was one hour induction from 0cm to 7cm, then needed a section and fifth was 15 mins established).

I have to say I've never had after pains after any of my five.

 

[xsadiex]

Mine was so much quicker!! It was a 4 hours long compared to 37 hours! It was very intense because of this and I wasn't quite as relaxed as first time round. I did I without any pain relief this time round though. No tears pushing was a bit quicker too. I lost a litre of blood but recovery had already been easier x