When you think about your labour...

[fingers_cross]

do u have positive or negative feelings?

Everyone I know seems to have negative feelings towards their labour/s. I know I was very lucky and had an absolutely wonderful straight forward labour, I can imagine if it hadnt run so smoothly it might have left me with bad feelings.

Thought id do a poll just out of curiousity

 

[MrsButterfly]

I was very lucky and everything went pretty smoothly, progressed well and just had gas and air. Now that the memory of the pain has gone, I think back on it very fondly as the most incredible experience and almost look forward to hopefully doing it all again!

 

[Tacey]

Both were amazing, but Arthur's home birth was especially so. It wasn't straightforward in that he had shoulder dystocia, but I felt in control and confident throughout it.

 

[Siuan]

My natural, active, waterbirth with delayed cord clamping, immediate skin to skin turned into an invasive, long winded induction with failed pain relief, back to back contractions, being tied to the bed (by a drip and constant monitoring) and an eventual c-section. I still feel bad that I lost out on my rite of passage by not giving birth vaginally and I wish I'd been able to have that immediate bonding experience with my little girl.

I was of course over the moon to have my baby with me, but it was entirely against everything I wanted and I mourned that for months. I still feel sad now about it.

But, I will do it again and I will expect the unexpected next time. VBAC here I come!

 

[mrsbeano]

I was expecting it to be very different and much worse. I was in early labour for about 10 days with a lot of regular contractions and false starts. Active labour (contractions being 1 in 5 etc) was only a couple of hours long and I ended up with no pain relief and being in hospital for an hour before he arrived after a stressful car journey!

They closed my hospital and I had to go across town in rush hour hence the stress so that wasn't to plan but as I left the house I thought 'ooh I think I'll get an epidural if I've got another 6 hours of this getting worse.'

In a way he came too quickly and I got a third degree tear but it wasn't helped by some inexperienced midwifery. In saying that I recovered very quickly and never had any discomfort or issues with the tear. The only thing that was horrible and much worse than the labour was being examined to decide if I needed to go to theatre. It was excrutiating as I had no pain relief still

As a result of the tear and the fast nature when he arrived we were both shell shocked and I was very weak and I didn't hold him until I was out of theatre. I was then numb and couldn't do what I wanted to with my baby and was very reliant on busy nurses.

To conclude my essay... It was nowhere near as painful as I thought and I immediately said that I would do it again but there are things that I would change.

 

[jessicatunnel]

Positive feelings for sure! I loved my labor and would definitely do it all again!

I was induced at 38+1 due to PIH. I was put on pitocin at 6am, they broke my water at 10am and at 3pm I was still only dilated to 1cm. I wasnt progressing and started worrying I would get a c section. Contractions hurt but were still bearable. At 5pm I was only dilated to 3cm and contractions hurt like hell! Still didn't want the epidural yet though. At 8pm I had gone 14 hours with no pain medication and was still only 3cm. Contractions were getting worse so I got an epidural, I KNOW I could have gone without it though. After I got the epidural I dilated from 3cm to 10cm in two hours and had my baby at 10:55pm after only two pushes. She was immediately put on my chest to breastfeed and bond.


Can't wait to do it all again!

 

[Monalissa]

My labor didn't go as I hoped but it wasn't horrible either. I really wanted to try without an epidural but my labor stalled. I knew once they started pitocin (my water broke hours before contractions started and we were coming up on 24 hours) I wouldn't handle it. I was having a hard time w/o an epidural at 7cm as it was. But I pushed her out in less than a half hour with only a first degree tear. I was terrified of an episiotomy and c-section and neither happened - so I was happy for that - but still disappointed in myself at the same time for not trying harder without the epidural.

 

[Hunbun]

I voted awesome because although there was things about it I may not have chosen, I still had a really good experience.

Nathan was back to back, I would obviously have changed that had I any say in it.
Other than that it went great. I went in with a totally open mind to everything and I didn't really have a 'plan' as such, so I think that certainly helped me feel more positive about it.

 

[x_WelshGirl_x]

I loved my Labour and giving birth, it was straight forward with no complications and no pain relief. I'd do it all again tomorrow if I could.

 

[katherinegrey]

Negative feelings definitely. My birth was like something out of a horror film! First I wasn't dilating properly, then I wasn't contracting properly either and had to be put on a drip, then he was back to back and stargazing so the pain was excruciating, then I had a failed epidural and had to get two which bloody hurt, then he had foetal distress and my cervix had to manually pushed to 10cm as it was quicker than sending me to theatre for a c section, then I had to push without being ready to and without having the urge to, then it was episiotomy to get the ventouse in, then he was stuck so it was forceps and then I lost a LOT of blood, it was all up the walls, and then he ended up being 9lb 3oz, at least my LO came out safely in the end though.

 

[Sparrow85]

Mine was horrible. I always said before I gave birth, that as long as LO got here safely, it didn't matter but it really was horrible.

My active labour was only 4 hours long so I had no pain relief and I hated the gas and air, yet the midwives kept forcing me to use it. I tolerated the pain by squatting on the bed but when my waters broke, there was meconium so from then on, I was resigned to lying flat on my back, hooked up to monitors. It was terrible and so, so painful. LO then had the cord around his neck twice and his heart rate was dropping, so I had an episiotomy and forceps delivery. A full neonatal team were on hand for him being born and my OH didn't get to cut the cord I will never forget the feeling of him being pulled out by those forceps. Apparently, they numbed me but I felt every bloody bit of it.

I always imagined that the moment my baby was born would be the best moment of my life and I would cry tears of joy. Instead, I cried tears of relief that it was over. I was quite depressed over my birth for a couple of weeks afterwards but I've got over it now. I actually can't wait to do it all again so I can have a second chance.

 

[Feebie]

My experience was not what i had hoped for at all. I was rushed in by ambulance at 40+3 with severe preeclampsia, induced and hooked up to various drips. I felt completely spaced out from the blood pressure medication which really scared me.. plus I was flat on my back the whole way through which I hated.
Even though it was such a bad experience, I cant say it was bad enough to stop me wanting to have more!

 

[NotNic]

I am very positive about my labour. I had a lovely experience up until the last 3 hrs. Their attempts at turning F (without pain relief) was eye watering, and then the wait for theatre was horrid, especially as I knew he wasn't coming out on his own and at that time I could have done with some drugs. But my experience in theatre was positive. With forceps we pushed him out and I was with some of the nicest drs, nurses and midwives I could have wished for. I felt like I was good at labour and I really look forward to doing it again.

 

[jade1991]

Negative feelings here too. Wasnt anything like I expected, or like you hear other people talking about. I wanted a water birth with only G&A, wanted OH to cut her cord and wanted to hold her first but I had emergency forceps, doctors cut her cord and I was too scared to hold her Was beyond my control though, so I couldnt have done any different!

 

[Louise88]

I had an easy labour and birth the only bit I remember struggling with was when I was crying through my contractions on the way to the hospital but was fine once given gas and air

 

[Noelle610]

It was awful, at least for me. I went in to get induced and my water actually broke. Great, right? Not really. Baby was trying to come out and fast, but arm first. I had terrible contractions while an OBGYN I had never met tried to reposition the baby manually. They then told me I'd need a c-section and gave me a spinal. Then they CHANGED THEIR MIND and asked me to PUSH despite being completely numb from the chest down, which is basically impossible. I pushed for upwards of two hours and eventually delivered with vaccum assistance and a resident literally pushing my baby of me by putting pressure on my stomach and sliding her down. I had a 4th degree episiotomy and the midwife tried to tell me I only needed ibuprofin as pain medication. It sucked.

 

[Banshee]

First labour was horrendous ended in emergency c section under general anaesthetic due to pathological heart beat for ds1. Cried for weeks afterwards.
Second labour was not as bad but still not good - failure to progress after 36 hours of induced labour including syntocinon drip ending in another emergency c section.
I voted mixed though as time's a great healer I find.

 

[ktod]

I was imagining the worst to happen before I went into labour so when it all went well it felt pretty amazing. Unfortunately it was the newborn part that was awful for me instead!!!!!

 

[Lola90]

So positive! I'm not really sure why though. I lost a lot of blood after and the episiotomy stitches were agony but I want to do it all again! It seemed to go so quickly and I went in thinking I really couldn't do it and I wouldn't cope and I ended up really proud of myself. I'd like to go back and be able to just watch it I suppose. I didn't go in with any plan or expectation so I didn't really have anything to let me down either.

 

[Daisy_Delayne]

I went through 12 hours of labour (not including two days of intense contractions) plus coupling due to being induced, end ended up getting a lousy c-section because the baby wouldn't descend and I hadn't progressed at all after 12 hours. However, I still smile when I think of my labour because it resulted in my baby coming out safe and sound!