I did. I don't have anything to compare it to, but overall I don't think the pain was that bad. I got to 5cms when I found the pain a bit much and asked for g&a. That's when they checked me and discovered I was 5cms and he was back to back. At that point I cried - in relief! I was feeling a wuss asking for something. Waters to pushing was 12.5hrs, but he got stuck and I ended up with a forceps delivery in theatre so my labour was 18.5hrs. The last 3hrs were very painful and intense but the worst bit was them trying to turn him not realising I had only had water and g&a. I coped on just that until I had a spinal. Had he not got stuck though I think it would have been okay.
Who had a back to back labour?
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hanibal766
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I had a back to back. It was horrendous. Still feel incredibly traumatised by the experience. My labour was 72 hours from beginning to end, I wanted a natural labour, ended up having pethedine, then epidural which didn't work, I wasn't dilating, they gave me a hormone drip, then once I was dilated I had to wait over 2 hours to start pushing, once I started pushing for 2 hours the baby had turned sideward and face up, so ended up being rushed to theatre and having an spinal block, then a ventouse and episiotomy.
In a few years I would like another but am terrified of it happening again.
In a few years I would like another but am terrified of it happening again.
I had a back to back. It was horrendous. Still feel incredibly traumatised by the experience. My labour was 72 hours from beginning to end, I wanted a natural labour, ended up having pethedine, then epidural which didn't work, I wasn't dilating, they gave me a hormone drip, then once I was dilated I had to wait over 2 hours to start pushing, once I started pushing for 2 hours the baby had turned sideward and face up, so ended up being rushed to theatre and having an spinal block, then a ventouse and episiotomy.
In a few years I would like another but am terrified of it happening again.
Are you in the UK? If so you might want to consider requesting a copy of your birthing notes and asking for a review meeting with a midwife who can take you through what happened. You might find it helpful to have a chance to ask questions. I know talking through what happened helped me loads as I couldn't quite work out the timings.
hanibal766
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I had a back to back. It was horrendous. Still feel incredibly traumatised by the experience. My labour was 72 hours from beginning to end, I wanted a natural labour, ended up having pethedine, then epidural which didn't work, I wasn't dilating, they gave me a hormone drip, then once I was dilated I had to wait over 2 hours to start pushing, once I started pushing for 2 hours the baby had turned sideward and face up, so ended up being rushed to theatre and having an spinal block, then a ventouse and episiotomy.
In a few years I would like another but am terrified of it happening again.
Are you in the UK? If so you might want to consider requesting a copy of your birthing notes and asking for a review meeting with a midwife who can take you through what happened. You might find it helpful to have a chance to ask questions. I know talking through what happened helped me loads as I couldn't quite work out the timings.
Thank you, I requested my birthing notes but my midwife seems to have forgotten about them and now I've been signed off. I think I need to see them and go through them as I feel this will be a bit of a debrief for me to be able to move on from the experience.
I guess the best healer is time. X
WelshOneEmma
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I had a back to back. It was horrendous. Still feel incredibly traumatised by the experience. My labour was 72 hours from beginning to end, I wanted a natural labour, ended up having pethedine, then epidural which didn't work, I wasn't dilating, they gave me a hormone drip, then once I was dilated I had to wait over 2 hours to start pushing, once I started pushing for 2 hours the baby had turned sideward and face up, so ended up being rushed to theatre and having an spinal block, then a ventouse and episiotomy.
In a few years I would like another but am terrified of it happening again.
Are you in the UK? If so you might want to consider requesting a copy of your birthing notes and asking for a review meeting with a midwife who can take you through what happened. You might find it helpful to have a chance to ask questions. I know talking through what happened helped me loads as I couldn't quite work out the timings.
I didn't realise you could do this. I am quite curious about mine as don't remember much.
Main thing that's upset me about Emilia's birth is that when they used the ventouse and forceps they cut her head (its now scarred) and they also ripped the muscle in her neck.
Absolutely you can. There is an admin fee and it is capped at a maximum of £50 across England & Wales NHS (I dont know if its the same price in Scotland and NI) which includes postage costs, photocopying etc. To give you an idea of cost I had a labour of 18.5hrs, starting in a birthing suite before being transfered to labour ward and then theatre, but my waters went the day before so there would are notes relating to that and my induction (which didnt happen). I was charged £25 for mine. You just need to email / write to PALS at your hospital (details will be on the hospital website) requesting them quoting your NHS / patient numbers, the dates your are enquiring about and your address. I didn't have my patient numbers but they still found me. They'll then send you confirmation of the cost so you can pay them. I would imagine your hospital's PALS would also be able to help you with your debrief.
The Birth Trauma Association has lots of info about support too and might be worth a look. x
The Birth Trauma Association has lots of info about support too and might be worth a look. x
mercedybear
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I did and it was the most painful experience ever, even in early labour I was getting very strong contractions felt in the back and unbearable. The hospital sent me home for 2 days and injected me with morphine which still didnt help the pain.It lasted 3.5 days without being able to get an epidural until day 3!!!! I wasnt dilating enough for 2 days and even after having my waters manually broken and being given a high dose of pitocin I didnt progress enough. Long story short I had a horrible,painful labour experience which ended with alot of drugs and an emergency c-section....
No childbirth classes or advise from anyone would have prepared me for what I experienced! I think back on it and still shudder......
No childbirth classes or advise from anyone would have prepared me for what I experienced! I think back on it and still shudder......
HopeforFuture
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I had a back-to-back labour. I don't know if I was in any more pain that what I would have been if my baby was in the right position, as this was my first child, but the pain was like nothing else I've ever experienced. It was excruciating! My baby got stuck in the birth canal and with each push progressed a cm down and then bobbed back up again! It was awful! I was advised not to receive pain relief of any kind as, my baby being big AND back to back, the midwife needed me to push as hard as I could. I was pushing like that for 4 HOURS(!) as there was no doctor on hand to offer a forceps or ventouse delivery. I eventually managed to push hard enough and frequently enough to stop the bobbing action and baby was born naturally. The midwife said she couldn't believe what I had been through when it was all over and was astonished at my resilience and determination. TBH, so was I!!!
Iveneverseen
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2 back to back babies and a breech baby for me.
HopeforFuture
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OUCH!!! xxx
MissMaternal
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Both my babies were back to back during labour but both turned before they came out. I'm the worlds biggest wuss but managed both on just gas and air xx
My baby was back to back. I got to 10cm and pushing with absolutely no pain relief at all. I had to have an epidural after 45 mins of pushing to give me a break because baby wasn't descending. I slept for a couple of hours, pushed for another 2 hours and 30 mins before ending up with a c-section. it turned out he was totally wedged and was also 9lb 11oz so I think I did well considering.
My doc said I basically had the full experience; full natural labour med free, medicated labour and then a c section. I must be a tough cookie
My doc said I basically had the full experience; full natural labour med free, medicated labour and then a c section. I must be a tough cookie
My baby was back to back. I got to 10cm and pushing with absolutely no pain relief at all. I had to have an epidural after 45 mins of pushing to give me a break because baby wasn't descending. I slept for a couple of hours, pushed for another 2 hours and 30 mins before ending up with a c-section. it turned out he was totally wedged and was also 9lb 11oz so I think I did well considering.
My doc said I basically had the full experience; full natural labour med free, medicated labour and then a c section. I must be a tough cookie
I also forgot to add that my contractions were on top of one another. My midwife asked me to try and only push on every second one to stop baby getting distressed (it worked neither he or I were distressed when we finally gave up and opted for the section). I also had a doula which helped immensely.
preg_pilot
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Had a similar experience as Bella, I had 24 hours at home first, then into hospital for 14 hours more. Fractured coccyx, failed epidurals (leaving my paralyzed and with hypersensitivity on the right side - aka, immense pain there), leaking spinal fluid, and a stuck baby.
Didn´t progress at all without syntocin, went on that from 2 to 10cm in those 14 hours and ended up with a spinal block and ventouse. I remember the relief I felt when the spinal block worked... was worried it wouldn´t.
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3 nights of no sleep leading to 52 hours back to back labour .. No pain relief until the spinal block for surgery, he got temporarily stuck at 6cm, then transferred to another hospital at 9cm when he got stuck completely, failed forceps as they wouldn't clip together, successful forceps, rushed to theatre for an episiotomy .. my god that was not in my birthing plan 
