What I learned in my 3 L&D's is that.....

monkeyqueen

No two Labours and Deliveries are the same - or even remotely the same and that I'm jealous of women who have had a couple of L&D's and theirs were comparable!!!

My three were all SO different and I even more strongly believe that you can't predict how things will go!     Even if it is a second, third, etc. birth, it's hard to predict.

I feel like I've learned so much about myself and what I can do from the 2 epidural free and the 1 epidural deliveries that I've had.  It's quite empowering knowing more about myself!  I don't know why I wanted to share -- maybe it's because my hormones and lack of sleep are making my emotions go haywire --- lol!

Anyway...carry on... I was going to give details of the births, but I'll just leave it at this and if anyone has questions -- go for it...I'll probably answer, but I can only answer from my experiences!!!     GL on your upcoming L&D's ladies!!!

~adamwife~

I totally agree.  With my first I had an epi - 18 hours of labor total - 2 hours of pushing.  With the second I didn't have any intervention at all - 7 hours of labor - 2 pushes.  Both births were amazing and wonderful and I learned different things about myself each time.

I love love love the L&D process.  I can't wait to do it again, as I'm sure it will be completely different and I will learn even more about what I am capable of.

Jessica*Fletcher

I'll bite:

What was your 3rd labor like in comparison to your 2nd? Length of labor, time spent pushing, etc...

monkeyqueen

1st:  17hours:  water broke during transition, pushed 2.5 hours, used vacuum to assist (I was becoming incredibly exhausted), and needed an episiotomy at the end, because I was in danger of a HUGE tear (this dr. is VERY against routine episiotomy).   Absolutely no pain-meds.

2nd:  9 hours from first contractions, but water broke 9 hours prior to first contractions.   About 5 hours into labour, I went to the hospital thinking that I was ready to push (contrax. were incredibly intense and the urge to push was becoming overwhelming) - get to the hospital and I was only 3 cm dilated... waited a while longer and made it to 5cm - but I was extremely exhausted from trying not to push, so I opted for an epidural.    Pushed for 30minutes and had a 1cm tear.   I had no other interventions with this one -

For these two, I was Group B Strep +

3rd:  total labour was about a few days, but the contractions were incredibly mild.....   Hard labour started at 11:30pm and Dominic was born at 1:37.   I got to the hospital at 1:05 fully dilated and did not get an epidural..  Waited to push until Dr. got there (I'm incredibly proud of myself that I was able to hold off that long).  Pushed 10 minutes and baby came out!   I had a 1st degree tear.   The contractions and urge to push were incredible and crazy intense, but it was short lived with this one.

eta:  with my last, my water broke while I was pushing... and while I was waiting to push, I used nitrous oxide a couple of times to help get relaxed and to calm down....it helped a bit (nitrous oxide in Canada is fairly common place to offer instead of epidurals..)  So, this one was *almost* med-free.

AlaskanKisses

I had a great delivery, with my daughter.  I labored for 13 and a half hours, and pushed for only half an hour the urge to push is incredible and so intense! lol but that is the greatest feeling, the pushing.  They also said that I had one of the strep things what is it?  I am going to do the midwives this time around, I am confident I can go through it again with no pain meds, and I think I will like the home like environment that the center has to offer.  They also let me tear horribly, up both inside walls and down the back side which I got an infection from and had to go back to the hospital  

CTL2005

I love hearing other people's birth stories.  Very cool...thanks for sharing.  My three labors have all been very similar...they just get faster. 

monkeyqueen

CTL2005:

I love hearing other people's birth stories.  Very cool...thanks for sharing.  My three labors have all been very similar...they just get faster. 

Just out of curiosity....was it fairly simple to know when to head to the hospital, then?    Or, could you tell based on pain/feeling/contractions about how dilated you were?    I think it's so funny how mine all went!  It would have been nice to have an idea of how far along in labour I was for the last two!

CTL2005

monkeyqueen:

CTL2005:

I love hearing other people's birth stories.  Very cool...thanks for sharing.  My three labors have all been very similar...they just get faster. 

Just out of curiosity....was it fairly simple to know when to head to the hospital, then?    Or, could you tell based on pain/feeling/contractions about how dilated you were?    I think it's so funny how mine all went!  It would have been nice to have an idea of how far along in labour I was for the last two!

With the first two my water broke and then contractions started soon after.  They were quick labors (7 hours and 3 hours) and I wanted to use the birth tub at the hospital, so we headed to the hospital soon after my water broke.  Labor #2 was basically just a shortened version of labor #1.

With #3 it was a little different because I was 6cm and 100% effaced at midwife appointment,  This made it really hard to know when to head to the hospital that was 45 minutes away.  When I started having BH's that did not go away with walking or with lying down, my husband insisted we go in and be checked since I was also 1 day past due.  At the hospital I was 7cm but had zero contractions when on the monitor for 30 minutes.  They said I was not in active labor and told me to get dressed and walk around for an hour.  I did and after walking around for an hour they checked me and I was now 9cm.  At that point I requested they break my water since I was ready to be in "active" labor.  Like the other two births, the water breaking started the intense labor contractions and he was born 45 minutes later.  S

So, #3 was actually really hard to know when to go to the hospital.  I am glad my husband pushed us to go when I was not in true labor, because I was dilating so far without having any painful contractions, or even contractions that registered on the monitor.  Once they broke my water at my request, it reminded me exactly of labor with the other two and pushing felt the same, just a little harder because this guy was a pound bigger.