2nd birth experiences?

ash484

I'm due in about 6 weeks with my second baby, and am planning a med free hospital birth 1st labor was a hospital birth with epi, pitocin, the whole deal. I'm soo excited to deliver naturally, but was wondering if anyone can share their labor experiences they had for their second? I'm getting anxious to see if it'll be faster/slower/totally different completely. I think hearing other stories will help =

StefandTodd

Maybe I was just more aware of impending birth the first time around, but the early pre-labor stuff lasted a little longer.  But that's the easy part I'm talking about!  The part where I was like, "Omg, I think that was a contraction...actually, I think I've been having regular contractions.  Interesting.  Can you pass the bread?  Thanks..."  The actual IN labor, needing to focus through contractions part of labor was about 1/2 as long as the first.  My water broke with my first at 8 cm, but didn't break at all with my second, which made pushing harder.  I don't know how anyone pushes out a baby in the caul!  But honestly, had they assisted in breaking my water that time, I imagine the pushing would've been a breeze.  As it was, once my water did break (after a few difficult pushes), he came out the very next push.

I had a second degree tear with the first, and no tearing at all with the second.  Recovery with the second was much easier b/c of that.

Every woman is different, but knowing what to expect and how huge the rewards are, I found my second labor and delivery to be easier than the first.

Irisheyes1247

With my first, my water broke before contractions, so I felt like the second time around, contractions were "easier" for a lot longer. Conversely, I felt like the transition phase of my first labor was "easier" because I actually ended up being transported via ambulance and delivering in the ER (when I called the dr to say my water broke and I was having contractions, they were sporadic and I could talk through them, so the nurse told me to go to the office. Transition hit in their waiting room and I was checked there as 10 cm and the dr could see the baby's hair) so there was just a lot going on to distract me and keep my focus off the pain. The second time around, I was just tired and knew the work that was involved in pushing. I wasn't dreading the pain, I just didn't feel like pushing, in a lazy way. Baby came out a lot faster the second time. 

SarahinMD

Congrats on planning to try med-free this time! Since you had Pitocin and an epi, it would be difficult to predict what a second labor would be like (since your body didn't experience it naturally the first time). Many women who have done both seem to feel the induced labor was more painful, so hopefully that's good news for you as you go natural! I'm expecting my second as well, after a natural hospital birth with DD, and am interested to see how it compares. DD was posterior, though, so I'm hoping it will be a shorter pushing stage (assuming this LO is better positioned). Ultimately I guess either way, all labors are different, so it will be interesting for all of us to compare! Good luck! 

sschwege

My first birth was longer 17.5 hours and with my second 5hr10min.  Pushing was infinitely easier the second time, only pushed twice.  With my first I pushed for an hour (and that was on top of 'laboring down' for 1.5+ hours)!  Second labor was more intense because it went so fast.  Some major differences for sure.  But also some commonalities: both babies were born on the same gestation day 40w3d (charting), same hospital & nurse, bag of water broken right before crowning, both babies had mild breathing trouble so I couldn't hold them long, BFing went well.

Good luck!  

robyn2201

My water broke with both girls prior to labor starting. With DD1, my labor was 8.5 hours total, one hour of that was pushing.

DD2 it was much faster and way more intense. DH was out of town for work, when my water broke and wasn't there as a support person. My doula was there with me thank goodness . It was chaotic. I arrived at 10 centimeters and DH wasn't there yet. He got there 8 min after I arrived, just as they were finishing setting everything up. As soon as he walked in, I started to push. DD2 arrived 4 min later, 2 pushes. Total labor just under 4 hours.