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Natural Birth
sschwege
member
Those Who Have Given Birth 2+ Times
sschwege
member
I have a question for all of you moms who have given birth at least twice. Basically my labor with DD was 17.5 hours. Even though it certainly wasn't quick, I was kind of glad it wasn't because it made it IMO much more comfortable for me. I always had nice breaks in between contractions and I don't think they ever came closer than 2.5 minutes apart. I actually remember thinking during the pushing phase, "OK, I"m rested, let's have another one!" So I know usually second labors are faster, does that mean they are more intense, like contractions right on top of each other? I know there's no way to predict, but I'm just curious what other people's experiences were.
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Re: Those Who Have Given Birth 2+ Times
I don't think mine were more intense, it's just each phase was faster so when I was in transition I was thinking, "I simply can't do this for hours" because I didn't realise I was in transition and I thought my labour would track along for the same length of time as my first.
My labour wasn't crazy fast, in that I was in early labour all night, but once things got serious LO was born within 2 hours, so the business end was fast.
I'm kind of sad because I didn't really have time to "enjoy" it. It just kind of went by in a blur.
Elizabeth 5yrs old Jane 3yrs old
My labor with my second was actually 2 hrs longer than with my first but it was smooth sailing up until about the last hour, maybe hour and a half. Up until then, I was pretty comfortable, only had to breathe through a couple contractions. But the transition from 7-10 took a lot out of me. I had a hospital birth and they needed 30 mins of monitoring before I could get up and move, so I was stuck in bed, unable to find a better position and once I was able to get up, I still couldn't find anything more comfortable. On the plus side, pushing took 6 minutes so it was over pretty quickly. Also, with my first I ended up in an ambulance and delivering in the ER, so I think that really distracted me from some of the intensity of the end (i called and the de said to come to the office and when I did, she checked and I was 10cm)
This time, I also started contractions as soon I woke up. There were easy to deal with (I baked a cake that morning) even though some were long and strong. They were irregular (unlike with J., when they consistently got longer, stronger, and closer throughout the day). I put J. down for his nap in early afternoon and still wasn't sure his sibling would be coming due to the irregularity of contractions.
That is, until 3 pm, when I said to DH, "the last 2 contractions were back labor. This is it. Get everyone here now!" (We have homebirths.)
The back labor contractions were awful immediately, including being close together. At 4 when my mw checked, I was almost 5 cm. Just after 4:30 I said I wanted to push. A. was born just after 5 pm.
So my second labor was much faster. That being said, the back labor contractions weren't any different than what I had with J. Same intensity, no time between, etc...
Not in my experience. For me it all has to do with the positioning of the baby. #1 was posterior, so my contractions were very painful, but spaced out. #2 was not posterior and the contractions came one on top of the other, but were not as painful and the labor was over much more quickly. #3 was posterior and my contractions never got closer than 5 minutes apart. Even when I was pushing, I did what you said - pushed and then reclined back and relaxed and by the time my five minutes was up I felt ready to push again.
FWIW, I would take the more intense, faster labor over the spaced out posterior babes any day!
My first labour was around 17 hours and increased gradually in intensity.... the pushing was 2 and half hours and by the end I was utterly exhausted, but completely hyper, weirdly enough. My second labour was 9 hours (from first contraction.....my water broke 9 hours before my first contractions).......it was intense...... after 2 hours of hard contractions, my body felt ready to push (as in, the urge was there and hard to deny), so I went to the hospital, was checked only to find out I was 3 cm dilated.... by 6 cm, I opted for the epidural....I was already drained and becoming increasingly incoherent..... My third labour was weird......I had contraction for something like 14 hours, but they were something like intense braxton hicks and didn't disrupt my day (as in, I could care for other children on my own while labouring). I had intense contractions (which is what I think was transition) for 1.5 hours and made it to the hospital just in time to push the baby out (i live an hour from the hospital....it was a hard car ride).
my first was 7.5 hours and fairly comfortable, water broke at about 9 cm, pushed for 1.25 hours
my second was 10.5 hours (BOOOOOO) and was more uncomfortable, stronger contrax, worse back labor (and I had back labor with my first) and she was born in the caul, pushed for 12 min
I had a full day and a half of really mild contractions with my first son, and then intense labor for about 8 hours, plus 4+ hours of pushing. My labor with DS2 was 15 hours, and the last 3-4 were really intense and when I was pushing.
I felt like my contractions with my second son were more efficient from the start - they were about five minutes apart and and lasted about 30 seconds, even in the very beginning. But once I got to transition and pushing, they seemed the same as they were during my first labor.
DS2 - Oct 2010 (my VBAC baby!)
My first was kind of like yours, 14 hours. DD was posterior so it was a long pushing stage.
My second was much more intense. It was maybe 3.5 hours total. But only the last 45 minutes were intense, the rest was fine and manageable.
What made the last section feel so intense was yes, the contractions were closer together (maybe 20-30 seconds in between), but the super intense pressure of each one was what I didn't particularly appreciate. I think that (a) more was happening with each contraction, and (b) I could feel it more due to the fact that the shorter labor meant that my endorphins hadn't had time to kick in yet (in contrast to my first, where after about hour 6 it got more chill as far as sensations). I didn't like labor #2 better, at the time. Now, I like them both fine in hindsight.
I've had two (med-free) births. Both lasted about the same length of time, but the first was actually much worse since I had back labor with her. I also had no real birth plan and just pretty much went with whatever happened.
With the second, DH and I had taken HypnoBirthing classes, so I felt like I had a good tool to use while in labor to deal with contractions (or surges, as they are called in HypnoBirthing).
I'm due July 18th with baby# 3 and who knows what will happen. But I'm planning on having another HypnoBirth, so I do feel better prepared than I was when I gave birth to my daughter. GL!