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Natural Birth
oliversmommy32912
member
Will my second birth be fast and early too?
oliversmommy32912
member
Hello everyone.
I had an unmedicated vaginal birth with DS. We are starting to plan for a second LO and it has me reflecting a lot on my previous delivery. I will tell a little bit of the story so you can see why I'm concerned. It will be long so if you don't want to read the partial birth story you can skip to the last paragraph.
I went into labor at 36.6 which totally shocked me because I didn't have any real signs. I had the usual stuff...I was losing chunks of my plug and had a few completely painless BH but nothing that indicated to me that labor was eminent. At 9:30 I called my sister and asked her to come over and help me get a few things ready for the baby because it was my second day of maternity leave and I wanted to take advantage. I joked about how I had always wondered through my whole pregnancy if my cousin and myself would have babies on the same day (we were due a couple of weeks apart) and now I knew my answer...our babies wouldn't be born on the same day because she was being induced that day (she didn't end up having her baby until two days later...poor thing) and there was no way I was having a baby that day.
Well little did I know that an hour later I would be in full-blown labor. I had no idea. At 10:30 I woke up from a mini-nap with some intense stomach pains. I didn't realize until about 11:00 that it might be labor. It didn't feel like I imagined a contraction to feel like...there was no peak. It was just...pain. They STARTED at 3 minutes apart lasting a minute long. Then my water broke. Needless to say I called my husband and asked him to head home from work because he works an hour away. I called my sister to make sure she was still heading over because I knew my husband would be freaking out and need her to tell him that I was okay :-)
I called my MW and she asked if I wanted to come in at 2pm that day for an appointment or go to the hospital because with my waters broken and my contractions that close together she thought it would be sooner rather than later. I told her I would see her at 2pm because I didn't think the contractions were strong enough to go to the hospital yet and I knew that if I got there and had made no progress they would induce me because my waters were broken. Spoiler alert: I was already pushing at 2pm.
Well by the time my husband arrived at noon they had definitely intensified and I changed my mind about going to the hospital. We still had some things to pack because my due date was weeks away so I was pacing the halls and grabbing things from the house as I went. As soon as we had everything and my sister arrived we left.
We arrived at the hospital at 12:30. I thought my waters had broken at home but it must have just had a tiny tear or something because when I stepped out of the car is when it REALLY broke...like water splashing in my flip flops broke.They had to admit me (really, what is pre-registering even for?) and had us wait in the ER for what felt like an eternity while they waited for someone to come and get me to take me to triage. There were a bunch of people staring at me in the ER which made me feel very uncomfortable because I was doing a lot of swearing. At that time I was in a lot of pain and starting to get nervous that they would take me up and I would only be three or four centimeters. I was really doubting my ability to have an unmedicated birth. It hurt like heck and I felt like I had to throw up (Hello, transition?) I told the nurse this when she finally got me to take me to triage and she decided to take me up to Labor and Delivery.
I got upstairs about 1:00 and they checked me. I was 8cm. YES. No time for pain meds anyway so that choice (thankfully!) was made for me. I got down to business. At 2:00 I felt the urge to push and they had me do a couple of practice pushes and waited for the midwife. At 2:15 I started really pushing. My little boy came shooting out at 2:32. He was 7 lbs 1 oz, a good healthy weight for a 37 weeker.
I am soooo thankful for my birth experience. It was so much easier than I thought it would be, probably because it was four hours from start to finish. But it leaves me feeling very nervous for the next one. They say the second labor is usually faster...for anyone out there with a quick first delivery, was that true for the second one? I am afraid for it to be quicker. My husband might not make it! I would love to have a home birth but DH is totally not on board and I respect that. He has agreed to a birth center birth but the birth center is even further than the hospital. I don't want to have the baby in the car, either! Also, for moms who had their babies early the first time, should I expect that the second time? He had no complications and no indication for coming early. Like I said, I hadn't even had a painful Braxton Hicks until it was go time! Or is it just as likely that I will go overdue and have a 36 hour labor with the next baby?
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Re: Will my second birth be fast and early too?
DD2 was faster than DD1.
DD1 was around 30hrs start to finish, with 7hrs of that being active labour.
DD2 was around 11 hrs start to finish, with 2 hrs of that being active labour.
I was past my due date with both babes, so can't comment on being early.
Elizabeth 5yrs old Jane 3yrs old
I was only early by a few days (39w3d) and my labor wasn't quite as short (just under 8 hours) but I have the same fears as you. Except I'm the one that works an hour from my house and hospital and DH is close!
I won't have any experience myself until December/January, but my OB has said that in her experience, second children come faster and third are the wildcard.
I had no warning signs of labor - no mucus plug loss, no water breaking, no painless contractions. I woke up to intense contractions that were always 1 minute long that regulated in spacing in 2 hours, and dropped from 10 minutes apart to 6 minutes apart to 3 minutes apart with no intermediate steps or gradual declines over the course of another 2 hours.
My OB suggested getting to the hospital as soon as I'm comfortable going, even if I only pace the reception area of the maternity ward before actually trying to check in. We're terrified of having an unassisted birth as DH is squeamish. He made it through the birth just fine, but looked like he was going to pass out as DS and I were getting cleaned up, and if we were doing it unassisted, I would need him to handle those parts! We were very happy with the hospital birth the first time, and I'm confident that I can have a NB there even without waiting until the last minute to show up. As soon as labor starts, we will find someone to watch DS and watch how I progress very carefully and err on the side of caution when it comes to heading to the hospital.
Thanks for posting - I'll be following replies, too!
Simple answer- DD1 was two weeks early and very fast. DD2 was two weeks late and even faster.
DD1 came at 38 weeks with hardly any signs before. Water broke at 1:45am. Contractions started at 2:15am, got to the hospital at 5:30am was 4cm. Was 10cm at 6:00am and had her at 6:12am with no meds. Not your typical first birth, but like you, I was very thankful.
With my second- I live almost an hour from my hospital if there is any traffic so my midwives were cautious about me getting to the hospital after the fast birth with DD1. They also said that there was a good chance this one would be early too and encouraged us to be ready from about 36 weeks on. What happened? DD2 wasn't ready. So, I made it to 42 weeks being dilated at least 4cm, scheduled an induction for that morning of 42 weeks because I felt it was the right decision based on research and my bishop score. I was supposed to be at the hospital at 8am. Instead, I woke up to contractions about 3:45 and thought my mind was playing tricks on me. They started picking up around 5:30am. We called my mom to come watch DD1 and left for the hospital. Got there at 7:00am. I was 8cm, my water broke shortly after, and I had her at 7:24am.
My water broke with my first in the afternoon at 37w5d and he was born early the next morning. I didn't have a natural labor with him though, they induced me with cervical gel and I ended up with the epi. With my second, she came in the morning of 39w3d. I had prepared myself for my first to be late (I was 3 days late), so having him early was a HUGE shock (my OB blamed a pressure change in the valley, 14 other babies were born in the same night as him in our hospital). But I thought for sure my first would come at least as early as him, if not earlier. No such luck. I was so upset that I even put her clothes and blankets away and decided I'd be pg forever. I woke in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and had my first real contractions (bh contractions for weeks, and I was dilated to 5cm already), and she was born 4 1/2h later, so she was quicker, but it's hard to compare my first since it was a medicalized labor. My third came at 35w6d and a 4 day labor. Totally a wildcard! My fourth came at 39w3d again. My water broke with her the morning before, and contractions didn't start until 2am ish on the morning she was born. 4 1/2h labor again and she was born just about exactly 24h after my water broke.
My second, third, and fourth were homebirths. My girls just like 39w3d I guess. And my boys like to be early. My 35w6d boy was 100% perfect when he was born. It was a unique situation. He was persistently posterior from 18w on, and he was born with his hand in his face too, so nice and wide! Little monster. I had prayed that he'd be born early enough to fit all weird, but late enough that he'd be fine for breathing and eating. He had a little bit of a hard time maintaining his temp, so I wore him skin to skin inside my shirt for a few days.
To the poster worried about u/c, you and your dh should prepare just in case. We u/c (after SOOOOO much prayer and research) and although my husband says it always takes years off his life and he is NOT a fan of the gooey ickiness, he wouldn't change it. I've offered time and again to get a mw, but he always turns me down. And this from the man who didn't even want to be in the delivery room with our first because he was afraid of what he'd see (he was there though, I threatened not to put him on the birth cert! lol). He's a stud, and when you're in that moment, it's amazing what you can do. He caught both girls. I caught our 3rd since I was squatting and hadn't told dh I was pushing. I was experimenting with pushing and I just push really fast.
second babies are generally faster, yes.
My first baby was 16 hours. My second was two, most of which was pushing. Look on the bright side: this time you will know that it's likely and can prepare for it by getting to the hospital shortly after labour starts, at least just to get checked out. With my second, I had no idea he would come so fast and was totally blindsided when I started pushing 45 minutes after the first contraction. Although I was planning a homebirth, the midwife wasn't there and we were freaking the hell out that my husband was going to have to catch the baby.
This seems so wrong and unfair to me!
Tell me about it. #3 was OP, so that was the reason for the longer birth. I keep praying that #4 will be an easy two hour birth to make up for the last one.
DS1 was 8ish hours from first sign (water breaking) to being born (after 2 hours pushing)
DS2 was 2.5 hours from first sign (mild contraction) to being born (after 2 or 3 pushes)
You won't know 'til it's over but generally your second is faster and easier. Generally.
Oh Lord. You all are freaking me out. It's settled then. DH is working from home from 35 weeks on lol. And we will be off to the birth center at the first sign of labor!
Labor #1 was right at 2 hours from start to finish at 38 weeks.
Labor #2 was also right at 2 hours start to finish but would have been about 10-15 minutes shorter if the doctor had been there earlier for me to start pushing. It was the day before my due date.
I hope to God this one is not any quicker! Based on my planned leave I hope I'm not more than 4 days early
Oh, and both were unmedicated, vaginal births.
I didnt even notice on your last post that you're pregnant again! I remember you from last time- congrats!! DS was OP and I pushed for 5 hours before being sent the hospital (after dilating extremely quickly). I'm so hoping that #2 is easier. I'd like to stay at the birthing center this time