Birth stories

As labour #2 approaches I am interested in all things birth lol, especially how things differed between your first child and then subsequent labours in terms of when you had bub (earlier or later), how long it took, changes in interventions and pain relief you had, etc...
Is anyone happy to share to distract me from my countdown? smile

all of my labours have been extremely similar.

dd1 - (40+1) Saturday. niggles all day, active labour from 7pm, water broke in last 30 mins born just after 9pm 8lb 13 born in bad thunderstorm.

dd2 (41,42, or 43 weeks - unsure of dates) friday. slight niggles in afternoon. quick labour less then an hour, waters broke last 5 mins. born 8:15pm just over 9lb. Also born in bad thunderstorm

no show or loss of mucous in the weeks before at all for these 2.

dd3. (43 + 3) Sunday show in the morning. slight niggling during the day. active labour in the evening total labour 1hr 13 mins . born 9:17 pm. born in the caul. 9lb 7

dd2 and dd3 are 4 years apart, but their birthdays are only 3 days apart.

all homebirths and all in water. (mind you the last 2 I was only in water for the last few minutes as the births were so quick.)

DS - at 39+3 I lost my mucous plug in the morning but labour didn't start until about 5pm and got progressively stronger and closer together. Got to hospital at around 10pm and I was examined by a midwife who said I was only dilated a couple of cm so she sent us home again. The pain was unbearable (and I didn't find out until later that he was posterior) so we went back and I think it was after midnight by then. I decided I wanted to sit in the spa bath and the warm water brought a little bit of relief. I started pushing at about 6.30am but by 8.30am he still hadn't arrived so the doc came and advised they need to get him out with the forceps. Up until then I hadn't had any pain relief so I was then given an epidural and he was born an hour later. (3.5kg) So all up 17hrs of labour.

DD - at 39 weeks I experienced mild painless contractions all day long and I didn't think anything of it until after dinner and told DH to get some sleep while he can in case it was going to be a long night. I tried going to sleep but kept getting stronger contractions every half hour. At midnight they were suddenly less than 5 mins apart and quite strong, my waters broke so I quickly woke DH and we made our way to hospital. The midwives helped me into the shower and she was born just after 1am. (2.9kg) I had no pain relief and i felt fantastic afterwards and went home the same day. All up 2hrs of active labour.

Being your 2nd baby you should hopefully have a quicker labour. All the best and hope it goes well for you smile

Im currently cooking number 2! So i will try and remember to update on how it goes in March!

With my DS we had a pretty normal pregnancy, No worries at all. I had next to no morning sickness. He was due on the 6th of October but on the 1st my waters broke. It was about 7.30am and about 15 mins later while i was on the toilet frantically trying to get a hold of my mum contractions started. By 12pm that day i had my support person and my partner at home with me while i did the first part of my labor. The midwife arrived at about 2pm. They wrote down that i had established labor at 12, and at 5pm we made the move to a birthing unit. This is when my mum finally arrives after a 3 hour car ride. grin We labored with no pain relief in the birthing pool until about 10pm, we couldn't get a good steady heart beat through the sonic aid and the decision to move me to the main maternity hospital was made. When we got set up at the maternity hospital i had been in labor a full 12 hours and so we decided that I should have an Epidural, this was all totally unplanned, our plan was a gas assisted only water birth at the birthing unit. We then discovered that DS was posterior. My heart broke. I had been laboring for over 14 hours and he was stuck around the wrong way. I don't remember much of the rest of it but an OB was called in and we were prepping me to go to theater when he decided we would only need forceps and the room we were in. After 16 and 3 quarters of an hour in labor, my son was delivered via 6 pulls with the vontouse and one yank with the barns noble forceps. He was born at 4.48am on the 2nd of october, he weighed 7lb 10oz grin

DS1 39w1d woke at 8am and rushed to toilet, call my mum and told her i thought my waters had broken as wasn't sure she told me to call my midwife so i did and while on phone contractions started they were initially 30 min apart, was hot so sat on cold tles once sitted on the floor my contraction started coming faster 10:00 my contractions were close to 5 minutes apart and husband paniced and called personal midwife. she arrived to see how i was progressing and told us to get to hospital asap. Arrived hospital 11 am and started pushing, only just made it in to room. 1 hour later had my baby boy. 4 hour total labour totally drug free as got to hospital so late left hospital at 7pm

DD1 39w had been at a funeral in summer all day got home mignight and didn;t feel right went ot bed but in less than 5 minutes rushed to toilet as my waters had broken, call hospital and told them once baby sitter was here we would head in. Mother in Law arrived 30 minutes later, arrived hospital 1am midwife was trying to tell me i was to early but they were having a slow night so i could stay and tried to check me over ( was having mild contraction every 5 minutes). I told her 30 minutes later i want to push. she said wait checked then paniced and said okay 10 intense minutes later i had my daughter. from water breaking to holding daughter less than 2 hours drug free again midwife was worried i'd go into shock due to fast labour finally got to leave 7pm that day.

DS2 38w had a front plasenta and struggled to feel movement the whole pregnancy but the whole day before he was born i was stressing due to low movement and soft kicks. after dinner i finally got some good kicks so headed to bed and was reading the end of a book, just after midnight, went to the toilet and then again soon after and then worked out my water had broken and was having mild contraction. my mum was collect to watch the kids and then phone my personal midwife and got her replacement she said call her back when you think you want to head in. called her back 10 minutes later. got to hospital just after 1am midwife arrived 15 minutes later Iwas struggling to find a comfortable position was told to push if i felt the urge, once that magic position was found i started pushing 7 minutes later had by baby boy in my arms.just over 2 hours drug free again 4 hours later older sibs came and met new brother and we all went home together.

How long do you have to go MrsGJunior?
I think I remember seeing you before in the due August group, like you I am counting down - 3 weeks to go tomorrow, and loving hearing all the different labour stories. smile

Thanks so much for all the stories. A lot of my labour was a blur (except the length!) but as the weeks tick on it's coming back to me - eek! Just one day, it's just one day! Haha. Keep the stories coming!

Little egg, I am from the due in august group. I was too superstitious to join the FB group too early, (and I hoped the huggies page would keep going but it didn't) and then I figured the FB would be well and truly established...I am due in just under 2 weeks. Can't wait.
Did you find out the sex of your bub? I didn't, so now that's so much of the labour anticipation for me.
I didn't think the last few weeks would be so slow this time around as I have dd to run (waddle) after, but it is still going slowly.. How are you going with it all?

Hey smile
Yep I didn't ever join the FB group either and would love to see more action in the due August on here, so feel free to post and I will too smile
Yeah we didn't find out the sex either, we did with DS1 and I am so excited about finding out at the birth, I am so glad we have waited.
I so know what you mean, the weeks are dragging! Our baby stopped growing, and then started again, and now we have a scan and appointment with consultant tomorrow at the hospital, and depending on growth, they release us to try and have our dream birth at the local birthing centre, or call us in for induction. I have never known a Thursday take so long to come around!
Wow, 2 weeks! Are you getting plenty of action to try and bring it on?
Once I'm 37 weeks DH will be getting lucky wink

I love reading birth stories!
I was induced 6 days over with my first (daughter), 5 hours of labour
I was induced 6 days over with my second (son), 10 hours of labour
Because I was induced, the midwife said as she broke my waters, "we'll have this baby out within 2-3 hours considering how fast your first one was!" didn't quite happen that way tongue although no complications with either and both healthy bubs smile
goodluck! xx

DD - 39wks+2days - Show in the morning around 9. Contractions started about 10.30, waters broke at 4.30pm had her at 6.50pm 8lbs 6oz, no pain relief. Had slight hemorrhaging lost about 1litre of blood.
DS - 39weeks, no sign at all of labour that day, had been in to see the midwife early afternoon, 4.30pm contractions started - (didnt think much of it it was more of a niggle, but rung the partner who was out the back of the farm just to let him know that I thought I might be in labour). 6.30 babysitter arrived and partner (who decided that he had enough time to have a shower) 7.30 arrived at hospital, 7.55 waters broke, 8pm baby born 8lb 3oz. Had gas just before my waters broke and then pushed him out without it. No complications, home the next day =)

When i was pregnant with my second i was very interested in finding out how similar my labour would be with my first. I had considered myself very lucky with DD and hoped it would be similar second time around. For #1: at 37 weeks my waters broke at 10.30pm with no advance warning and contractions started fairly soon after. They ramped up quickly and I moved into the bath which helped a lot they got really intense and I thought there is no way I can do this for another 12 hrs, but then changed as I started feeling the need to push. I was in total denial and since it was the middle of the night we were reluctant to call the midwife. We finally did and once she heard me over the ph she said she'd meet us there. DH didn't think there was any need to rush, sedately drove to the hospital and even got lost, asking me for directions!! We made it just in time as once inside I had a couple more contractions and she was out! 6 Hrs all up!
For #2 I felt sure I would go early too but after a couple of episodes of 'false labour' over a week or two (intense braxton hicks I suppose) I felt overdue at 39 weeks when my waters again broke at the beginning of labour. We figured it would be quick but didn't expect to have DH have to deliver our son in the bath an hour later. We had intended to go to the hospital but I'm glad we didn't! I wouldn't have wanted to have him on the side of the road!

I am currently 27wks with number 4 and am also wondering if this one will be similar to the last 3 labours.
My first- For water broke at 11pm and contractions started straight after. I had 3hrs of pre-labour and 12hrs of active labour. All natural birth at hospital and bubs was born on due date.
My Second- Pre-labour started and lasted for about 12hrs before active labour started. After 2hrs we headed to hospital and bubs was born 1hr later also on due date.
My third- With gastro hitting my older boys and husband 6days before I was due it was hard to avoid. I spent all early morning ill with it and as soon as the gastro stopped the my Pre-labour started. I had 12hrs pre-labour and 3hrs active labour with only 1hr in hospital.
My second and third labours were exactly the same and hoping that no4 is the same again.
Good luck