Questions about faster labor & going early with second pregnancy

[djpage2]

Hi!
I am curious--in most cases does labor go faster with the second pregnancy than the first? I had a perfectly uncomplicated, natural birth that lasted 6 hours from water trickling to crowning. I am wondering if I should expect this second one to be as fast or faster.
I would not consider myself as in shape as I was with #1, but I am still exercising at least 4-5 x week. I always felt like this mattered, but maybe it doesn't...?

And while I'm at it--if you go early with #1, is it likely you will go early again? I know there is probably no hard and fast rules here, just curious.

Thanks!
Patty

[MamaMonica]

Moved to Birth and Beyond.

[Peony]

Generally speaking, 2nd labors tend to be shorter then first, but not always. There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to childbearing. Same goes with going early or late, who knows!


Now for me, my labors have been cut in half each time, I'd had 3. And each pg has gotten longer. Those "rules" may not apply next time though!

[Belle]

nak
for my first it was 11 hours, second was less than four hours. Dd1 was 38+4 weeks, Dd2 was 38+3.

[marrymeflyfree]

The rules did not apply to me, unfortunately. Older daughter was born after a relatively easy 6 hour labor. Younger daughter, not so much. 31 hours of labor, including 8 hours of pushing followed by a transfer to the hospital and several more hours on pitocin and, ultimately, a c-section. She just would not descend...the OB said during the surgery that she had a fist quite firmly wedged between her head and my pelvis. Both daughters were post dates.

We thought she would just fly out into the room after the easy first birth, but...

[BanditaMamacita]

For me, both labors were about the same... 6 hours. Very different labor experiences, tho. My 2nd was posterior, which i think slowed him down a bit. Much faster delivery tho. About 20 min with dd, only 1 push with ds. As far as earlier or not, I had dd at 38+1 and ds at 37+6.... so very similar. We'll see if #3 wants to stick with that trend in a couple weeks