Starting to wonder......

[~Charlie's~Angel~]

I have way to much time on my hands lately, and all I can seem to think about is when is this child coming, and what is the labor going to be like. My sons labor was fantastic. I would take another like that in a heartbeat. However, since I cannot CHOOSE what the labor is like, I was wondering if maybe i can expect it to be similar?

I have heard of women having one difficult labor after another, or having all easy labors. So I am just curious. Is there anyone out there who had a relativly easy labor with one child, and then a tremendously difficult labor with another? Or Vice Versa? Thanks for humoring a woman with complete baby brain.

[louloubean]

i don't know either!
i too am waiting for babe #2.

i'll be rooting for you!

[OkiMom]

Im waiting on the second too.. However, Ive started to ignore peoples labor stories because they always seem to be bad.. Ive never had anyone come up and tell me how great it was, its always "it was horrible..." With DD I listened, now I stop them at the beginning unless its a close friend I know just needs to talk it out (for example, someone I know had a bad birth experience a couple of months ago and needed an ear to listen while she talked through it without interrupting her.. I listened then).

[hislittlelambs]

i have heard of some women having good, relatively fast labors, and then a "tricky" labor popping up...but i haven't heard of it very often. MOST of the time, generally speaking, they seem to get shorter and quicker with each child.


a friend had a wonderful first labor...think it was just under 13 hours with only 20 mins of pushing? great, great first labor! in fact, it was so great, she really worried she'd "pay her dues" with her second child (who came 1 year later)...that labor had alot of prodromal labor. starts and stops, but once babe came he came in under 2 hours with just 2-3 pushes! (and even that 1st hour of "real" labor she was on her way to the hospital going, "is this real? perhaps we can stop by burger king first..." seriously!! so even her last hours were "easy" until right when he was born!)

another friend, had to be induced with first child....30+ hours of pitocin, all natural labor with 2ish hours of pushing and a 4th degree tear. second labor, didn't need induction, it was prodromal where she was only in active labor maybe 3 hours, babe born in under 30 mins with a tear so small it didnt even need stitches! she said her second labor was so fast it took her way off guard...took her to the first week afterwards for her to really even come to terms of "wow, i have a baby. i actually HAD a baby!" lol!

for me, first labor was augmented with pit. 23+ hours spent in a bed with internal monitors. very tough. still, easy pushing stage, barely tore.

second labor...time cut in half! 12+ hours! no tearing! easy pushing stage again.

third labor....even better as this was my first HB and waterbirth! was 9+ hours. no tearing and my biggest baby yet.

I hear you on the nervousness. this is my 4th and all of mine have gone seemingly better and better. I pray and hope this one is even shorter than my last of course, and fear that it's going to be some long drawn out labor that i didn't expect and thus selfdoubt makes me transfer or something. that is my ultimate #1 fear. i hope not though.

((hugs)) to you. these last weeks are so hard. and even harder to NOT let ourselves think and mull over things we can't control but wish we could.

[~Charlie's~Angel~]

My labor was 6 hours from start to finish with DS#1. Water broke spontaneously, contx started 15 mins later, 5-7 mins apart. Pushed for about an hour in a half, and had a 3 inch tear that was pretty sore for about 3 weeks. The tear was prolly the worst part. I have had lost of pre labor with this one. Cramping, intense BH, which I didnt have with DS#1. I am already 100%, -1, and about 1cm. So hopefully you ladies are right, and this one will be even easier. I want the doc to tell me at my appt today that I am 3 1/2cm. I know alot of you dont do internals because you dont want to know, but I WANT TO KNOW! lol.

[Rosegin]

I have read that second and 4th labors/births tend to be easier. For some reason, third births tend to be more difficult. For me, this has been true (so far, I haven't had the 4th birth yet). My third labor was 3 hours longer than my first and 5 hours longer than my second. I think some of it was mental. I seriously dislike the pushing stage because I feel so out of control. With my third baby, I really resisted the pushing urge and stayed in one position for a long time before my midwives suggested that I change positions. As soon as I did, my son was instantly born in one giant push. lol Even the midwives were amazed, nobody was able to catch him, we had to fish him from the birth tub. lol

[Om Girl]

The old wives tale is that labor with first baby is long, second baby is short and sweet and the third baby is a wild card.

[UnassistedMomma]

I've found that most of the "rules" are a bunch of crap. lol

My 1st - Very textbook, routine, no complications, pretty easy.

My 2nd - LOTS of complications, but under the circumstances, an easyish birth.

My 3rd - A walk in the park

My 4th - No real complications other than posterior labor & birth, but it was longer and more painful than the other 3 combined.

For #5, I'm hoping to have a repeat of #3 where it was just absolutely a breeze.

[EmmaWoodhouse]

Oh lets see. I won't go into details but...

1-12hrs and a bit difficult (it was my first and I was a bit scared)
2-pretty easy with epidural and about 8hrs
3-quick and easy about 4hrs
4-quick and easy 4hrs
5-hard and difficult 8hrs with epi; small complication after
6-quick and easy about 4hrs; small complication after
7-easy about 8hrs; complications

I think it depends on how comfortable you are and how the baby needs to come out and pregnancy condition (ie any complications). There are a lot of things that are involved in how labor progresses that it is hard to tell how easy or difficult it is going to be.

As for my preference, I would have loved all my labors like my 3rd and 6th. They were the easiest and least painful out of all of them.

[mochimama]

Having just had a 1.5 hour labor with my second, I can't imagine having anything easier. I had a long unpleasant labor with my first, but it involved pitocin and an epidural so was much different.

[Phoebe]

O boy this is one of my biggest wonders!!

#1: planned hb turned hospital birth after 36 hrs of going nowhere really. Ended in csection after 52 hours due to baby's head not decending and was cocked sideways.
#2: 8.5 hr HBAC waterbirth. 5 hrs for the first part, 3.5 for the pushing. All in all was pretty good, though I could do without 3.5 hrs of pushing. (Baby's head also cocked sideways! Difference was that I was not numb and could change positions...my observation anyway)
#3: ???

So technically I dialated to complete with #1 so my second birth was a second time around in that respect. But the pushing part, I was a virgin

So this time around is a been there done that for all of it.
I'm excited to see what that means for me.
2nd baby as far as pushing, 3rd baby as far as dialation.

We'll see soon enough...