[Abismommy]

So how did your first labor compare to the second time wise, pain wise and things of the sort?
Like with my daughter I was in labor for 18 looooooong hrs! Well it felt long to me anyways. Then the pushing phase was only for 1/2 hr and my baby was in my arms

:
I am hoping labor with this babe will be shorter, much shorter! I have heard your labors get shorter with each child, is this true? I also think this baby will be bigger than DD1, she was 7lbs 10oz!

 

[wrenmoon]

1st labor- 16 hours, 2 pushing, ouch ouch ouch

2nd labor- 45 minutes, not so ouch.

 

[mom2sol]

1st labor, waters broke before contractions and baby was born 26 hours later. Probably 8 hours of hard labor. 3 + hours of hard pushing. (9 pounds & asynclitic, dystocia, no tearing)

2nd labor, probably about 5 hours of hard labor (but much easier than 1st still) and less than an hour of easy-effortless pushing. ( 9 # 13 ozs, no tearing)

 

[Munki'sMom]

1st: pitocin baby (blah, hated that!) about a 12 hour labor, pain from pit...rough 2 hours I'd say

2nd: about a 4 hour labor, went really smoothly and easily

3rd: homebirth, 1.5 hr labor, cx were manageable.

 

[amandamcgrady]

I've had three so far and about to have my 4th. They have gotten easier each time and I have had less interferance each time.

1st baby, was at the hospital all day, Pitocin, Epidural, pushed about 3 times

2nd baby, was at the hospital few hours, just a calming shot, pushed once

3rd baby, was at the hospital <10 minutes, NO drug interferance, pushed once

I do think there is some truth to the afterpains being worse, but not sure

I also noticed a correlation to the amount of pain meds compared to how much I bled after, The 1st with the Epidural I bled the worst, The third with no IV, No meds, I barely bled at all.

Thats my 3cents- but im not as educated as a lot of the other people here.

 

[njbeachgirl]

My second was soooooo much easier- fast and easy home waterbirth. He was also 1 pounds 3 oz. bigger than my first. The afterpains are worse though.

 

[CarolBe]

1st baby- 8 hours active labor- 45 mins pushing- epidural
2nd baby- 4 hours active labor- 20 mins pushing- epidural and pit
3rd baby- 2 hours active labor- body pushed her out without my concent- all natural at home!!!!
4th baby- Due March 2nd and hoping for another homebirth. If things continue in this train, the midwives better SPEED to get over here when I call them!

 

[Peppamint]

1st baby: induced w/pitocin at 3cm 80%, 8 hour labor, shot of Nubain when I was probably around 8cm. Painful, esp at the end when I was in transition but the nurse was saying discouraging things like "it will be dinnertime" at noon.

2nd baby: about 3 weeks of prodromal labor then started active labor at 3-4cm 90%. 4 hours of labor, almost painless except the pushing part.

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3rd baby: 3-4 weeks of prodromal labor, started active labor at 4cm stretchy to 8cm. 2 hours of labor, painful due to nuchal hand causing back labor.

:

 

[Patchfire]

1st: no early labor, 11 hours active labor, 20ish minutes of pushing. hospital birth. 7 lbs 1 oz

2nd: no early labor, 5 hours active labor, 45 minutes of pushing. mw-attended homebirth. 8 lbs 12 oz

3rd: off and on early labor for about 15 hours, 3 hours of active labor, 10 minutes tops of pushing (six contractions). unassisted homebirth. 7 lbs 8 oz.

For me, they've gotten 'easier' each time in the sense of length of time shorter but labor isn't really any more intense.

 

[devon]

First DS, about 11 hours of hard labor (fast, long contractions) - shot of numorphan (muscle relaxant), pushed for about 45 minutes. 8lb 13 oz

Second DS, had a day of prodromal labor (cx 5 min apart but not hard at all), then about 6 hours of nothing, then an 1.5 hr of contractions that weren't painful but I had to relax through them, 10 minute of hellish transition (that I didn't know was transition), then my body pushed him out on its own (that would have taken about 2 minutes but I was holding my cx back until the EMTs/dr could get there as I didn't want my hubby to deliver him. So, unplanned HB, much easier and less painful and short! He was 8lb 1 oz but 9 days earlier than DS#1.

 

[Staciemao]

First baby: I was induced due to ROM. 22 hours of labor, pit, epidural, epinephrine, the whole enchilada. I was tired and pushed for two hours.

Second baby: I was walking around the supermarket when I suddenly realized, "Hey! I'm in labor!" So I grabbed a coffee, went home, danced for about four hours and slept a little. Then I walked into the birth center fully dilated, laughed through transition, and pushed for 30 minutes. It was 8 hours and except for a little burning when I tore, it was pain free.

 

[barefootpoetry]

First birth: Hospital birth with the works, posterior baby, 46 hours of labor with 4 hours of pushing (and C-section). Very very painful.

Second birth: home waterbirth, 12 hours labor, 2 hours pushing, very intense but never beyond a point I could handle.

 

[boscopup]

#1: PPROM at 29 weeks, 2.5 hour labor (after being hospitalized and on magnesium sulfate for 4 days), no pain meds but I was close to saying yes when the nurse asked during transition. My DH said no for me, and then they checked me and found baby was RIGHT there and ready to come out. I was still in the antepartum unit, so they raced me down the hall to the LDR, and as my bed was going through the antepartum room doorway, I started feeling the urge to push. That labor was fairly painful because I was laying in bed the whole time - not allowed to get up except to have a bowel movement (which thankfully I needed to do right around the time of transition). Baby was 3 lbs 13 oz, first degree tear due to purple pushing (he was out in 3 pushes), no pain meds though.

#2: Full term (barely) and out of hospital... 5 hour labor, most of it feeling like mild AF cramps. They got more intense later on, but didn't really HURT so much, as long as I stayed upright (which my body was screaming to do during labor #1). I labored on the toilet at home, and on the birth stool at the "birth house" (I cross state lines to birth with a midwife). I didn't even really notice transition until I looked back afterwards and realized there was a point where I was thinking "I hope this is over soon", but it wasn't a "I don't think I can do this anymore" like I had with my first birth, so that's why I kind of missed it.

My body started pushing, and my midwives reminded me to let my body do the work.

It was much more calm and much less painful all around. Baby was 7 lbs 4 oz, first degree tear along the old tear line (I did physically try to push baby out at the last minute, which I think contributed to that), no stitches of the tear so it healed really quick. I felt GREAT after that birth. My DH also noticed how much less painful it was for me.

I don't know how much of my labor differences were first vs. second baby or hospital vs. out-of-hospital birth. I tend to think it's probably a combo. And while the length did increase, that was not too surprising because of the circumstances of my first birth. My mom's labors were 5 hours, 2.5 hours, and 1.5 hours, respectively, and hers all got easier. My sister's was 5 hours, 3.5 hours, and again got easier. So in my family, that does seem to be a trend. I'm just hoping I won't get the 1.5 hour labor this time, as that's a bit too intense, plus I *really* want a waterbirth and last time we didn't make it time (but we also didn't go up to the birth house until a little over an hour before baby was out).

 

[boscopup]

Oh, and for me, afterpains were WAAAAAAAY worse with the second one. I could barely feel them with the first one. I remember my doctor asking me several times if I needed any meds for them, and I said I was fine. They felt like AF cramps. No big deal. Second baby... the afterpains hurt more than labor contractions. It was bad. I wanted an epidural for THAT!

So make plans for dealing with the afterpains, even if they weren't too bad for you the first time.

 

[Romana]

First baby, 21 hour labor, 25 min pushing. Labored at home, arrived at hospital ready to push.

Second baby, 18 hour labor, approx 10-15 min pushing. Home waterbirth.

In terms of pain, even though I was in transition for about 7.5 hours of the first birth, the second birth was much worse. The last 2-3 hours of the second birth were absolutely insane in terms of pain.

I understand that for most women, the second birth is easier. My OB friend said "second babies fall out" when I was pregnant with #2. Unfortunately, not the case for me. Hopefully it will be for you! I just don't want you to be surprised if you have a tough 2nd birth, because it does happen sometimes.

I had very bad afterpains with both births.

 

[Mainstream Hippie]

First labor, nice and easy gradual build up to serious work, 13 hours total, only the last 4 maybe? being harder labor, the last hour pushing off and on as it felt appropriate.

Second labor, 3.5 hours, fast and furious. The first hour or so was very putt-putt, and there was very little pushing- I actually ended up breathing him way down, because I was sure it was too soon. In the end, he ended up basically slipping out, as I tried to change positions to something more comfortable while pushing.

Oh, and my water broke with my first while pushing, with my second as the onset of labor.

I much, much prefered the first birth.

 

[wbg]

baby number 1: 2 weeks early, water broke, had baby 8 hours later, would have been sooner but i requested an epi during transition...and was given one...oops...way to slow down a perfect labour!

baby number 2:, on due date, 4 hours door to door, she flew out, mega fast, no drugs, felt bruised and battered!

baby number 3: a few days late, 2 hours door to door, but somehow quite chilled, very perfect birth

baby number 4: a few days early, about 6 hours but probably only 2 serious hours, home water birth, very chilled.

Each birth was easier...but not sure if this was because they were easier labours, or whether my own experience led to me learning great coping skills, less fear etc

 

[Peppamint]

Yeah, I forgot to post about afterpains... after my third birth they were horrendous. Actually worse than the labor and lasted a few days. I ended up takings lots of Advil. I didn't notice the afterpain tincture helping all that much but I didn't take it too faithfully as my midwife wasn't keen on some of the herbs in it.

 

[Belle]

First birth: 11 hours total. 1hour, 10 min pushing. The contractions weren't too bad. The worst part was not being "permitted" to push when I felt the urge and not being "allowed" to breathe when I wanted to while I was pushing. The afterbirth pains had me begging for pain relief when I never did during labor. I also was given a shot of pitocin in the leg after the birth. They gave me percoset for the afterbirth pains.

2nd birth: Just under four hours of contractions but water broke 36 hours before labor began. 20 min of pushing. Contractions were bearable this time too. Pushing was MUCH easier because I was upright and nobody interfered with the way I wanted to push. Again, the afterbirth pains sucked. I took some ibuprofen and crampbark tincture for the afterbirth pains and they helped immensely.

 

[3pink1blue]

First birth - 13 hours total, 25 minutes pushing, 12 stitches (episiotomy.)
7lb 14oz baby. 11 days late. easy labor & delivery.

Second - 4 hours total, 20 minutes pushing, no tears.
9lb 2oz baby. On due date. hardest labor & delivery.

Third - 8 hours total, 3 pushes. no tears. both hands by the face too.
9lb 10oz baby. on due date. easiest labor and delivery of the four.

Fouth - 3 DAYS of slow labor. 20 hours from 6cm to 10. 14 hours augmented with pit. 16 minutes of pushing, no tears. (beautiful birth despite interventions.)
8lb 11oz baby. Four days early. Difficult because it was so prolonged, but actually this was the least painful.

ETA: No afterpains with first. HORRIBLE afterpains with subsequent babies. Fourth baby was the absolute worst afterpains, worse than labor and lasted for almost a week.

All 4 were in hospital, all 4 medicated, all 4 PERFECT for me.