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Real advice re birth for first timers?
So ladies, I am now 22+2 and am turning my focus towards the birth of our first baby and realised that in some ways, I'm not all that clued up on stuff. I have all sorts of questions buzzing around in my head like will I know when labour has started, will it be fast, will i be able to cope, will i bleed for ages afterwards etc and thought it might be nice to have a thread about your birth stories (if you would like to share them) as advice for first timers like me.
Feel free to add your story 
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Mine was fast hun, I was very lucky. It was painful but not so bad that I didn't wana do it again. Bled for 3 weeks ish afterwards, 7 weeks with my 2nd so just goes to show how different it can be. the best advice I can give is to trust ur body and push like ur doing a big poo lol. It feels like baby is coming out ur bum lol. I did post my birth story on here back in 2009 will c if I can find it x
Proper weird reading this x
i will keep this as short as poss as Caitlin is sleeping and daddy is out and she may need a feed any time soon. As you know I started having contractions at 5am on thursday morning and asked to be taken in to the birthing center on friday at 4am but they were having none of it! well The contractions were painful but sporadic and kept starting ans stopping however by 2:10 on friday they had started to come every 4 mins and were unbearable. I called birthing center when i was at the point where i couldnt breathe/move/talk through them anymore and was told to come in whenever so set off to get there for about 6:30. I was crying like a baby at this point contractions were no more than 2 mins apart and were soooo painful. I was examined and at about 7ish and my god i was 10cm dilated and had not had any pain relief!! no wonder i was bloody crying! Baby was only 2/5 plapable so i needed an hour on gas and air to let her head drop.....wow that stuff is the shit i was off my tits!!! then at about 8:15 i made a loud groan and an involuntary push which was totally out of my control....and sorry tmi did a little poo and my waters came shooting out from down below but didnt break....i remember shouting oh my god ive pooed and it feels like a slug has come out down there lol it was not a nice feeling!! they popped my waters and checked for a cord prolapse and said to just do what feels right so i got up on all fours and 10 minutes later our little angel was born! I then nearly sat on her before they had passed her up to me (im such a good mother) and proclaimed to everyone in the room...you know what? ive got a really sore fanny!! LOL the midwives were amazing and so encouraging considering the circumstances of my labour! She came out like superman with her hand on her head so i have 3 1st degree tears which are only slightly sore but no stitches. And in my labour notes my complete length of labour was get this..........1 hour 20 mins!! we are all doing well bf is a challenge but we will get there. got home at 2:15am this morning.such an amazing experience i would do it all again for her. hope you can see this pic
love to you all and bumps and babies
zzz
http://s680.photobucket.com/albums/vv166/lhaigh/
ive done it 3 times and will be doing it again soon. il try and keep it short but all of mine have been very different.
dd1 got up at 2am for a wee got back into bed and my waters trickled i was only 19 and knew nothing so thought my waters had gone! got to the hospital all the way there i was having pain every 2/3 min thought i was imagining it as it wasnt painfull. hospital told me id probaly be sent home, then my waters went for real!! they checked me i was already 10cm dialted by 550am i was holding abigail!! i have to say i didnt feel at all in control and found it all very scary im not sure how long i bled for sorry.
dd2 went into labour at 35 weeks got to the hospital was checked and told my cervix was fully efaced(thinned) and i was 3/4 cm dialted but it all stopped!!! walked round like this until 39 weeks after many more false starts they broke my waters and 1 and half hours later i had lilly. i have to say having my waters broken was not as simple as POP done!! they tend to move baby about to get them all i wish id known that but o the whole i trusted my body alot more and felt more in control.
dd3.37 weeks started with mild labour pains at about 11pm got to the hospital and was 4cm was checked again about 4 hours later and was only 7cm i think mainly because they wanted a student to deliver her they broke my waters again (not such a shock) 1hour and a half later i had amelie!! she was brow presenting(forhead first) which made her a bit harder going.
ive been really lucky in as much as ive had all my babies quickly and recovered well.also i had just gas and air with all 3 but the last time i over did it and had a few random effects like voices telling me to ignore the mw lol
the things id of liked to of been perpared for were.
1. stitches!! i had them with 1 and 2 and i wasnt really prepared for how wierd it felt and how delicate it felt after(scared to poo)
2. how when they break your waters the rummage!
3. i was sick after dd1 it was a massive shock and came from nowhere!
4. my legs get really shaky after
Im pregnant with my 4th and my only advice would be to go in with an open mind as every labour/birth is different. Labour day is the day you have been waiting for, for 40 long weeks so enjoy it. Its true what people say about the pain going away as soon as the baby is placed in your arms, I never believed it till it happened to me x
Thanks for your stories ladies. I think with me, the more I read, the more prepared I feel even if every labour is different. DH caught me watching One Born the other week and said to me "Should you really be watching this" because the week before I had ended up with all sorts of thoughts in my mind of not being able to do it at all.
I would like as little pain relief as possible - just gas and air - unless I need more or am told to have more. I will of course follow the guidance of the medics. I am being birth centre caseloaded but there is a labour ward upstairs should it be needed. My biggest concer is 1. not knowing labour has started 2. Being told not to come in yet - I know I will want to go straight away for reassusrance more than anything as it there's 6 miles from ours to the hospital on a dual carriageway which is notorious for traffic and layby born babies!
Hi huni
i had all these back in 2012 with my son, i didnt have a clue i listened to family and friends but i still felt lost.
My story went like this due date came and nothing no baby, 2 days later and i was in full contractions we made the 40 min trip to the hospital to get put on a machine to be told yes your having contraction 1 hour later nothing they had stopped! i was went home with no baby, i had 2 sweeps done in the following week each time i was told i was at 2-3cm, i was now a week over my due date and the same again thursday night very late contractions started so we had to call my mum to drive us 40 mins to the hospital got to the hospital and boom they stopped again but this time i was not leaving! we went in and she had a look at me and said i was 3cm and baby was fine, she was about to send us home when the look on my face must have changed her mind and she said why dont you sleep here for a few hours we are not busy, so she got us some coffee and pain killers for me, this was about 2am friday morning (my mum was sitting in the family waiting room) they came in at 6am and checked me again she said i was 3-4cm! they came back again at 8am and i was at 4cm so they said i was in now till baby came! at 10am they broke my waters for me and gave me a drip as little man had done a poo and my waters where green, i had gas and air until 2pm then i told my partner to take it away, i had my son at 2:55pm friday afternoon he was back to back which i had no idea until he was coming out, if i had known i would have kept the gas and air!
we were moved to our room at 7pm when my mum and partner had to leave, my poor mum had been sitting out waiting for over 15 hours! i felt very guilty
every labour is different iv no idea what to do when number 2 comes, as iv been told oh your waters will brake on there own and not to go in too soon......
xxxx
heres my two birth stories:
with my son i went into labour the day after my due date, first odd twinge around 10pm. like period cramp-ish but round my back too. we went to hospital at 1am as my pains were 3-4mins apart but not that painful. waters broke in a huge gush 15min after we got there, they examined me and i was 3cm. things went really fast from there, contractions so painful and back to back. i was fully dilated 3 hours later and begged for an epidural which i got and then needed to push for 2h, very ineffectually. should have realised i was getting there as i had loads of pressure everywhere in my pelvis. in the end i pushed him out myself, no forceps needed. he was 6lbs 11oz.
with my daughter i was induced at 41 weeks as the ctg check that morning wasnt perfect. id had a sweep just before and had mild cramping (didnt kick anything off unfortunately) and babys heartrate dropped a bit with every mild cramp. so got the gel at 8pm and got hooked up wo ctg for an hour to monitor. mw then sent us off to walk round. i went into labour some time between 9pm and 9.30pm, which was great. things got moving really fast after that. at 10.45pm i got in the tub and she was born at 11.23pm. so 2h labour start to finish, pushed for 2 contractions, waters only broke while pushing, had absolutely no pain relief. total dream come true.
i bled for about 5-6 weeks after each birth. afterpains were worse second time round. i had stitches with my first, 2nd degree tear but not with my second. also i recovered way faster after my second so personally i would try and avoid the epidural if possible. it made me a bit sizzy afterwards and made pushing difficult as i couldnt feel the contractions. loved the water and glad i got a waterbirth. crowning hurt the must but i felt more in control as i was pushing, ie doing something. stay upright and active if you can (birthing ball was great). x
Hiya , I think the more you can learn about different situations the better- knowledge is power ,,
My 1st was induced at 38+3 due to high bp n suspected pre eclampsia , no protein or anything , just high bp n she was breech , started off at midnight with a pessary , came in in the morning to say maybe we would put it off a few days but was too late , backache was awful ! contracted all day , had epidural at 7pm to lower bp n in case of c.section , was checked intermitently til midnight when they discovered I was fully dilated , dd was born at 1.05am , with the help of an episiotomy and forceps , lots of stitches , kept in for a week after , bled for 6-7 weeks .
Ds was also induced at 38 weeks due to high bp , went in early evening , given pessary at midnight again , contractions started at 6am , waters went 8am , born with the help of ventouse (n gas n air as if my life depended on it )at 11.16am , kept in for 4 days , no stiches bled for 6 weeks again .
Dd2 had a cup of raspberry leaf tea with a friend (had never heard of it before ) 40 +2 was in labour within an hour , went to hospital at 5pm , no gas n air- didn't like it at all this time ! born at 7.36pm , my quickest n easiest labour ,but afterpains were awful - thought they had left one in there ! bled for 6 weeks again .
Dd3 waters went at 1.15 am,at 38+5 went into be checked at 11am , sent home to await events , if hadn't gone into labour spontaneously within 48 hours would have to be induced due to infection , contractions started next day at 9am, went in at 4pm , born with gas n air , loved it again this time ,had started on it n was scared couldn't do without it afterwards , born at 7.02 pm probably the most painful labour of all , bled for 5-6 weeks , after pains not so bad as with 3rd .
So all in all they were all quite different but it is amazing with how much clarity you remember it all , I must say I thoroughly enjoyed all my birthing experiences , wishing you all the best , hope you enjoy yours too , soon you will have your own amazing birth story to share with us all , bet you can't wait x x x