3rd pregnancy, should I expect a quick labour?

[BekZ]

Thanks for that. I had my waters broken at 8cms with DD2 and she was born 5 mins later...boy o boy it was so painful..I was actually wondering if I should not allow for the manual breaking next time...I think this is another topic

[Inertia]

Thanks for that. I had my waters broken at 8cms with DD2 and she was born 5 mins later...boy o boy it was so painful..I was actually wondering if I should not allow for the manual breaking next time...I think this is another topic

well mine apparently broke by themselves with Harry, but I didnt bother going to the hospital til the last minute because my labours tend to stop when they stick me on that bed with that foetal monitor. They said there was nothing there, but I didn't hear the pop and there was no leaking at all, so Harry probably pushed through them and blocked the path. There was a crazy amount of hindwaters after he was born.

You can definitely wait to see if they go by themselves, and even if they don't, caulbearers (babies born in the sac) are perfectly healthy babies and at no risk. Its is historically a sign of luck.

But yes. Labouring with your membranes in tact is far less painful, which is why I hold onto mine for as long as possible.

[mbear]

But yes. Labouring with your membranes in tact is far less painful, which is why I hold onto mine for as long as possible.

.....wow, i didnt know this. So them breaking your waters can cause a more painful labour ??? They broke my waters with DD#3 (around 8cm too BekZ) and it was soooo much more painful. Interesting....

[~Trish~]

The author of the book I was referring to in an earlier post said that labour hurts much more once your waters are broken. Mine have always broken towards the very end.

[~Raven~]

Ummm well in my case they have gotten quicker so yes prepare for it

[BekZ]

Got any ideas on how to prepare Raven?

MBear - I know this time if the midwife wants to break my waters I will be hesitant because my pain went from very manageable to absolutely unbearable but Loren was born 5 mins later.

[Cricket]

My labour was possibly more painful after my waters were broken, but that's also when things really started happening. I was actually glad about it, because I knew it would be done soon.
About your original question - my midwife said that third babies are the unpredictable ones. Don't know how true that is for everyone, but for me, my third labour was different from the first two. My first two were 7 hours from first twinge to delivery. With both of them, contractions were 5 min apart right from the start, and moved up relatively steadily from there.
With my third, I had much more prelabour. "Real" labour began on a Wednesday morning around 6:00. DH dropped the older girls off at his mother's, called the midwife, and we waited for things to pick up. The midwife said I was about 4cm at this point. That was great, I thought! Here we go! But we didn't get much farther. The contractions stayed steady at about 5 min apart, but didn't get closer or more intense all day. We walked and walked, I climbed stairs, showered, whatever I could think of. At around 5pm or so, at my request, the midwife checked me again. Still 4cm. I couldn't believe it. But my waters were bulging now, and she said she could break them for me. I said please do it! And bam - labour picked up! I jumped in the bath, and labour got hard. (the water was lovely!) About 2 hours later DD3 was here. Once things began to happen, they really began to happen. It just took a long time. (I know other women labour for way longer, but this was unusual for me.)
Anyways, all the best for a lovely birth!