Avoiding the dreaded H word...

[Neenee Jellybeanie]

Could be it is luck of the draw, as I never got them and I pushed for almost 2 hours!
I think, particularly with your first, that reading some good articles about 2nd stage might be helpful. I thought that the care I'd received during my birth was fantastic, but when I think back to it now, I wish I had've known more about 2nd stage. Mine was heavily coached, I was pushing so hard I literally burst loads of little blood capillaries in my head, and it was all directed pushing, rather than just following my body's lead.

Sounds just like my labour, I was pushing for nearly two hours too and I pushed so hard, *TMI warning* my bum like, popped out the wrong way? The midwife stuffed it back in with her finger.

Ok back to the subject at hand, I've never heard of any way to prevent them or even to get rid of them, besides surgery.

[Glamourcide]

^ Two hours? I can only hope. I was induced and I went from 'Okay, 1cm, should see something happen tomorrow' to 'You were right, you *are* fully dilated! Push now!' in the space of about eight minutes... and then it was a solid four hours of pushing (no breaks at all, as soon as I'd finished pushing through one contraction, another one would be peaking and the midwife told me to just keep going)... no wonder I had issues afterwards (I guess I had the same thing, the strain was too much and it just kind of went 'pop', as you described!).

[Snacks]

Just so you know, I birthed Emily standing up, and Nina on my back, I had hemmeroids for about 3 months after having Emily, but only once after having Nina. And with both girls, I only pushed for about 5 minutes.

Hopefully you're one of the lucky ones that just doesn't get it.
Good luck with your impending birth!

Sorry Jodi. That really sucks.
My advice didn't come from a place of experience (given that I was indeed a lucky one) but only that I've been told that not straining is a preventative tool for avoiding them (in the context of going to the toilet). We all know that you have to push to get a baby out, particularly a first baby because your uterus isn't as 'experienced', so the thinking here was by using gravity rather than pushing hell for leather when your body isn't telling you to, would be another preventative tool, I would've thought.
Obviously for some (like yourself) it sounds like it is unfortunately unavoidable.
I hope my post didn't offend anyone who got them even though they "prepared" extremely well for their birth/s.

[Visitor7]

No offense at all hun. Just letting everyone know that some people are just unlucky I had such a great birth with Emily, something was bound to go wrong!

But it is great for expecting mums to be prepared as much as they can to try and prevent things like hammeroids.