did you enjoy your labour?

[alioops]

My 1st 2 I did!! If my Ob gets his way and continues to refuse a CS even though Orthopaedic physio says no way I can do a VB without damage then I doubt I would enjoy my 3rd, but if he does his job sometime in the next 4 weeks then I might enjoy the birth (I won't be labouring then though)

[Heaven]

No freakin way Mine was pretty awful. I'm scared to do it again.

[Cassius2]

No freakin way Mine was pretty awful. I'm scared to do it again.

i remember sooo vividly wondering in the first few months how on earth ppl could ever do that to themselves again and again LOL!

[~Kaz~]

I "enjoyed" the first 28 hours of labour (12 active). Even though it was painful, I felt positive and capable and so proud to be doing it without drugs (except gas in last 2 hours which didn't really do much). I really hated the last half hour before J was born when I ended up in theatre for a C-section. Also, I hated all the post c-sect/birth complications I ended up with.

Although I'm scared about doing it all again and would love a VBAC experience, I'll definitely be back for more and never went through that "never again" stage.

[~Saram~]

I loved my labour and birth. I often joked with friends that I would happily do birth for them if they would do pregnancy for me.

#1 was induced but I still had an active birth without much further intevention. #2 was ARM but no more intevention. I would have loved to have gone through the whole actually going into labour properly myself but it wasn't to be.

Labour was such an awesomely powerful experience for me. Good pain and althought #2 was quite painful and intense it was still a fantastic experience.

[Shanti]

Yes! It all happened pretty quick for me.... contractions came on 10pm at night suddenly... 5mins apart... 3mins apart etc and went into hospital 2am. and then things really progressed from there on in and DD was born 7:36am.... so all up it was quite fast for a first labour and I really did enjoy it all.... except for the pushing part that was soo hard and lonnnggg (i pushed for 2hrs) and most painful part!!!(she was posterior and i got 3rd degree tear!!!) But well worth it
I can't wait to do it all again.

[~CrazyMumOf3~]

first birth (induction) i hated every moment of it. my (at the time DP) and support people were selfish so and so's. Midwives werent all the best either.

second birth (induction) wasnt as bad as the first. lovely supportive midwife and DF was fantastic. They had me laughing during the entire labour(even when pushing)

[satya]

Nope, I can't say I enjoyed it.

I did enjoy the day of prelabour - wondering if it was leading to something - thinking I could manage the pain OK - gradually getting stronger contractions at irregular intervals.

Then real labour started. It was quite painful straight away. Six hours later after many painful contractions & hours of uncontrollable shaking with each contraction it was off to hossy (6cms) and another 9 hours of full on contractions coming one on top of the other and then 2 hours of pushing (& then a snip snip & vac extraction due to shoulder dystocia). So 17 hours of full on labour - the kind you never see on the Discovery Health Channel. Nothing enjoyable about that. Peth and gas only took the edge off the contractions, so no I did not enjoy it.

It was certainly an emotional experience, particularly after bub was out, but not enjoyable for me or the others attending to me.

[Visitor7]

I loved my labours and can't wait to do it all over again!
First labour was induced and I had an epi, but recovered really well.
Second labour started all on its own and had no drugs, recovered extremely well from that one

[Tinks]

My first one NO WAY! It was the worst experience of my life - up until I had DS in my arms of course. My mum asked me an hour later if I would do it again and I said 'yes' lol. So i did.

2nd was the worst one of all. I was induced, had 2 hrs of what felt like one huge 2 hr contraction. I vowed NEVER to go back again! I didn't enjoy it AT ALL.

Then my 3rd labour was fantastic! I can honestly say I enjoyed it. I was induced for the 3rd time but it was much more calm than the first 2 and the contractions weren't as intense. It was only 56 mins from the drip being inserted until she was born though so that could be why. Who knows?

[fionas]

No I didn't - mainly because of the uncertainty. I had a day of prelabour, then my waters broke and after that it was another two days before DD was born.

I hated the fact that it took soooooooo long and my contractions were so unpredictable so I was in a constant state of not knowing whether I should try to rest or whether I should be timing the contractions. Sometimes they were three minutes apart; other times ten minutes.

All over the shop. I just remember being awake most of the time for three days so by the time labour actually really ramped up I was exhausted. I think I coped with the pain quite well (DD was posterior) and used some pain management techniques so I was REALLY proud of the way I did that. But I opted for an epidural so that I could rest. Then it took almost three hours of pushing to get DD out and I think the position I was in exacerbated my SPD which meant that I was in fairly severe pain for six months afterwards and still have pain now and DD's nearly two.

So labour is not something I'm looking forward to but not so much the pain as the length of the labour and the uncertainty.

[smiles4u]

I gave birth only 39minutes after arriving at the hospital

... My contractions started only 2hrs before

What do you ALL think ... did i ENJOY or not ??

[Fleur]

Not so much the first, I was young & scared & had no idea I could have any control... the second was great, would have had another 10 like that!... the third was different altogether, can't say I enjoyed it, but going for a VBAC this time & actually looking forward to it

and i am loving seeing how many of us enjoyed at least one of our labours!

[~Serenity~]

well my first was mostly ok but i got so high on gas that when he was born i was so relieved i forgot about him the second was posterior so more painful and she was 5 weeks early so more drs had my grandma instead of hubby so no real help and then she got whisked away and my last was more of a waters broke lucky i was at the hosp for a check then a sudden urge to push and out he flew i felt alil ripped of actually and he was a 30 weeker so he got taken straight away to so this time im hoping will be alot better with good support ppl and im hoping for a nice 5 hr labour and more active and less gas so i remember to give them a cuddle...but in the end im happy with a healthy baby

[young_mumma87]

i dont thing i liked it but it was stil amazing.... hmmm where do i start????..i got my first contraction at 5pm which woke me on the sat 2nd. june had a lil bit of a show at 11pm..but my contractions still werent set in presice mins apart i told mum i had to go to the hosi at bout 2.15 i still hadnt slept... the hosi was also 20 ks away so thats why i didnt leave it so long... i got to the hosi and they sed i was bout 3-4cm dialated but she couldnt feel prop so she had to call the doc... the doc came in at bout 6.30am n he was THE BEST gyno EVER he gave me the internal and it was REALLY REALLY painful i was trying to climb off the bed.. and he sed that i had a high cervix and that why i hurt and then he patted me on my knee and said that "we goot a big baby in an awkward position so im going to break your waters soon and then your having an epidural" hmmm... that was interesting to say the least it did scare me a lil bit..then at aroung 12pm (still no sleep this is sunday the 3rd of june) the doc came in and sed time to break your water and i thought that it would hurt as much as the internal did!! boy was i WRONG!!! i screamed that hard that my mum nearly fainted as i screamed in pain...then i wanted to have a shower and the midwives said that would be ok coz the anethesist wouldnt be there fora bit so iust get in the shower and he walks in to give me the epidural!! oh they had already giving me pethedine before they broke my waters not that it helped at all!!! so i sat upright with mum infornt on getting mentally prepared to holdvery still... and all the anethesist could say was that the tattoo on my back waznt centered so i inhaled deep on the gas to suddenly sit straight up and say mum im dying!! mum calmed me down and we tried againg only for the "dying" thing to happen again it was then he midwives realised that the gas was on half and half and that he "dying" was actually me almost fainting!! 4 goes later the epidural was in and i was numb!! 6 hours past and they decided to do an internal nly to realieze that he was halfway down and almost crowning!! thanks guys!! so the it was action station and i was rahter delirious by this stage still no sleep!! coz i was so numb and couldt push the doc literaly had his foot up on the end of the bed pulling out my baby!! and at 6.39pm (26hrs after first contarction) my DS was born weighing in at 8pd 3oz n Very healthy!! me on the other hand had a round 30 stiches n later found out that i had to have an anal reconstruction i tore so much!! it took me 16 mths not to be sore down there....if i have another one i willdef be asking fo a c-section!!!

[*EJ*]

Throughout my first labour i was saying never again over and over, it took so long i was also saying i just can't do this anymore... but we got there eventually. It took a few weeks to think that maybe it wasn't so bad and wow, i gave birth to a baby!!!! Then i had really good thoughts about it.

Second time around was heaps quicker and i was saying never again at knowing what was ahead of me but it was totally different and i really did enjoy it. I was sitting on the bed, showered and dressed and feeling like a million bucks an hour or so after the birth. So excited that my boy was here and it wasn't another days worth of labour.

Not sure if i'll go back for a third though...

[shellbell3]

'Enjoyed' wouldn't be the word I'd use for mine, don't like pain or discomfort. I wouldn't say I disliked it but if I did have a 3rd I wouldn't be looking forward to the whole birth part, just the final product. I'd like to just skip it to holding my new baby.

[jackrose]

Oh yes.

Even though it went for 48hours in total, I absolutely enjoyed it! I felt amazing, powerful and connected when I was in labour... oh, and exhausted by the end of it!!

Before I was pregnant I was so absolutely fearful of the idea of labour and genuinely did not want to have any kids. I just didn't think it was for me and thought the whole idea of giving birth was absolutely horrifying. When I fell pregnant I had to readdress my whole attitude and started reading reading reading. I began to realise that I had the whole wrong idea with fear and began to embrace the idea of labour and birth. Luckily all went reasonably well with my birth and I was lucky enough to be left alone to labour at the hospital my way. I can't wait to do it again!!