I get what you're asking Mel, and while I don't think that first births are always traumatic, it seems to be that the majority of traumatic births are firsts. Consequently, I have sometimes wondered how many women experience 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc births that are traumatic? Or is it that by nature of the fact that with 2nd and subsequent births you know what you're in for, you're more likely to know what you want, and less likely to be traumatised by the exeperience?

Anyone else have thoughts on this?

I think the fact that the body has not birthed before could make first births generally more difficult/traumatic than 2nd and subsequent births (I mean generally speaking; there would of course be many women who have not experienced this to be the case!), but I think there are several other first-birth factors that contribute to the fact that there are higher rates of first births that are traumatic birth compared to 2nd and subsequent births that are traumatic. I think some of the factors include: the nature of the expierience and lack of preparation/understanding about the physiological process of birth (unique to firsts), unnecessary intervention (when the woman doesn't understand her options, more likely in firsts) and poor/inadequate care (when women don't realise that their chosen 'care giver' doesn't necessarily care! Also more likely in firsts). The good news is that by nature of the fact that you're doing your research, you should avoid most of these But, as others have said, there are also factors in traumatic births that would have been there regardless of whether it was a first birth or not - positioning, foetal distress, etc.