Tell me about your third!

[OceanPrincess]

Labour and birth that is!

I asked the MW today what a "typical" third labour is like, you know, first is generally longish, second is generally shorter, what can she say about thirds? And she says that thirds seem to "fiddle about for a few days, contractions on and off, then they arrive in a bit of a rush."

Thoughts? Was your third like that? What was yours like?

I know, I know, there's no rule for all births etc etc but humour me

[beansbeans!]

My third was awesome, not that the others werent awesome but yeah. My ob said to me when I was pregnant that most obs say every woman should have three pregnancies because 'third time's a charm'.

[Tinks]

My 3rd labour was the easiest and the quickest.

[TeniBear]

(yep, Teni's talking about her mum again )

My Mum's third labour apparently came hard and fast. She had her first contraction after we two older kids were asleep, and he was born just before midnight. So maybe three, four hours? She was in denial for most of it, as far as I can tell. She was hanging onto doorways saying she wasn't going to the hospital

[OceanPrincess]

She was in denial for most of it, as far as I can tell. She was hanging onto doorways saying she wasn't going to the hospital

That's funny

So maybe the MW is partially right...!

[~TT40~]

lol I feel like im the same Teni!

my mums third was the trouble maker...(SROM at 18weeks, on hospital bedrest for 3 months, and had him at 34 weeks - which after all that trouble she didnt even know she was in labour it was the nurses who picked it up and she was lucky to make it to the birth room in time, so was very quick).

In my work ive noticed a similar pattern...

but! like you said there is no hard and fast rule!!

[Butterfly Dawn]

lol that sounds right. dd gave me quiet afew pre-runs. then when she wanted out that was it, just over 2hrs for the whole thing! woulda had her in the car if we had stayed with our original hospital choice!

[~clover~]

I went from 18 hours, to 30, down to 5. So that was a shock! 4th was 12!!

I did have 2 or 3 contractions the morning before, but that was the only preperation/warning I had. No plug/show etc. It was about 26 hours between those first few contractions & the actual start of labour.

It was my first where the contractions didn't get regular at all. Even during transition & pushing. #4 was the same. I'm pretty sure it was babies position that caused that

[Lisa]

I didn't have any real warning. I woke up and got contractions. Before I knew it, I was in full labour but really wasn't sure if it was the real thing. He was born very quickly once my water broke and I would say it was fast & furious and he came out a little bruised from the whole thing. I personally have found my boys labours to be more painful than my girls - I don't know why that is though - so it was a little more painful. Definitely not my favourite labour but beautiful all the same. 5 hours from first contraction to birthing the placenta.

[Novella]

My DD3's birth story is in my sig

But the short version is DD1 and DD2 were pre term so I was expecting to go early got to 37 weeks and felt over due! Had no prelabour with my first two births and heaps with my third, lost plug for weeks. My midwife side that its quite common with third births. Went into labour at 37+4 and from first cx to birth was longer than any of my others but almost the same length of active labour for all 3 births was 6-6.5 hrs. I also think waiting for DH to come home slowed things down and I didn't do anything to actively encourage labour to progress until he was closer to home

Great labour, first water birth, felt awesome after! About 2 hrs in hospital before she came and only 3 minutes of pushing (although it felt longer Little bruised around the eyes from coming out so quick. She came just before midnight and we left before lunch the next day. Hope your third goes well

[Butterfly Dawn]

I went 16hrs to 4 hrs ( both induced) to 2 hrs spontaneous.
fast and furious is the way I have described it too
for me, it was a case of my body really felt like it knew what it was doing, I knew what to do do it all clicked this time.
I hope your 3rd is great too.
(and the kids really enjoyed another baby) and enjoying a toddler

[LuluHB]

My third gave me tons of pre-labour - strong enough to make me go to hospital twice, once in the middle of the night, because I was convinced it was the real thing as well as one occasion of her going soooooo quiet that I panicked and yep, back to hospital again. The midwives all told me on my false starts and my real labour that third babies are notorious at keeping their mummies guessing, and Miss A sure did. When it came to the real thing, my hind waters broke just after 8am but then absolutely nothing until very late afternoon. Her birth was then a steady build up over say 3 hours. She was much faster than DD1, but significantly slower - thank goodness!! - than DD2. Miss I was 5 days late induced, Miss E 9 days late and Miss A 8 days late so I think all my girls were pretty consistent in terms of cooking times ;-)

[Chrispe]

My third was prem, after having 2 term babies. Had a show 18hrs before then woke up in labour at 5:30am. Labour lasted 1.5hrs at 33weeks.
Then had Threatened Preterm Labour at 32weeks with my 4th, but was put on medication early enough to stop the 'niggly' contractions.

[Liz]

My third came in 43 minutes. Had gastro that morning, was quite violently ill for those 5hrs or so. Then at 8.30 that evening I felt my waters start to trickle. Freaked and rang my midwife saying I didn't want to go into labour I'd been sick all day! Had a couple of Braxton hicks type contractions after a while, then bam! Labour and birth. Third stage was actually longer than labour lol.

[~Trish~]

I had what your midwife described. Lots of pre-labour for a couple of days and then a wonderful, quick and easy labour .

DD's birth story is HERE if you have the time to read it. It was a lovely, calm birth.

[OceanPrincess]

Interesting, thanks for sharing guys! I keep thinking it will just come on like DS did but maybe not...

[Trillian]

Mine was a ****ing horrific induced birth ending in a manual placental removal under GA. I had been having painful pre-labour for about a week before and I made the stupid decision to let the doctor break my waters, which did nothing to help labour so ended up with an induction and 4.5hours of pure hell.

[MrsFabuloso]

I loved my third birth it was awesome. My quickest and easiest. Afterwards wasn't so great, but the actual birth was wonderful.

Here is my birth story if you would like to read it.