Your third birth

[LuluHB]

My second was my quickest by a loooooooong way (active labour was 15 minutes!) so I was scared to death what my third would be. My little miss gave me a couple of false alarms where I went to hospital with very strong, regular contractions only to have them fizzle to nothing. In the end my hind waters broke just after 8am and I didn't get any contractions at all until about 3pm, and then no "real" contractions until more like 5.30 pm. Miss 3 was posterior and stayed that way so it was pretty ouchy but I spent a lot of time in the shower and just rocking through contractions. My second and third were both drug free and while DD3 was posterior, the labour was still far less intensel, albeit longer, than DD2's incredibly quick arrival.

The biggest thing for me was the post labour pains after DD3. They get longer and more intense apparently with each birth and that was certainly the case for me.

[Cricket]

No worries Arimeh - you'll be just fine.

My third baby was a bit different from the rest, but it was my first homebirth, and I was a little unsure of how things would go. I was stuck in pre-labour for most of the day, right around 3cm with regular, but not strong, contractions that stopped whenever my midwife came to check on me. Finally around supper time, things started to get real, I made it to 4cm, with bulging waters, my midwife broke my water, and baby arrived within two hours or so, if I remember correctly.
My midwife said that third babies are a little unpredictable, and that a long pre-labour stage is somewhat typical. I don't think that third babies are generally harder - I think it's more about whether you get that long warm-up stage or not.

Here's my birth story, if that helps. https://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums...r-birth-49801/

[Butterfly Dawn]

my 3rd is my fav birth. my 1st spontaneous labour but all business.
1st was 16hrs , 2nd was 4hrs dd was 2hrs. she gave me a few trial runs and was born day before due date.

Im sure you will be great. your body knows, you know .
don't stress too much about new carers, plenty of time to ease them into your wishes

[~clover~]

Ooh, yeah those after pains definetly get worse. But you've been at my level there. Good luck for the 5th round. Panadeine forte & Nurofen worked wonders! Then I went home lol

[Cricket]

About the afterpains - I found that naproxen (sold as Aleve here - not sure what it's name is in AUS) worked the best. The directions say one every 12 hr, but my midwife said take 2 to start, and then one every 8 hours. I took that for two days post partum and never felt a thing after number 5 and 6. Otherwise, I took acetaminophen and ibuprofen together and that managed it reasonably, but not as well as the naproxen.

[raffy]

We are about to ttc #3 so this thread interests me, my labours were 1hr 48mins and 2 hrs 26mins and our hospital is over an hour away so number 3 better not be half of either of those labours, they were scary enough

[loulabelle]

My third was soooo much easier and more calm than my first two. I think that also had a lot to do with my mind set, I worked hard at keeping myself calm. As for length, my first was mammoth about 50 hours, Second was induced and just over 5 hours and third was 3h45min with a few hours of early labour before that. I coped better and my body coped better third time.
I think you're going to be amazing xx

[*Efjay*]

My third was also my easiest, quickest, empowering. After pains where real toe curlers though!

[Arimeh]

Yeah I'm not looking forward to the after pains - they sucked enough after the 4th birth. Thanks for all the votes of confidence, I met the second midwife yesterday and she seems really nice, they're pretty big on hypnobirthing there so hopefully I can keep it together and not scream like I did with the other two LOL

[loulabelle]

Yeah I found after pains worse with every birth.

[bellany]

My after pains seemed worse last time than this time. They only lasted a couple of days this time... but I was on codeine and ibuprofen this time and wasnt taking anything last time so I imagine that made a difference.
Last time they just stuck around for ages though!

[Floweryfields]

About the afterpains - I found that naproxen (sold as Aleve here - not sure what it's name is in AUS) worked the best. The directions say one every 12 hr, but my midwife said take 2 to start, and then one every 8 hours. I took that for two days post partum and never felt a thing after number 5 and 6. Otherwise, I took acetaminophen and ibuprofen together and that managed it reasonably, but not as well as the naproxen.

Naprogesic is the Aus equivalent. It works by reducing the contracting of the uterus. Be careful if you have a sensitive tummy though, it can give you an ulcer - always take it with food or milk.

[*Efjay*]

Yeah I'm not looking forward to the after pains - they sucked enough after the 4th birth. Thanks for all the votes of confidence, I met the second midwife yesterday and she seems really nice, they're pretty big on hypnobirthing there so hopefully I can keep it together and not scream like I did with the other two LOL

Meh, you're allowed to scream. If that's how your body works then that's how it works. Me, I swear. LOL

[Arimeh]

Oh don't worry - I swear too lol

[Butterfly Dawn]

Lol Im a screamer. Held it together till I started pushing then OMG! Dr told me to be quiet as it wasn't helping lmao.
I reakon if their into hypno birthing it'll be an awesome experience

[gypsy79]

My midwife says that 3rd babies (or labours I suppose) often 'muck around' more - so you're more likely to get pre-labour. But when they're ready to come, they come reasonably quickly. For me, that sums up my 2nd labour, so it'll be interesting to see how this one goes! With DS my waters broke at about 2.30 am, contractions started reasonably quickly and built up, and he was born almost exactly 12 hours after waters breaking. No pre-labour, only some Braxton hicks which started a few days before he was born. With DD, I was getting pre-labour the day before (enough for me to think things might happen soon), then again the next morning. It wasn't until mid-afternoon that I called my midwife to say I thought I would see her that night or the next morning, but by 4.30 pm or so I knew things were definitely on. DD was born at 8.30 that night. So I count her labour as being about 6 hours, but there was a lot of not-very-painful at all pre-labour that went before that. I coped a lot better second time around (didn't fall apart and have an epidural), but I'm a bit scared that it's all going to be a lot harder this time!