They say the Second Labour is easier than the first… don’t they? Yes, they do say that, but it is not always so, sometimes they are just different… very different.
For my second labour we went into it thinking we knew it all. Turns out we knew nothing!! First labour was textbook (see full story at First Labour Blog Post). Started with minor contractions, built up to major contractions, went to the hospital, had a baby. Less than 10 hours start to finish.
With my second labour it was not textbook at all.
Water broke early friday morning (right on the due date) at 2am, no signs of labour otherwise. Mozied on to the hospital for around 4am, still no signs of labour. Got to the hospital along with many other women who’s waters also broke at 2am, nurses were saying must have been a low pressure system or something. It was super busy so we couldn’t get a room, sat in a triage bed for a few hours, but at least I wasn’t one of the women labouring in the lounge! Got moved to a regular room around 8am, still no real labour, a few tiny contractions but nothing useful. Started to induce labour around 2pm, but baby didn’t do well with that idea so we stopped induction to give baby a rest, still no useful contractions. Started induction again at 7pm, nothing useful. 8pm the nurse thought a full bladder might be preventing baby from dropping, emptied bladder and had a baby 30 minutes later!! It was a bit intense going from 0 to 60 in a half hour, but at least it was over quick!!
So basically it was 18 hours of nothing and then 30 minutes with 5 major contractions, 1 big push and then baby! Not at all like our first!!
Then of course the hospital stay was completely different. First labour we had a private room and a pleasant experience. Second labour we had a shared room and an unpleaseant experience. We ended up signing out AMA just to get home and relax. We are so happy we did! More on this another day.
We now have a new baby girl – Ayla – 5 pounds 7 ounces. Here are some pictures.
Ayla's first weigh in at 5 pounds 7 ounces
Closeup of Ayla after birth
