Preparing for my second labour﻿

It is quite common for mum’s who have had a traumatic birth experience or one that didn’t go according to plan to be anxious about their subsequent labours.

I’m having the opposite dilemma. My first labour giving birth to Jesse was everything I could have hoped for and now I’m freaking out that the second time round won’t go as smoothly or live up to how I remember the first time. Ridiculous I know.

My first labour was relatively quick with about five and a half hours of active labour. I had very little intervention (my waters were broken at 4cm and I had to wear a heart rate monitor on my belly the whole time but that’s it). I managed to avoid any pain relief (I thought I was using the gas towards the end but turns out it was too late for that and the midwife only allowed oxygen to come through!). I was able to be mobile and use active labour positions like squatting and all fours throughout. And I didn’t tear! This was a huge fear of mine after 31 years of mum regaling me with the delightful tale of my birth.

The worst part (oh besides squeezing out a 2.7kg human from my vagina!) was the agonising back labour. That searing pain in my lower back with each contraction became almost unbearable. Here’s hoping I don’t get that again!

So now I’m preparing to labour for the second time and I’m praying I can do it all again as close to my birth plan as possible.

I’m drinking the raspberry leaf tea again, listening to my hypno-birthing meditations and affirmations and have just started prenatal yoga. Does any of it work? I don’t know. But I did it last time so I’m doing it again!

I’m keeping as active as possible and viewing every activity as birth preparation. Simply walking is proving challenging at times but between Kangatraining, yoga and weight training I’m doing ok. This makes me sound like a bit of a fitness freak which I’m most definitely not. Because I’m also eating ALL THE FOOD!