u/Dependent-Tree2572

Hi!! Wondering if anyone who had an epidural free birth for their first, ended up having an epidural with their second??

I really wanted to not have an epidural with my first, partially just to see if I could (I know kinda stupid reason but whatever). Anyways, I managed to and I had a technically straightforward birth with minor tearing. But oh my god, the pain was soooo much worse than expected. I didn’t really do any prep so maybe my fault but the pain was the worst thing I have ever felt. So I am considering perhaps with subsequent babies an epidural?

HOWEVER, there were other reasons I didn’t want the epidural as well. One is I was concerned about coached pushing and not feeling anything. My midwives just had me push when I wanted to and it was mostly subconscious (honestly like my uterus was throwing up). Pushing took just over an hour so standard. What is pushing like with an epidural?

Secondly, how soon after birth can you go home? I avoided the ward entirely with my first and if the epidural requires a longer stay that’s a deal breaker (obviously things can come up which require a longer stay but I don’t want to purposely have one).

Finally, is it true the second labour is easier? This labour was 26 hours with contractions being quite difficult to bear for the last 12 or so hours.

I also had minor complications with the placenta taking 40 mins to come out even with active management so I had to have intense fundal massage and a manual blood clot removal (doctor put his hand inside my uterus to extract blood clots with no pain relief). It was excruciating. I have requested medical records so hopefully I can learn a bit more as everything moved so fast. I want to know the chance of reoccurrence for this.

hi just looking for advice/wondering if anyone has been in my position before!! me and my boyfriend were really on the fence about vaccinating our baby. I personally declined the 3 pregnancy vaccines (flu, tdap and RSV iirc) but then I did end up getting my son the 6 in 1 and menB vaccines at 8 weeks. I declined rotavirus. In the UK we don’t do hep b at birth & he got oral Vitamin K which is normal here.

Now his 12 week ones are approaching which will be a second dose of 6 in 1 and menB, and I’m really starting to not want him to have them. However, is there any point since he has already had one dose? He was okay after his first dose, just a bit sleepy but I just felt so uneasy and uncomfortable with it.

Just wondering if anyone else has started the standard schedule then started to delay after? My mum delayed for me and my brother & I’m starting to think I should switch to that.

fwiw in the UK there is no vax requirement for any schooling so that is not a concern

hi, hope this is allowed!

so my LO is nearly 10 weeks old and is combo fed, however, at night he is exclusively nursed as it’s easier for me. he also sleeps next to me in a bassinet but we do occasionally cosleep. since we only have a double bed, this means my husband sleeps in a different room as there is no space for us to sleep safely together with the baby. he also snores quite a bit so with the baby already interrupting sleep it’s sorta like one less thing if his snoring isn’t. however, pre baby we always slept in the same bed. i understand the husband sleeping separately is relatively common for breastfeeding parents, but my question is how long does this normally last for?

on one hand me and my husband are both sleeping weirdly well for having a newborn, like 7 hours of sleep a night normally. this is obviously amazing. maybe tmi but we also normally have sex about twice a week so it’s not like our intimate life is dead or anything. but I also do really hate being in separate rooms, so im curious how long people do it for?

baby will be in the main bedroom at least 6 months but I was thinking of moving him to a crib around 4-5 months?