Is it true your first birth resembles your mother's first?

Question

I just read a question where someone made this statement. I was wondering if it has any grain of truth to it. ... in terms of the pain and duration of labour.

Answer 1

I have never heard that before either. However, it does seem like there could be a grain of truth, if it is basing things on body type. Perhaps, if your mother had a very narrow pelvic bone, you could too. That happened to my mom and my sister. I am due in March, and I really hope this is not true. My mom was in labor with her first for 36 hours, and my sister was in labor 23 hours before they decided to perform a c-section. I hope it isn't true.

Answer 2

Yes and no. It depends on whether you inherited your mother's body type, but also it depends on the labor practices in your area. My grandmother, mother and me all had slim hips compared to waist. My grandma had no problem giving birth (all at home, first labor was roughly 12 hours, the rest were shorter), my mom had trouble the first time, but even shorter labor (about 8 hours) and a LOT of pain and pain meds. I was in labor 23 hours, really not very painful, but baby wouldn't descend so had a c-section.

Answer 3

That's not always true. When my mom had me she was in labor for 34 hours. With my first child I was only in labor for 10 1/2 hours. And 12 1/2 hours with my second. But my mother in law had very short labors with all 3 of her kids. Her daughter's first baby came in 3 hours. So I guess sometimes it could be true and sometimes not.

Answer 4

Well, you heard it from me and I was told by one of the nurses at a fertility clinic i used to work for. Also, many of the nurse midwives at the high risk ob-gyn clinic i work for now have reiterated this statement to first time mothers often. Usually the pain is indescribable (it may not hurt in the same places as your mom did), but the intensity is the same as well as the duration.

As for my sis and my mom, my mom's first delivery was natural vaginal deliver, lasted about 16 hours with about 5 hours of active labor. My sis went to deliver her daughter and was in active labor when she got to the hospital and 5 hours later called us to tell us we had a niece/granddaughter.

I'm talking about natural vaginal delivery, not c-sections or emergency cases or high risk or even epidural deliveries. Only if you and your mother had natural vaginal deliveries CAN this issue even be relative.

Answer 5

Not mine. My mom was in labor for 20 minutes and I was in labor for three days. I was 12 years older with my first than she was with her first.

One thing that was similiar is that we both only gained about 20 lbs in the pregnancy though she was 100 lbs and I was twice that at the time of conception.

Answer 6

Not for me and my mom. I am my mom's first and I was 2 weeks late and a relatively quick birth/labor.

MY daughter was 3 weeks early and I was in labor for 22 hours. Oh well!

Answer 7

i just had my first birth and it was nothing like my mothers she was in labour 30+ hours i was only 11 but my pain was worse then hers and she had back labour but i did not

Answer 8

my sister is a L&D nurse, I just called her cause I was curious, I mean my mom went 4-9 weeks early with all of her 4 children, me and my sister had our daughters late... my mom had simple quick easy labor, not me or my sister, all my moms babies were under 6 pounds, me and my sisters were over 7, my mom never got a stretch mark, me and my sister got em.. anyway, she laughed at me and asked me if i was ok... she said, "kim think about what you are askign for 1 minute, your second pregnancy is nothing like your first so what in hell makes you think that your moms would be like yours... hello if your pregnancies arent even the same what makes you think moms were"

Answer 9

No, thank goodness. My mom was in labor for 72 hours and almost hemorrhaged to death because they didn't sew her up right after having severe tears. I did have severe tears though with my 1st.

Answer 10

nope! my mom had to have an emergency c-section cuz i broke her water 6 weeks early and was born feet first and not breathing cuz my ambilical cord wrapped around my neck twice. and i had jaundice. i had a full-term, natural, unmedicated delivery with absolutely no complications.