Where? My living room.
Vaginal/C-Section? Vaginal.
Natural? Natural.
Drugs (what kind)? No Drugs? No drugs. Some homeopathics.
How was it? One of the most awesome experiences of my life.

"Fundamentally the markswoman aims at herself"DT Suzuki

I went into the first time knowing that it'd be hard but naive as to HOW hard...I had a lot of apprehension about the 2nd time because then I REALLY knew what I was in for. But I also knew where my strengths and weaknesses were and asked my dh/birth partner to help with those.

Where? midwife-run birthing center within hospital
Vaginal/C-Section? Vag, 2nd one in tub
Natural? yes though a bit of pitocin on that first baby I was so anxious to have
Drugs (what kind)? No Drugs? see above
How was it? fantastic and hard
Did anyone make a plan and totally deviate? We made a plan, no deviations

#1)
Where? county hospital
Vaginal/C-Section? vag
Natural? yep
Drugs (what kind)? No Drugs? phentynol (sp?) (yuck...didn't like that)
How was it? awesome...6 hours ( a lot of pushing 'cause the phent...made me stoned and I didn't want to move.)
Did anyone make a plan and totally deviate? nope
#2
Where? home
Vaginal/C-Section? vag
Natural? all the way
Drugs (what kind)? No Drugs? no drugs
How was it? a-fucking-mazing!
Did anyone make a plan and totally deviate? it went exactly how I wanted

2 births...

1- local hospital
- c/s
- not by any stretch
- drugs- hoo-boy- pitocin, gravol, morphine, more pitocin, more gravol, more morphine, demerol, failed epidural, general anesthetic, antibiotics, morphine, t-3s, oxygen, benadryl.
- uh, it sucked.
- yeah, we took the ignorance is bliss route and it lead us directly to the previous question.

2- hospital 1 1/2 hours away with midwife.
- vbac
- natural. completely.
- not a single tylenol.
- midblowingly blissful.
- i planned to be informed and it kept me safe.

Where? Birth center transfered to hospital
Vaginal/C-Section? Vaginal
Natural? Completely
Drugs (what kind)? No Drugs? Nothing but a shot of pitocin for the afterbirth (too tired to protest).
How was it? Ike wasn't really ready to come out. He was 9lbs 2oz and I think his shoulders weren't letting him come down very well. Took 22 hours to get him out of me.
Did anyone make a plan and totally deviate? Well we paid for a freestanding birth center out of pocket and ended up also having a hospital bill...Ike had a bit of a pointy head from the vacuum assist (ack), but there was no surgery, and I ended up with a healthy baby boy so does it really matter?

I would relax about your second. Odds are that it will be MUCH easier than your first. I worry about a second too, but my midwife said "Ike REALLY paved the way for any future children". lol

giving birth (as you obviously know) is the most exciting, adventurous, badass thing i've ever done!
don't be too nervous about your second birth, because everyone says the second baby is usually delivered faster and easier than the first. plus you already know what to expect, so you can just go with the flow!

i had monkeygirl at a great birthing center in a hospital in NH called The Mom's Place. it was very family focused, with huge birthing suites and plenty of space for everyone you'd want to have around. it was also a very choice-focused environment, allowing each mom to give birth exactly the way she wants to. i had a midwives see me through my pregnancy and birth, and felt very lucky to have had them with me. i felt like i had a real relationship with them. they told me that i could labor however i wanted to, and when i asked them if they had ever attended a water birth they said "no, but you wanted to be our first we would love it!" i didn't end up opting for a waterbirth, although i loved their openmindedness!

i went into labor with the goal of keeping everything as natural as possible, but ended up trying a painkiller (nubane, i think it was called?), which really just relaxed me for a while rather than making the pain go away. there were a ton of other babies being born that morning, and i spent the first 8 cms of my labor in a curtained-off exam room with 5 other women! i started to freak out for some reason at the thought of delivering in that little space, and ended up getting really overwhelmed and begging for an epidural. originally i had planned on spending my labor in a warm bath, but that never happened because there were no rooms open until after i caved in about the epidural. the midwife tried to talk me out it but i was beyond reason at that point; i was having contractions right on top of each other like 60 secs apart and thought i'd never get into a room to get in the tub. figures that they got me into a real room like 30 mins later! i sort of regret the epidural because it really slowed things down. i was 3 cms dilated when i got to the hospital at 6 am, and was 8 cms at 10 am. fairly fast as far as first labors, but after i got the epidural at 10 am, it took until 3:30pm for my body to go those last 2 cms. i can't blame it completely on the epidural, because monkeygirl's position was pretty tough (she was born posterior/faceup, so i had to push for 2 1/2 hours to get her out...AAAARGGGHHH!), but i think walking around and staying active helped me progress so much in the beginning, and laying on my back after the epidural brought things to a standstill. i let them give me a 'dash' of pitocin at 3 pm to get things moving again, and it helped because 30 mins later i was ready to push.

ah, the pushing. the...hardest...thing...i've...ever...done!
after two hours of pushing through pretty much every contraction i stopped believing everyone when they told me how great i was doing. i was thinking "she's no closer to coming out now than she was two hours ago. they just don't want me to give up." i was convinced for a few minutes that i was going to have to have a c-section. then she started to crown and they gave me mirror to see her head because i didn't believe i was almost done; her head looked like a slimy little brain cactus! i pushed a few more times and all of a sudden she just kind of swooped out...her forehead was stuck behind my pubic bone for so long that she had grooves in her face. i had alot of tearing (natural-my midwives didn't believe in episiotomies) from the pressure and had ALOT of stitches down there, but i didn't even really notice until i was home a couple days later. i was kind of on a high from the birth process and snuggling with my little bundle.

i guess the best advice i can give anyone is to trust the birth process and try to stay as relaxed as possible. if the circumstances call for it, don't be afraid to change your birth plan. like you said, every birth is different and you never know what's going to work for you. most important: have fun! write it all down ASAP so you don't forget what it was like. i looove reading over what monkeygirl's birth was like and remembering all the feelings flooding through me.

good luck, e!