Length of labour - probably a stupid question!

[Deliaskis]

Hi all,

Just starting to get my head around the idea of labour and different options etc. But one thing I'm a bit confused about is exactly what people are referring to when they say how long their labour took.

So say someone says they were in labour for 11 hours, when is that timed from? Surely not from first contractions at home as it seems like plenty of people have these for ages?

I know people have labours varying from a couple of hours to spanning over a couple of days so I'm trying to keep an open mind about what might happen, but still would like to understand what people mean.

Sorry, I accept I am a bit thick!

D

I timed mine from first real contraction to birth - 6 hours. No pre-labour symptoms at all.

Good question! I timed it from regular painful contractions, which meant that I could not concentrate on anything else. For dd1 it was clear: 13 hours because the contractions started when my waters broke.

But for dd2, it was a lot less clear, which two nights of painful contractions before going into labour properly - and from then on it was 8 hours.

For ds (my third)it was about 7 hours, but again I had had contractions the whole of the previous night and had had no sleep.

I went into slow labour in the early hours of Thursday morning, and continued to contract on and off (not really very painfully) until my waters went on Sunday at 4.10pm. Ds was born at 5.51pm.

I, personally, would count my labour from 4.10pm until 5.51pm.

ethelina but what do you mean by real contraction? Do you mean first that you knew really was one, or ...?

Sorry, really am clueless!

Thanks for answers so far folks...

D

I timed mine in two sections:

1. from when my waters broke (for me at the start of labour, before I felt any contractions) 10.30am
2. from when it really began to hurt (turned out I was 4cm dilated then) 11pm Baby was born at 3am, so labour lasted 16 hours, but only 4 were seriously painful.

The contractions I had in slow labour were nothing at all like the ones that came after my waters broke.

Ah pinkjenny, so I will definitely know the difference then!

Cies that's actually really useful, the two stages.

D

My last labour mw asked me when contractions had become 3-4 mins apart lasting for approx. 1 minute (I was still at home at that point) but as far as she was concerned that was when it has really all started so she timed from then. Seemed sensible to me because before this point it had all been manageable and after that point I felt I really needed to be at the hospital.

I was 5cm by the time I got to the hospital so I guess it would have been between 4 to 5cm when it really started.

My midwives used when the contractions are less than 3-4 minutes apart and seriously painful (can't talk through them).

Sadly, with DD, this meant that my labour went down as something like 13 hours, but an OP baby and crushing back pain meant that, if you only use the second half of that test I would definitely say it was more like 72. You can see why they prefer their number!

I have the impression that it's all rather subjective and even health professionals use v. different measures.

You could say that my labour was either 3 days or about an hour, depending on how you define the start of active labour. (No, it isn't always obvious, no matter what some people say...)

To be honest, I couldn't tell any difference between the contractions I had in early labour and those in late labour up until breaking waters and transition (that 15 mins was v. different indeed..).

Contractions were all manageable until transition but strong enough that there was no question of sleeping or sitting down. V. annoying.

Thats a really good question! I count my labour as 3hrs 45mins as thats from when I felt the first contraction but going from when my waters broke it was 4 1/2 hours. According to the hospital you are not in labour until you are having 3 contractions every 10 minutes so according to them I was in labour for 45 minutes although afaik different areas have different ideas about what they count as established labour.

I couldn't tell the difference but it was either 3 days or 9 hours depending. My waters broke with my first contraction but everything was very very slow.

I had contractions from midnight to 8am for 2 nights- about 10 mins apart so not quick enough- they were getting things ready I guess as I was 3cm dilated by the end of it. I then went into proper labour - regualr contractions getting closer together and stronger- which last 6 hours.

MW said my labour was a quick one - only 6 hours - the two nights don't count as they were stop/start. I have a friend who talls anyone who'll listen says her labour was 56 hours - very simialr start/stop story to me though.

Mine was 35 hours from first painful contraction.
It was midnight when I had my first 'ooh, is that one of those Braxton-Hicks practice contractions?', had a show a few minutes later, and figured it must be BH rather than contractions because it was like period pains and everyone said 'if you have to ask if you're in labour, you aren't'

At 4am it suddenly got to 'that definitely wasn't labour but IT IS NOW!' Regular contractions every 10 min getting to every 5 by 7am. Apart from buggering up my sleep, it was all very calm as I went through it and then decided to try a bath. 8am waters break. Went to hospital late morning (5cm dilated). Continued all day. That was OK but non-labour medical stuff meant I needed an epidural round 7pm.

7am - still going. Midday - some meconium visible and discussion about what to do if baby didn't show up sharpish. 3pm - try a ventouse. Baby goes 'ge-boing' and magically appears.

Being bloody knackered from two nights' lost sleep was way worse than the labour, which was oddly enjoyable.

Thanks for all the replies folks, I don't feel as stupid now, as clearly there are lots of ways to measure it!

This has been really helpful though, so thanks!

Dx

My impression has been that they consider you to actually be in labour when you are 3cm dilated and contracting regularly, so I've always timed my labours from that point (none of my labours were start-stop, once the contractions were coming they increased in frequency and intensity at a steady pace until birth, and my waters never broke in my first two labours and they went as baby crowned in my third, so couldn't go by that). Based on those parameters my labours were 3 hours, 2 hours and 45 minutes (although the last is a bit of a guess because when I got to hospital and was examined I was 4-5cm dilated and he was born 20 minutes later).

I would say that I had around 27 hours of labour before I broke my waters. Then around 7 hours after that. The hospital counts my labour as being from the phonecall I made just after I thought my waters had gone. I have to say that on reflection, the first 27 hours, although painful was not unmanageable. The following 5 hours were the toughest, from when we got into hospital things seemed to get easier and then I was pushing for around 20 minutes.

Interesting and hugely different depending on who you talk to.

Me:
Waters broke 11am thurs
mild, regular contractions thurs and fri, but could still sleep.
Sat had stronger contactions,
Sun consented to induction and antibiotics
Mon 11.10 final arrival by emergency c section as baby stressed out by the induction, which had got me to 8cm.
Longest 5 days of my life!