fast labour a danger to the baby?

[faffmaff]

DS1 appeared quite quickly. He was born at 36 weeks, 2 hours after I was told my cervix was closed - luckily I'd been put in a side ward, and not sent home! Cue exciting dash to delivery suite in a wheelchair.

I'm now expecting baby number 2 and saw a consultant today who said I should think about being induced, because "rapid labour can shock the baby" and have lasting effects of days to weeks.

Not really keen on induction, and I only live 10 mins from the hospital. I did have quite a few hours of regular 'period pain' type contractions before going to hospital last time.

Has anyone heard of this shock to the baby thing? Gut feel is to turn the induction down but don't want to put the baby at risk.

I had a fast one with both DC. with DC2 less than 90 minutes from first contraction to birth. We barely made it to the hospital. DH was filling in forms when baby shot out.

baby was very well and alert and perfect, 10 pounds!.

I did suffer from some serious aftershocks (contractions after labour) and fever as it all happened so fast, and I was almost bouncing out of my bed from the adrenalin.

All in all a great birth though, and it is really lovely for baby and mother to have a good natural birth I think.

For a next baby, I would make sure DP and I would do a course on how to deliver baby if we do not make it on time to hospital (just in case of emergency).Maybe an idea? A friend of mine did give birth to her baby by the side of thh road on the way to hospital. her DP delivered the baby and then drove motehr and baby on to the hospital!They were fine.

Nobody ever told me that a speedy birth is bad for the baby. The consultants at the hospital all said a speedy birth is good news.

That's a good idea Chandon. DH missed the first birth as hospital had sent him home. Would be hilarious for his first encounter to involve actually doing the delivering!

Chandon - My dh was guided through the birth by telephone by the ambulance service. That's what you do, just dial 999. DH said they were excellent, kept him calm.
The actual ambulance turned up about 10 minutes after ds was born and they dealt with cord cutting and then a midwife arrived 20 minutes later.
What we should have done better is keep ds warm. We nearly has to take him to hospital to get him warmed up but he managed it just in time.

DS fed for an hour, hasn't needed any encouragement to eat since .

I had a fairly speedy delivery with dd2 (put my book down at 3.30am, she was born at 4.10am after a six minute second stage).

The midwife was more concerned about ME being in shock - mind you, she had a point, I was shaking like a leaf immediately afterwards and laughing hysterically, couldn't even hold the baby. Dd2 suffered no noticeable effects.....

I have precipitate labours (very fast). The fastest was 22 mins from first twinge to delivery. None of my dc suffered any kind of shock.

However what I did suffer with was retained placenta. The first two I ended up with a MW swinging off the chord the second time round I was back in after a week with retained products!

Anyway, I found out (from here I think) that one of the problems with precipitate is retained placenta and the reason is the injection they give you post delivery. In a normal birth the injection speeds up the seperation but with a precipitate it just interfears with the body doing its job. (I did do more research then just chatting here btw!)

With my last (and fastest) I fought to get them to agree to no injection and it worked, the placenta delivered great and I got my HB with no emergency transfer (which they promised me I would get if I insisted on going ahead without the injection ). The problem is that there is very little research done on this and evidence seems to be largly anecdotal (at least it was 5 years ago when I needed it!).

If you decide on doing something like this then please remember it is your right not to have the injection but you will have to ensure that you are very clear about your wishes - and tell anyone who may be with you at delivery so they can insist on your behalf should they need to.

I had a v fast labour with DC4 and ended up having an unplanned homebirth. I was lucky that the midwife lives nearby and was able to get to the house within a few minutes of me phoning her. The baby arrived less than 30 mins after the midwife did.

As things turned out, it was a wonderful experience, but if I was having any more babies I would seriously consider being induced but thinking carefully about my birth plan and resisting some of the interventions that go hand in hand with induction. I would feel like a ticking bomb otherwise, and be constantly checking to make sure all my contingencies were in place: phone charged and on me at all times, spare key hidden near the door, maybe have a hb kit at the house... personally I'd find all that quite stressful.

Apart from the risk of an unattended birth, I've not heard of any particular risk to the baby due to v fast delivery.

Wow WhyHavePets, thanks for that. Will think hard about what you've said. Would definitely like to avoid future simulations of James Herriott and various sheep/cows/horses.

Cointreau I know exactly what you mean (although I wasn't browsing through a novel like you ) - I had to delete numerous pictures of me post birth grinning like a lunatic. Was also shaking uncontrollably, but I really was quite deliriously happy.

Until the placenta retrieval bit anyway!

Did he mention at how many weeks they will think about induction?

It really is worth looking into. I am afraid I cant point you to any of the information as it has been far too long since i looked into it (Mummy memory has not eased yet!)

One MW had heard of it and was supportive, the others less so! Others may have come across it by now obviously so you may get more support than I did!

I'm going back at 34 weeks to discuss the induction, but no they haven't said when. As DS1 arrived at 36 weeks I guess it would be before 40 weeks.

Only 16 weeks now so plenty of time to google and scare myself!

My labour was 2.5 hours from 1st twinge to birth. My daughter was born calmly at home in a warm pool and I lifted her out myself so she took her 1st breath in my arms then breastfed immediately. She was very alert but didn't cry. Her Apgar scores were 9 and 10 and she's had no health problems at all so far (she's 4.5 months old now).

Sorry should have said - she didn't cry until she was out of my arms and on the scales to be weighed - she didn't like that much!

Yep - seconded about the injection. I had a 3 hour labour (would have been a LOT less if I hadn't got panicked by the ambulance and everything stalled - I'd wanted a homebirth but was 36w6d) and had the injection.

At time up, the placenta still had not come out so they tugged on it. They believed it complete, but two weeks later I spent a fun 3 nights in hospital with my newborn and IV antibiotics having nearly passed out from retained products. Joy.

Upon speaking to different midwives (not the bank staff one who delivered my baby and screwed up in other ways too) with my second baby they all said I should never have had the injection. Apparently the uterus apparently needs to rest after a precipitous birth before the third stage and isn't able to expel it properly otherwise.

Nobody ever suggested to me anything about induction or anything for my second baby. I had an EMCS with her for unrelated complications and I'm stuck with c-sections forever now for those complications so it's all a moot point for me now.. otherwise I'd be totally having a homebirth every time.

I am interested to read about the injection and precipitate labours - my labour with DS1 was 2hrs50m and am expecting my second baby in 7 weeks. I had the injection last time, though I hadn't wanted it. I am very worried about a faster labour this time as we are 30 minutes from the hospital. The labour was very intense and excruciating! DS had inhaled meconium which the MW thought could be because of the speed of the labour. He went to SCBU but not for long, and was fine a day or so after. He has always been very clingy though, and a MW once said this could be because of the labour?!? I am not sure.