Were your labours shorter with subsequent babies?

[LaWeasel]

I am PG with no2, and keep reading that labour (without complications) is generally quicker for every subsequent baby.

DD was only 8 hours, so am worried about not getting to hospital on time - this baby is due around christmas and the traffic will be awful in this area.

My labours got longer! DD1 was 40 mins[2 weeks early], DS was 4 hrs[on due date] and DD2 was 7 hrs[1 week early]

Well, that's oddly reassuring! Thank you.

No problem! I seem to recall my MW saying that labour times were genetic and upon asking my mom her births were exactly the same time as mine.Could be huge coicidence tho'!!!

I think the general rule of thumb is to expect second labour to be half the length of first (clearly there will be many exceptions to this!)

My first took 8 hours, my second took 3, so it was about right for me.
I had a homebirth for second and they came out straight away when I said first labour was 8 hours, as they expected it to be fairly quick.

Thanks, I was thinking about a homebirth, so I'll ask the MW if they'd come out straight away for me.

yes.
ds1 - 2hrs
ds2 - 15 mins

1st - 8 hours
2nd - 2.5 hours - didn't make it to hospital in time.

Oh, and although we didn't make it in time, both DD2 and myself were fine. Just grab a towel to catch them in and then ring the hospital. 2 midwives and 2 ambulances were sent out, so we had the best possible aftercare. Seem to remember the ambulance people being fascinated in the placenta, which they had never seen before). Shame the MW had to fish it out of the toilet [bleugh]

Glad to hear that Iloved - but how scary!

15mins?! Squirrels! That's crazy. Admittedly, my mother's history is DD1 - 27hrs, DD2 (me) - 45mins. I was only born in hospital because they were already there for an antenatal class!

lol.
11.45pm - 1st contraction
11.57pm - (per dh's phone) DH makes 999 call to say "ambulance please - my wife has had a baby" with me thinking "why is he calling 999, we are both ok and midwife is on her way"

I can see the advantage of getting it over very quickly like that.

1st labour - emergency c-section so doesn't count.
2nd labour - 23 hours and 55 minutes with pushing taking 20 minutes.
3rd labour - 12 hours and 45 minutes with pushing taking 7 minutes.