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Childbirth

Share experiences and get support around labour, birth and recovery.

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Original poster

How long were your first births?

108 replies

Marabou · 26/04/2011 10:41

That's that really...

I'm 37+2 with my first and was wondering what I could expect. Everyone's different of course, but was just curious..

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

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TurtlesAreRetroRight · 26/04/2011 10:44

About 2 days. 8 hour second stage. It went on a bit.

The average is around 12hrs iirc.

5GoMadOnAZ650 · 26/04/2011 10:47

12 hours to the minute with dd1.

EasterEggsHaveNoCalories · 26/04/2011 10:57

12 hours from waters breaking to 10 cms dilated, 5 1/2 hours pushing but I think I was in the wrong position and not pushing in the right way (once I heard the consultants would be along in 15 minutes I got my feet in the stirrups, braced myself, and pushed like I was doing a massive poo and out popped ds!)

mamalocco · 26/04/2011 11:02

1.5 hours - midwife thought I was making abit of an unnecessary fuss when I phoned and told me to call her the next day when things were well underway. Ended up delivering baby myself at home. Don't think this is the norm so don't panic!

flossie75 · 26/04/2011 11:08

I was 41+3 - had a sweep at about 11am (2cm dilated) and had 'period' like cramps from then. Phoned my husband to come home at 1 as I thought things were happening. By 3pm contractions were 3 mins apart. Had a homebirth so midwife arrived at about 5 when I was 7cm dilated. Went in the pool then and gave birth at 7.30 - it was recorded that it was only 20 mins from full dilation!!

So counting from between 1 and 2 when I really felt like things were happening it was all over in 6.5 hours! I never expected it to be that quick and didn't get to listen to any music or eat any snacks like I was planning......Just glad I was at home or I'd have been trying to get to hospital in rush hour :(

Dread to think how quick the next one might be....

LadyGoneGaga · 26/04/2011 11:15

32 hours in total (pretty mellow early labour) - but established labour recorded as 11 hours. 6 hour second stage

chaosisawayoflife · 26/04/2011 11:18

32 hours of labour, 3 hour second stage.

Milngavie · 26/04/2011 11:20

3 hours 40 minutes. 20 minutes of that second stage.

SummerRain · 26/04/2011 11:23

twinging for days and it got bad on the Saturday. On and off throughout Saturday and I had a show in the middle of Saturday night and an upset stomach.

Went for a walk on the beach Sunday morning to shift things along and was definitely contracting a bit in the supermarket on the way home (cue lots of panicked looking shoppers edging away from me!). They eased a bit over the afternoon but that evening picked up again. Dp had a friend in the house and he made a comment along the lines of 'Not long to go now' and almost died of fright when dp told him I was contracting already... think he expected Hollywood stylee shouting and drama

They got regular from around 9pm so went to hospital at 12 only to be told I was half a centimetre dilated so went home again as I couldn't face the thought of a night pacing the hospital. Contracting heavily all night, dp got some sleep but i spent all night pacing and having showers and we went back in at 12ish the next day... to be told I was 3cm Midwife broke my waters and all hell broke loose and dd was born at 2.53pm.

So established labour was around 18 hours but I had days of pre-labour before that.

DooinMeCleanin · 26/04/2011 11:25

48 hours. But it was a slow and pretty much painless labour for the first 39 or so hours.

I decided enough was enough at about 1am and went to hospital for pain relief. Dd1 was born at 10am.

linziluv · 26/04/2011 11:31

40 hours from first contraction and waters breaking...syntocin drip up after 12 hours but still wasn't progressing due to the membrane preventing DS from getting out...once that had been sorted he was out in an hour!

LaWeasel · 26/04/2011 11:33

8 and a half hours from first contraction and waters breaking to baby arriving.

I had no pre-labour. It is fascinating how different everyone's births are.

SummerRain · 26/04/2011 11:36

Even between births in the same woman it differs. My second was another slow lead up and needed his waters breaking too so I expected the same for my third. I had a full on from first contraction labour that was over and done with with no intervention in 6 hours with him instead!

Original poster

Marabou · 26/04/2011 11:39

Oh gosh! For some reason I hadn't been too worried about labour until now and more worried about what comes after when looking after the baby, but since last week have been increasingly worried about how the labour will go :(.. You've all been so brave! Right now I just feel like things should just stay the way they are and he's just going to have to stay in!

OP posts:

pommedechocolat · 26/04/2011 11:40

Umm induction started mon am, dd was born with forceps weds am. Second stage was 4 hours.
Means to an end, means to an end :)

blueberryjam · 26/04/2011 11:41

2 hours 50 mins in total, pushing for about 35 mins.

Paschaelina · 26/04/2011 11:44

6 hours from first contraction.

LaWeasel · 26/04/2011 11:49

Marabou - it will be okay, even if everything goes wrong, it's worth it to get your baby.

I remember a MW telling me about a young women who'd been in labour for 2 days, finally accepted an epidural, because she was completely exhausted and fell asleep - a little while later they had to wake her up as her body had started pushing while she was sleeping! I'm sure it's not what she imagined. But baby came out and that's what everyone wants.

Original poster

Marabou · 26/04/2011 11:57

Hm yes I suppose so.. I think I'll just have to listen to my birth preparation hypnotherapy a bit more and try to relax. It's scary not having any idea what to expect. I've never had any major surgery and while I do suffer from bad SPD at the moment, I've never had to really endure any severe pain..

I'm sure it'll all be worth it in the end, whatever it is, I just wish I could fast-forward over that bit!

OP posts:

TabithaTwitchet · 26/04/2011 12:04

I think about 8 or 9 hours total. But the first 3 or 4 hours of contractions were very mild, it was only after that I started thinking I needed help to deal with the pain. Reading some of these, I feel lucky it was all so quick (although seemed quite long at the time!)

LittleMumSmall · 26/04/2011 12:32

5 and a half hours from waters breaking to birth - pushing took 1 hr and 30 mins (but seemed like about ten minutes!). Was a homebirth so thankfully no need to rush anywhere. Expecting DD any day now, hoping for another speedy-ish delivery, but only time will tell! Take care, OP, keep listening to tape (hypno stuff really helped me) and it will all be fine x

theanimalswentintwobytwo · 26/04/2011 12:42

All in all 37 hours (last 12 were painful-I was at home until the very last hour)

Waters breaking to birth: 3 1/2 hours.

Pushing: 45 mins

Recorded as 9 1/2 i think

fantus · 26/04/2011 12:43

6 and half hours from waters breaking and start of contractions to birth. Pushing for 2 and a half hours though which for me felt like a lifetime!

rubybambini · 26/04/2011 12:51

Waters went at about 2pm on Wednesday (took a trip to hospital where a midwife thought they hadn't...but they didn't go at any other time, so must've been them then).

Early labour started 4pm Thursday, painful by 8pm, hospital at 5.30am Friday, daughter arrived at 23.33 on Friday (epidural, forceps) - so, by my reckoning, 59.5 hours, and 28 hours of that I'd say I was in some level of pain.

But in my hospital notes, it said labour of 12hours 40mins.

Ooopsadaisy · 26/04/2011 12:58

About 8 hours but I wasn't actually in labour as my waters broke early.

They advised me to go to hospital as it was my first baby and I just sort of wandered about until the contractions started. Then I had a bath and fell asleep in there and got stuck when my contractions really came on strong!

Serious labour probably no more than a couple of hours.

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