first labour 26 hours without dilation - will it happen again?

[MrsLukaKovac]

My first labour with ds was 26 hours, and for the first 20 hours I dilated to 2cm only. My waters broke first of all, and my contractions were straight away very strong and every two minutes for the first 20 hours. After that, I recived oxytocin and dilated 2-10cm in 6 hours. What I'm wondering is, was this anything to do with the oxytocin, or would it have happened anyway? Also, if you've had trouble dilating with your first labour, did it happen a second time around? Does anyone know what the side effects to the baby are, if any, of oxytocin?

you need lulumama I'll bump for you

(even though youa re oviously pretending to be me)

The oxytocin accelerates the contractions and makes them stronger, I think. One thing I learned with my second labour is that the intensity of the pain is not necessarely related to the strenght of the contraction - in my first labour, I dilated very slowly (not as slowly as you), the monitor was showing relatively small contractions but the pain was unbearable. With second labour, the monitor was showing very strong contractions but the pain was totally in control only with gas and air.

Are you pregnant again or are you thinking of becoming pregnant?

helloooooo!!!

oxytocin, as blueberrypancake says stimulates contractions, and as it is administred by drip, can be turned up and down, to 'control' labour

the contractions tend to come harder and faster and with more intensity

the good thing is that if worked for you in getting you fully dilated ..

re would it have happened anyway?

well, i reckon so..might have been that your baby's head had not come down much for the first part of labour and was not exerting pressure on the cervix which helps dilation

also, first labours can be long, and slow. the vast majority of women will dilate without medical intervention

were you monitored constantly and confined to a bed for those 20 hours? that can slow things...

oxytocin can overstimulate the uterus which can distress the baby, which would affect heartrate and might lead to the baby passing meconium..but it sounds like your baby was just fine and there was no overstimulation, don;t know re side effects

oxytocin is producing naturally in the body, and can be produced by nipple stimulation and sex / orgasm..which some women use as a way to help bring labour on in the first place! you would have received a synthetic version in hospital

i imagine that second time around, that things might well go quicker, and if they don;t then you know that it is ok , because that is the way you labour

staying upright , active, and being able to listen to and follow your body's lead in labour can really really help

I asked my ob/gyn the same question because I was induced with oxytocin and went from 4-10 cm in 45 minutes and wanted to know if it would have been the same in a natural labor. She said that my body would have dilated that way no matter what. Hope this was helpful.

my waters broke with my first and no sign of labour. after 12 hours there was muconioum so they induced me with oxytocin. this lasted for 18 hours. i wouldnt budge beyond 4 cm. then the heart rate kept dropping lower and lower and i had an em cs.

Next time round waters broke and no labour for 2 days (they wanted to do a c-section again but there was no room!) But then had spontanous natural labour and had ds naturally without any induction.

so you never know!

Thanks all! Seems that there's no way to predict what will happen! I'll definately try and wait it out this time. 10 weeks to go till due date so just trying to get the birth plan together. My last plan consisted of 'Have natural birth'. It never occured to me I wouldn't dilate - hence I had no idea what to do when I didn't!