Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Childbirth

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

Original poster

If you had a very long labour with your first..

27 replies

RoseReally · 21/06/2019 08:47

.. how long was your second? First twinge to baby out?

I'm due number 2 in a few weeks and getting increasingly nervous. I had a really long latent phase with DD. First twinge to baby out was around 50 hours I think. I had an epidural for the last 11 hours or so, (which was amazing) but I was SO knackered I struggled with pushing and can barely remember the day she was born. Was fobbed off a lot by crap midwife (prior to epidural) and ended up going for counselling for ptsd, mainly down to not getting pain relief earlier when I really wasn't coping.

I know second labours are usually a lot quicker but I'm really scared of this happening again, so I'd be interested to hear about others experiences!

OP posts:
IDontGiveABagOfDicks · 21/06/2019 08:48

36 hours with first
6 hours with second (induced early, it wasn’t actually properly painful till my waters broke and she arrived 94 mins later!)
40 mins with third
10 mins with fourth Blush

Original poster
RoseReally · 21/06/2019 09:17

Wow 10 minutes! 6 hours would be great.. fingers crossed.

OP posts:
Hmmmbop · 21/06/2019 09:39

21 hours with 1st
5.5 with second

BloggersNet · 21/06/2019 09:51

27 hours first and 12 hours second. The actual pushing bit was about the same with both, 3 hours.. but the difference was that with my first I was just pushing and pushing for the whole three hours trying to force and scream her out. With second one I had decided to not push at all. It made such a positive difference in my experience.

Mylittlepony374 · 21/06/2019 09:57

Thursday to Monday with first...so approx 90hours?!. I'd never added that up before....

No more than 4 hours start to finish with first. Realised I was in labour about 4pm, he was born at 7pm ish. At 34 weeks so big shock but all is well.

Babdoc · 21/06/2019 09:59

You can’t really predict it, OP, other than to say that second and subsequent labours are usually shorter on average. Individual women can have very different experiences to that.
Don’t worry in advance. See how you’re doing on the day, and be flexible with your pain management plan.
However, if you feel very anxious about possible prolonged pain, you could book an epidural and then relax, knowing you’ll be comfortable for the whole duration of labour.
Stress and fear make pain worse, so you need to feel confident in your choices and supported by your midwife. Best wishes!

agirlhasnonameX · 21/06/2019 10:15

Three and half days with my first. I was young and had no idea that could happen, so was quite traumatised by it.

5hrs with my second. Was bliss in comparison.

Sagradafamiliar · 21/06/2019 12:02

60-ish hours first
3 hours second
96 with third

RC000 · 21/06/2019 13:31

First twinge 1pm... mils period cramps every 20 mins... ramped up and baby born 1.30am next morning. When it ramped it it happened VERY quickly!

HSKNT · 21/06/2019 13:33

First 36.5h. Second 42mins

Mishappening · 21/06/2019 13:40

My send popped out much more quickly than the first.

Amy326 · 21/06/2019 13:42

First baby was 5 DAYS (!) from first twinge to actual birth, second baby was 9 hours from first twinge to birth (only the last 3 of those hours being active labour). Much faster but more intense pain in my experience so not better or worse as such but different!

DramaAlpaca · 21/06/2019 13:44

DC1 21 hours
DC2 12 hours
DC3 5 hours

BertieBotts · 21/06/2019 13:45

First was Friday evening to Sunday morning. About 24h latent period and then 8 hours active labour.

Second baby, waters went about 10.30am, baby born just before 3am that night.

Latent stage was still long. I went into hospital at about 7pm and I was still only at 1cm. In fact I was still at 1cm at 10/11pm when I asked for an epidural and in fact when it was applied (they didn't tell me this until later, but it made sense why they were all acting exasperated and as though I was being a giant wimp) and then suddenly an hour or two later they did an examination and went "Oh you've gone up to six". But then I got stuck with a lip at 9cm (same as first birth) for a while and had to try and stop pushing which was really hard. Once I was allowed to push I remembered exactly how much it hurt to have a head come out so I did it in one go Blush

AltogetherAndrews · 21/06/2019 13:47

75 hours with all the interventions and drugs for the first
2 hours waterbirth with just gas and air for the second.

Troton · 21/06/2019 13:49

First was about 30 hours after waters breaking on their own.
Second was overdue and induced with pessary. Stared working within a couple of hours, mild-moderate pains then waters broke when midwife removed pessary. Once waters broke It was only about 3.5 hours. Still intensely painful and still had an epidural but SO much better in terms of length!

weegiemum · 21/06/2019 18:00

My first labour with dd1 was 37 hours, she was posterior presentation and almost 10lb. Eventually ventouse delivery. I had diamorphine and gas & air but no epidural. Had the drip for a while, had waters broken for me, I was sure I was heading for cs but the midwife and then the consultant were both great. All I really remember of the last half an hour was that the consultant was wearing white wellies and I found it both scary, but then under a puff of gas, incredibly funny!

So naturally I was nervous about ds's birth. 10 hours from my waters breaking, 10 days early. One shot of diamorph, a bit of gas, he was the right way round and 9lb3. I had 3 stitches. With dd1 I felt like he was doing embroidery and it was very weird because he asked dh to look at the stitches (dh was a junior doctor at the time and had worked for this consultant for 6 months. We lived on an island at the time!).

Dd2 was induced by pessary 3 weeks early after I was flown off said island due to me having a rare complication affecting my kidneys. My body clearly remembered what to do, it was 12 hours, simple delivery, 7lb13. It was actually quite funny. This incredibly overdressed junior doc was overseeing and delivering to get her number of births in. Dd2s waters didn't burst until the second last contraction and she was having a look at the time, there was an audible "pop" and it hit her right in the face. I couldn't help but laugh (reading over this now, I've laughed a lot in labour!), which brought on the final contraction and dd2 shot out and posh doctor almost dropped her. Easy labour but the fast end gave me a bad tear and there was a lot of stitching again. I'm very careful with my pelvic floor exercises.

So that's my essay!! Wishing you all the best and a great birth!

FraterculaArctica · 21/06/2019 18:02

36 hours with first, got to 5 cm dilated then crash C section.

45 minutes with second!

Original poster
RoseReally · 22/06/2019 09:05

Thanks all. @Babdoc I have already made it very clear that I want an epidural asap. I saw a consultant to discuss this, which was good and she said that if I have a long latent phase again that I can have an epidural after 24 hours. Initially I felt good about that but then started thinking that 24 hours is still quite a long time. I am assuming that if it were to take that long again that hopefully it at least might not be aa painful (DD was back to back and every movement I made made the pain much worse). I am trying to make plans to stay as relaxed as possible - easier said than done!

I hope this one goes better, I think it would be quite healing for me if it does.

OP posts:
ChesterDrawsDoesntExist · 22/06/2019 10:27

First was 12 hours, second was 7 hours (would have been 6 but bloody diamorphine stopped everything completely for an hour) and third was 3 hours.
I figure if I had another kid I'd need a home birth.

TillyTheTiger · 22/06/2019 11:21

My first was 85 hours from first twinge, with 10.5 hours of active labour (he was back to back, needed episiotomy and forceps in the end).
I'm 25 weeks with my 2nd baby so following all these replies with great interest, I'm hoping for a nice quick serene home birth this time, haha.

Frizzy1986 · 23/06/2019 23:01

I'm very intrigued. Looking back it was 72 hours from first twinge, but was I just an idiot not realising that it was labour?
I remember being up most of the night before dd was born wondering if "this was it" using my contraction timer app to find them all over the place. 20 min intervals, 2 min intervals, 5 min then back to 20 then 10. All the nct course had kept saying was that they would be regular, start far apart and get closer and closer and more intense. That was not my experience at all.
By the time I realised "this was it" my waters were going and then contractions were thick and fast and very regular. It was less than 2 hrs later that dd arrived so I can't tell when I should be timing from to get a possible idea of speed I could expect this time.

pickleface · 23/06/2019 23:05

First a 4 day induction.

2nd 1hr 30

Tho, 3rd 5 hour induction

3luckystars · 23/06/2019 23:10

I will just say, if your waters go on your second baby, GET TO THE HOSPITAL.

I have given this advice to everyone having a second baby, it's hard to believe it when your first labour was so long, but the waters going seems to be the trigger for the second baby so when that happens, do not wait around arsing.

Several people have come back afterwards and thanked me for that advice, and one was even born on the car floor so if your waters go then move it.

Good luck.

Helsvamp · 24/06/2019 06:34

Wry true in the positive much pain to notice any one about

Swipe left for the next trending thread