Is there a link between how many Braxton Hicks you get during pregnancy, and the speed of labour?

[Flubdub]

Im just wondering, because with ds1, I had a hell of a lot of BH from about 4 months, maybe 30 a day, very strong ones, and was told not to worry about it. When it came for him to be born, I was having contractions for 40 hours, however, from being 5cm dilated to him being born, it was only 4 hours, and only 10 minutes of that was pushing him out. The midwife said that next time I have a baby, Id have to get to hospital sooner as he came so fast.
Am due to have ds2 at the end of April, and am having the same BH again, if not stronger - have just had about 8 in the last 15 minutes, and they are very strong - Does this mean Im in for another quick birth once Im in established labour?

Well not in my case! I had B_H daily from 17 weeks and permanent ones in the last few weeks and he took 3.5 days to get out by forceps in the end, but then my baby was lateral (facing sideways) and tipped back to back thanks to hospital putting me on my back on a monitor. I was led to believe it would help me in labour, well maybe next time!

Not in my case either.

DD1 - No braxton hicks silent labour just contraction to push her out.

DD2 3 weeks on intense braxtons hicks for 5hours every afternoon. Ended up being induced, waters broken at 1pm nothing happened. Put on the drip at 4pm slowly increased utill 7pm when i finally went to labour had a very intense labour and had dd2 in an hour.

not for me, no braxton hicks, contractions and pushing came to a grand total of 1 1/2 hours!

No, I had a lot of BH and had 3 days of early labour, followed by 14 hours of intense active labour to get to 10cm. And that was with a really active upright labour supported by MWs who were natural birth-enthusiasts. Sorry! DD was OP though, which obviously made a big difference.

I had masses of painful BH during my first pregnancy, followed by a three day nightmare labour.

Very few in my second pregnancy, followed by a straightforward seven hour labour.

Loads of BH with all three from very early on and they were all fast. Dd was a few hours and 19 mins pushing, ds1 was 1 hour 30 min from 1-8 cms and then fully dilated almost right away but 2 hours pushing and ds2 was 3-5cms in about an hour and then a couple of mins to 10 cms literally, around 40 mins pushing. He was op as well.

They were very intense though and not straight forward pregnancies and labours. I was in early labour for a week with ds1 as well. Many times during pregnancy I had to go in because of all the BH I was having and they kept thinking I was in labour they were so strong, I was given steroids every time to mature the lungs. Waters went at 22 weeks with ds2 but that's another story!

Had quite a few with dd and established labour was quick. Had loads with ds and was quick again. I do think that it does mean faster labour in general but am reconsidering my opinion having seen a few of the earlier posts

dd1-No braxton hicks and labour 4 hours 30

dd2-No braxton hicks and labour 50/55 mins ish

I had zero Braxton HIcks and a very fast labour with my daughter - just four hours start to finish, 2h 18 "established".

Interesting question!

For me I had loads of BH with both DDs both labours were long and drawn out (although not mush pushing needed at all once the time came)

I'm 32 weeks and haven't had as many BH or any that have been as strong so far - maybe it is just too early but I'm pretty sure by 30 weeks with the other two I was on all fours in the evening with really painful BH.

Good luck for the end of April, both my DDs were born then - a great time of year to have a baby .

ds1 - no BH, 5.5 hours
ds2 - lots of BH from very early on, 1.5 hours

DS1 - lots of BH, waters broke at 36 weeks, induced, 5 hours labour.
DS2 - even more BH, 3 hours (but 1.5 of those I thought were more BH!)

I read somewhere the other day that you're likely to get more BH if your baby is posterior - presumably to try and shift it into a better position. I certainly did get loads of BH with my first two and they were very long labours which ended in CS for failure to progress. But if your LO then gets into the right position during labour, things could suddenly progress really quickly.

Looks like it's the other way around from most of the posts on here!!!

I had no BH....although I would have nights of proper painful contractions every now and again which would stop by morning.

My actual labour from waking up with a contraction to babe in arms was....3 hours and 11 minutes exactly.

With ds1 I had no braxton hicks and had 6 hours of established labor including 2 hours of pushing.

With ds2 I had loads of braxton hicks and had 6 hours of labor including 30 min of pushing.

I had loads of BH with DS and a really long labour, whereas my sister had none and three REALLY quick labours (I think she didn't even feel stage one of labour!) However, you had a quick labour last time so maybe it works for you. Fingers crossed.