Non scientific survey : labour & delivery of OP baby

[lulumama]

DD was OP all through my pregnancy and remained so, she was born face up, so did not turn in labour, as i mistakenly thought for a long time

If you had an OP baby can you tell me ,please, if you know:

1)how many hours you were having contractions before labour was established?

2)how long from 3 cm - 10 cm?

3)how long the second stage was?

4)and if the baby was born face up/face to pubes/stargazing?

my answers are:

1)15 hours to get to 3cm

2)2 hours 45 minutes to get from 3cm to 10 cm

3)30 minutes of pushing

4)baby born face up

TIA

Ds2 was back to back

1)First I knew was established labour with contractions one after another. Made mad dash for hospital (Ds1 arrived 4 hours after the start.)

2)No idea. I was told I could push as soon as I liked when I got to hospital. Because I tore with ds1 and was terrified of tearing again so I didn't (my theory was that I only would when my body was screaming at me to push).

3)I hung around not pushing for a couple of hours much to my midwife's annoyance. Then my waters broke and I had a 15 minute snooze (again much to her dismay - she stomped off for a cup of tea!). Then I REALLY needed to push (and did) twice. He nearly arrived first time, but the cord was around his neck and he disappeared again. (At which point midwife - obviously - got very assertive.)

4)Face up apparently though he had turned slightly.

Around 18 hours to get to 3cm
Around 18 hours 3cm-10cm
Hour and a half pushing, then c-section

DS had slightly turned, but had kind of wedged head into pelvis sideways (there's a fancy term for this but it escapes me at the moment).

DD (subsequent) was anterior:
5 hours to get to 10cm (was 9cm when got to hospital, so no idea on pre- and post 3cm breakdown)
20 mins pushing (including some non-pushing contractions to reduce tearing)

I didn't actually find anterior less painful, but it was far easier because it was so much shorter.

1)how many hours you were having contractions before labour was established?
24 hours

2)how long from 3 cm - 10 cm?
About 8 hours

3)how long the second stage was?
Pushed for 45 minutes, then had ventouse as baby was in distress and had got stuck. He came out stargazing and I ended up with 4th degree tear!! Nice

1)how many hours you were having contractions before labour was established?
72 hours then had sweep (was 2cm) and contractions stopped for a couple of hours , went to hospital after a further 36 hours and had a.r.m. (was desperate at this point was only 3cm) so 108 hours in all

2)how long from 3 cm - 10 cm?
About 12 hours (went on drip after 4)

3)how long the second stage was? 15min (?)
2 pushes (had ventouse as baby was in distress)

DD was facing sideways (but upwards still iyswim) -- she had a very odd ventouse bump on her head

Never got into labour with DS as he was unstable lie despite trying to... (maybe best after experience with DD!)

1. about 30 hours before established
2. took about 20 hours from 3cm but only made it to 7/8cm, then 'crash' cs so can't answer the other questions!

thank you all very much for sharing.. i was hoping to see if there would be any sort of pattern ! seems such a varied mix

portandlemon, i think the word is asynclitic

those of you who had instrumental or c.section births, were you told it was because of the baby's position , if you can recall

would also be interested to know if you were encouraged to move, to labour actively, or were confined to bed..

thank you all

1)how many hours you were having contractions before labour was established? 5 but had been induced

2)how long from 3 cm - 10 cm? 7 or 8

3)how long the second stage was?

4)and if the baby was born face up/face to pubes/stargazing?
Other two not relevant as had to have a crash section when she became stuck behind my pubic bone.

oh should add was pushing for about an hour and half I think...

Not analysed the thread but just skimming through it seems quite a lot of us had instrumental deliveries or CS. Wrt active or not in labour I had continuous monitoring and was not able to move much as they kept losing the trace so very inactive. It was by far the most difficult labour although dd1 was much smaller than either of her sisters so probably was down to position.

1)how many hours you were having contractions before labour was established?

Not sure, as I laboured on the ward alone for about 6 hours, and then was examined and was 6cm dilated. Before admittance to ward, contractions had been going erratically for about 4 hours but labour was not established (hence we were not allowed into delivery suite)

So about 10 hours from start of contractions to 6cm.

2)how long from 3 cm - 10 cm?

6cm - 10cm took 3.5 hours

3)how long the second stage was?

2.5 hours

4)and if the baby was born face up/face to pubes/stargazing?

dd turned during 2nd stage and was born OA about 10 mins later. I was about 5 mins away from some kind of further intervention - ventouse I presume.

I was not encouraged to move around as I was on IV antibiotics (due to PROM), then had an epidural and constant monitoring. So I was on my back basically. Still can't believe my luck that she turned spontaneously.

Asynclitic -- yes, that was it!

I put most of the position issue down to management of the labour, TBH. I was "stalled" at 5cm and a registrar who got right up my nose insisted on giving me syntocinon (appearing not even to hear my suggestions of "I'd rather like to have 45 minutes or so to do some laps of the unit and see if that gets things moving") and by that time I was seriously knackered so gave in. So then I opted to get an epidural, and then I had to lie on my side for an hour while they tried to get it in (apparently my epidural cavity isn't in the usual place ). In the course of that hour I dilated from 5 to 10 cm but also wound up with an asynclitic baby, which strikes me as a suspicious coincidence. After that I was reasonably active (on the bed, but a good range of different positions) but DS was pretty firmly wedged (we actually went to theatre intending to turn him and do a ventouse delivery and they were predicting better-than-average chances of that succeeding, but when we got there he was so firmly wedged that they didn't even try the ventouse).

I can't remember exactly what I was told, except that he wasn't moving down at all with all the pushing (I think if there had been any progress at all they'd have happily let things go on longer. My notes put the c-section down to being asynclitic, though.

thank you

i thikn i should have asked origionally in my questions who was encouraged to move and be active

my MW hoofed me off the bed (this was pre doula days for me! ) and made me stop using gas and air, and move with the ctx, which i did for an hour, and something happened, and my labour got established and was totally straightforward after that

1)how many hours you were having contractions before labour was established?
about 20 v manageable hours

2)how long from 3 cm - 10 cm?

probably 6-7 hours not quite sure thanks to lovely pethidine

3)how long the second stage was?
40 minute of pushing

4)and if the baby was born face up/face to pubes/stargazing?
no she was born normally so i guess she must have turned at some point

pressure on my backside throughout labour was unbearable though...

)how many hours you were having contractions before labour was established?

2)how long from 3 cm - 10 cm?

3)how long the second stage was?

4)and if the baby was born face up/face to pubes/stargazing?

OK...

DS1 (who I was very active with, I paced the floor for around 12 hours and gave birth on all fours)

1. Around 6 or 7hrs
2. 11hrs
3. 15 minutes
4. Er, let me work it out - facing pubes I think

DS2 (was induced so not very representative, very active until they stuck the drip in my arm)

1. 2 hrs
2. 4hrs
3. 0 minutes (2 pushes, caught everyone by surprise - I was knealing on the bed and the MW missed, so he bounced )
4. no idea, see 3

DD (active until they decided I had to be monitored so she was the only born whilst I was flat on my back)

1. 4 hrs
2. 5 hrs
3. 0 minutes again, sounds good but lead to double prolapse and surgery! Slower is better
4. face up iirc

HTH

1. 7 hours

2. 12 hours more

3. Forceps delivery - don't know how long it was

4. Baby face up with her hand cupping her head above her ear

1)36 hours

2)12 hours and needed induction to speed it up.

3. not sure

4)had epidural near the end and born venteuse with tear,

DD2 -

1)6 hours

2)5.5 hours

3)20 mins pushing

4)not sure.

2nd time was much easier.

DD1 was very traumatic for me.

1)how many hours you were having contractions before labour was established? - 76 hours - never properly established really. very errataic. If I stopped moving so did she.

2)how long from 3 cm - 10 cm? never got past 5cm

3)how long the second stage was? didn;t get there emergency c-section

4)and if the baby was born face up/face to pubes/stargazing? n/a

1)how many hours you were having contractions before labour was established?

Had SROM, then 26 hours of irregular (painful) contractions, baby wasn't engaged at time of SROM & PP wasn't well applied to cervix.

2)how long from 3 cm - 10 cm?
14 hours to 6cm, then nothing for another 2 - syntocinon for 45 minutes, baby distressed c-section.

3)how long the second stage was?
N/A - c-section

4)and if the baby was born face up/face to pubes/stargazing?
N/A

Was in & out of midwife led birth centre for first 32 hours (they wanted me in because of risk of cord prolapse) - walked & bounced until I was exhausted & dehydrated. Since debriefied with IM who said that was pretty much the worse thing to get me to do & I would have been better off having a shot of pethidine & sleeping through as much of the prodromal stage as possible. It was obviously going to be a long & hard labour & being utterly exhausted wasn't helpful. My midwives were inexperienced & frankly not up for supporting anyone through such a long labour (not that I'm bitter ).

I was encouraged (forced) to get off the bed and get on a birthing ball to encourage baby to move. The gas and air was taken away from me and I was told to try and breath through it all (I sobbed and begged for the G&A back!!).

Used Ventouse due to position of baby - i think!

I wasn't encouraged to move or be active with either
DC1 didn't have a MW with me unless we pressed the call button and then we got 20 secs of their time but I was mostly pacing about, swaying hips etc

confined to bed all three birth s and when i had the ventouse delivery I was told it was because of the position of the baby

1. 3 days to get to 3cm
2. 14 hours to get to 10cm
3. 2 hours pushing then transferred to CLU then another 2.5 hours
4. baby born facing up

Crossing everything that I won't go through that again.

1)how many hours you were having contractions before labour was established?
48 hours

2)how long from 3 cm - 10 cm?

19 hrs

3)how long the second stage was?
40 minutes of pushing

4)and if the baby was born face up/face to pubes/stargazing?

Face up

PS I did optimal foetal positioning, contractions started spontaneously, had a very active upright labour and pushed in many positions (spent most time in supported squat).