2 Hours per cm?

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Discussing labour with my midwife the other day she mentioned that they "allow" women to only dilate at a rate of 2 hours per cm before intervening.

I'm planning to argue with their protocols on some other issues but I was wondering about this one. I was under the impression that you might not dilate at a regular rate right through labour, so is the 2 hours rule based on safety or is it another rule for the sake of having rules?

Kazbeth, it IS more likely to happen regularly in hospital but unfortunately some midwives transfer policies from the hospital to the home setting. To be honest it is very much an individual midwife thing as much as anything. Some midwives are unable to assess progress in labour any other way than by doing examinations.

Surely any midwife worth her salt should be able to assess progress by listening, watching and talking (or not!) to the woman? I know, I know, in an ideal world maybe....but it seems to me that these are all skills that are gradually being lost, because midwives aren't necessarily being taught these skills anymore, and are taught far more clinically.

Am I right, or am I making huge generalisations??

I had a fab mw, but she was completely taken by surprise when DD's head popped out. She admitted to me later that she hadn't even thought I was in active labour. Very sensibly she never mentioned this at the time.

She really was fab though. Never left my side. Sat on the floor with me and always kept at my level. Was 8 feet away with her mouth shut during the second stage as was written in my birth plan.

In reality I suppose all that matters is that you get on with your midwife, that she respects your wishes and that you have a similar standpoint on things.
My midwife was fabulous too, and told me that I was very hard to read. I am not very vocal during labour, and become very inward.
I suppose because I had continuity of care and so we knew each other really well by that time, she could gauge how things were going by the things I didn't say maybe? I am a right chatterbox....can you tell?

Who knows? It is another one of those things that varies depending on your viewpoint isn't?!

worzelgummidge - out of all the mws who attended me during DS's birth, they were mostly excellent except for one - she couldn't even tell if my waters had broken! I told her I thought they had, down the loo (lots of blood and a big "pop" and "whoosh") and then had to say to her when she was doing the internal - "is the membrane bulging? COs it was before, so if it isn't now, then it's gone, hasn't it?!"

She wasn't even a trainee...

"I would say that the majority of 1st time mums book with me because they have experienced poor care in their current pregnancy from their midwives ie, they find the service very "conveyor belt", never see the same midwife twice, very short appointments, no time to ask questions etc or that they have been told they cannot have a homebirth purely because they are having their first baby."

I should say I think I would've gone done the independent midwife route if I had any of these problems, but I've seen the same community midwife throughout who has been friendly, done all my check ups very throughly and always asks if I have questions.

The only slight issue I have is that when she talked me through my "birth plan" it was all about her telling me the rules and saying things like "when you get to 42 weeks we will induce you". I must have given her a funny look at this point becasue she back tracked by saying "unless you don't want to do that in which case we would like to monitor you more closely".

I did find it a bit patronising that alot of the things she said were obviously designed to encourage me into thinking I had no choices and that there were just certain ways of doing things. Felt a bit like brainwashing.

I think that most first time moms don't actually realise that they DO have a choice. Good for you for knowing that you do have a choice and can refuse induction etc. Your birth, your baby, your choice and all that.
Stick to your guns, have an advocate, doula if possible, and try my method of them telling you "the rules".
I smile, nod and then just do what I want. They can't manhandle you physically, so just say "No thanks" to anything you don't feel is nevessary.
Good luck, and enjoy. Homebirth really is an unbelievable experience. I have had absolutely wonderful birth experiences in hospital if I am honest, but they didn't even come close to my HB's.
I am more than a little jealous that you have it still to come......

worzel I had a lot of that 'rules' stuff when trying to get a homebirth. Whenever they used the word 'allowed', I raised my eyebrows and they always backtracked. They fended me off eventually by refusing to guarantee any pain relief (the only card they could play in the end as they realised it was the only thing THEY could control).

It was almost a blackmail situation. We'll only bring g&a IF you x,y and z. And at the time g&a was THE most important thing based on my last experience.

Buggers aren't they at times? I have to say that my HB experience here in Oz was bloody brilliant. I went with a community based midwife, and of course she had protocol to "follow". but in all honesty she followed every one of those that we discussed with the words "but you know that it is YOUR choice, and you can refuse anything you're unhappy about" wink wink. LOL

Gas and air (or any other pain relief actually) isn't an option here for a HB so they didn't even have that to bargain with if they'd wanted it!!

Your mw sounds fab. Mine was too when it came to it, even though she flicked through my birth plan when I arrived at the mlu and said 'has anyone else read this?' raising her eyebrows!

I was so relaxed in the end I only had a couple of sucks of g&a to push with, which I really didn't need and probably wouln't have bothered with if I had known it was about to be all over.

As with most women by birth plan for my second was coloured by my first experience, and was quite extreme and even odd in places (but well researched)!

Research is the key isn't it?! Knowledge is power and all that

I was desperately worried about not having g&a as I had had it with my other kids for the pushing as you say, but when it came down to it by the time I wanted it, it was practically over.
I could talk HB all day long..... LOL