How long did it take you to progress from 2cm dialated???

[feelingratheroverwhelmed]

Hiya,
Yet another thread from about how frustrated I'm getting and still only 38+2, sorry! (other threads about false labour, shows yada yada..).

Went to the hospital yesterday after having pains most of Sunday night. I'm booked in for an ELCS next thurs and rang first to ask their advice, was told to go in.
Got examined as they found the cervix was open (closed 12 days ago) just 1cm. MW spoke with doc, and the decided to keep me in in case I progress. In which case they'd put me on the EMCS list.

Examined later in the afternoon, still 1cm.

Quiet yesterday, then more pains all last night. Don't feel like contractions exactly, more severe period pains and some back ache (is my second DC).
Examined by the doc this morning - now 2cm.
Pretty quiet again today, examined at 2pm, still 2cm. Doc eventually said I could go home, doesn't think it'll progress very quickly, still down for my ELCS next week, they won't consider changing the date, as they don't want to do it before 39 weeks. Fair enough.
I'm not convinced I'll get that far, but the doc and MW seem confident I will.

But I just don't see how it'll take 9 days for me to go from 2cm dialated to over 4, which is when they would then put me on the list for an emergency section. Although my contrations are very irregular, and it's normal for your cervix to open early for a second birth. I've still progress 1cm from yesterday to today. For some reason everything seems to happen at night (great, I'm knackered!).

Sorry, I'll stop wafflling now. I'd like your expereinces if you'd be happy to share .

Oh and for the first time today they started talking about what a good candidate I was for a VBAC. I don't want to go down that route so need to make sure I go to the hospital at the right time!

bump...

Ummmm. I can't answer your whole question as I haven't given birth yet but I can tell you I've been stuck at 3 cm for 2 weeks now. I'm 6 days overdue with my 1st and I had what I guess was false labour 2 weeks ago. Got admitted with bleeding and had reached 3 cm. Since then have had 2 sweeps, a few twinges but still at 3 cm. So I guess it's possible to remain at 2 or 3 cm for quite some time. I do hope that whatever happens, you get the birth you're hoping for. good luck!

15 minutes, approximately. With DC3

With DS i was "2cm, but i can stretch you to 6!"

I did not need to know that.

He was born 3 hours later.

Similar to vincentvangogh.... 20 minutes from 2cm to fully dilated with DC2. The midwife told me to stop pushing (I wasn't, it was involuntary, my body was doing it by itself!!) as she didn't believe I could have dilated that quickly.

Can I be nosey and ask why you want to avoid a VBAC?

with my last baby (which was dc4) I was feeling really strong contractions and my waters had already gone but was told i was 2cms but within 10 minutes had started pushing and she was born around 20 mins after I was told i was 2cms so not sure if i progressed very very fast (the contractions were very painful at the 2cm point) or if the midwife made a mistake!

Seems like a bit of a piece of string question then. Those of you who progressed really quickly were getting the contractions, something I'm lacking at the moment. Mixed you must be so frustrated! Sending you luck!
*2s". I had a pretty horrid birth with DS, that ended in EMCS. A big part of the problem was the staff looking after me and not being taken seriously. It took a long time for me to get each bit of pain relief that I had so the pain was awful. I had an epidural in the end, after a five hour wait. It didn't work, and I had a constant (not contraction) excrutiating pain that I couldn't push though. The MW totally dismissed this. By the time they worked out DS was stuck and wasn't coming out the normal route (even with forceps) I felt like i'd been taking part in WW1.

The reg yesterday said they could promise constant monitoring and an early epidural, but I have no faith in this actually being the case, or of the epi doing it's job. A VBAC would be great as I'm not going to pick up my toddler for 6 weeks after my CS, but I just can't do it. Very sad, but true.

I had the same with my first as you did. Excruciating pain throughout and eventually an emcs when ventouse and manual rotation failed. It was epic and traumatising.

I tried for a vbac with ds (5 weeks ago). My waters broke and it took 12hrs to get to 2cm. And then 30hrs to go backwards and for my cervix to be declared closed and ds in the same ridiculous position dd got herself into. Became clear my pelvis isn't the right shape and had an emcs. I do think the second time round my body was giving me a clear message. First time round it went mad, terrible pain and desperately fighting against the fact that dd wouldn't fit, this time round it just never really bothered.

BTW, I've found the recovery this time round much easier psychologically. In fact I'm positive about the whole thing. And I'm back to pretty much normal. DD has understood I can't pick her up and instead she's clambered onto my knee on the sofa or cuddled my legs.

It's been fine.

I was 2 cms for 3 weeks.

Then I went for a routine antenatal at a week over and begged for a sweep ... i was 5cms - and could be stretched to 10

I waddled hom and went into labour about an hou later and he was born in 2 hours.

3 weeks here as well. I ended up in slow, painful back labour for nearly four days and when I finally got to ten centimetres they noticed DD was in a totally unfavourable position and i had an EMCS.

Like you, I won't be trying VBAC if I eve feel brave enough for another.

Feelmy so sorry you had that experience too but it's really interesting to hear. Afer speaking to the doc my mind was definitely whirring, and a small part of me has thought if my waters break then maybe I would reconsider. Just because they would have to limit the time they'd let me go for (waters broke with DS too). But, hearing your experience make me think well, no. DH said I'd only end up at the same end point, having a section, so I wouldn't lose anything. But, he's not the one who'd have to put up with the hours of agony and uncertainty, is he?!

My waters went with DS and actually I have no idea how long it took me to progress. I ended up on the induction drip after 24 hours in labour so I couldn't have progressed very quickly the first time, could I? So I probably am waiting for my ELCS date next week! I'm so fed up though. Not sure how many more nights of contractions that just peter out I can take....!

My consultant said waters breaking early was often a sign of malpositioning. Happened with both mine. Plus ineffectual contractions and problems dilating. He was quite clear that sometimes your body is trying to tell you something.

I sort of knew that the vbac wouldn't work. I just knew that what happened first time round was something physiological. And when ds started following a similar pattern (crap contractions, odd position, failure to dilate, early breaking waters), I went straight to cs. I felt very much in control. Of course induction remained as an option but trying to force an unfavourable cervix and poorly positioned baby to cooperate with the history I had, it just wasn't an option at all.

Thanks for that, that's really interesting. O wonder if if I should still give myself sometime should my waters break and things don;t progres that quickly. Or not, I don't know!
All the docs have said this time (and only in the last couple of days) is that I have the ability to go to fully dialated, whereas some women don;t, so it would be worth giving it a go. But that would have been the drip anyway, and also getting to 10cm is only part of it, isn't it?

I was told repeatedly that I'd fully dilated (and quickly) with dd and therefore I'd already won half the battle in terms of suitability for vbac. While this is true, second time round I didn't dilate at all. I'm not entirely sure there are any certainties only choosing what's right for you. I spent most of my 2nd pregnancy wishing there was a lesser known 3rd option.

Feel that's v. interesting as to what your consultant said. No-one's mentioned that to me so far but it fits my case (waters broke at 42w before I was in established labour, 24 hours later never got past 2cm even with augmentation as ds was completely free, posterior and had the cord wrapped tightly around his torso, cue CS).

For me it was about 2.5 days but I was having regular contractions about 10 mins apart so a bit different to you at the moment.

My sister took 2 days to go from 1 when her waters broke to 1.5cm (I'm not sure how accurate they can be about a half a centimetre though). After about 42 hours she'd started contractions every few minutes. She ended in an emcs as she was showing signs of infection and her dd's heart rate was dropping dramatically.

Good luck with the baby and I can completely understand your reservations about a vbac. Do what's best for you and get your birthing partner on side and ready to fight if you do got into labour before the elcs!

Closed the Tuesday afternoon according to dildo cam, 2cm at 7am on Thursday after contractions all night (which I now realise weren't proper contractions and only hurt because DS was OP) and born 4.30pm Thursday afternoon.

6 hours. Sorry. DD was a very quick labour for a firstborn.

I never did between the afternoon and evening and because my water went early morning i was induced. one induced it was 4/5 hrs.