How long were you in labour?

[joymaker]

I ended up having an EMCS with DC1 and am currently 27 weeks pregnant with DC2 and considering a VBAC. My consultant has advised not labouring beyond 12hrs so was wondering about others' experiences (i.e how realistic this time frame might be)with their DC's.

Thanks

Not sure maybe I should have posted in Childbirth.

With dd1 I was in labour for 21 hrs. After 17 only got to 2-3cm 4 hrs later i has got to 8 but ended up with emsc

I know lots and lots of people who were in active labour for a good deal less than 12 hours, although I wasn't one of them. It's probably different for a VBAC though.

Congratulations!

My labour with DD was eight hours from the first contraction to her birth. I had been having braxton hicks for several weeks though. The labour was delayed by almost an hour due to some complications with my blood pressure, too. I understand that's fairly quick for first labour; I was very mobile throughout and didn't have pain relief which can also help with speed (of course, I avoided pain relief mostly because it was so fast - I was 8.5cm when I arrived at the hospital).

So 12 hours is a fair chance at labour, assuming the baby is in a good position!

7 hours both times. Both ended in emcs. 8 cm dilated first time; 10 cm second time. VBAC standard expectation at my hospital. If there is any possibility that you may need another cs please do it. I had a uterine rupture, lost a lot of blood, DD's heart stopped and crash emcs under ga was one of the scariest moments of my life. And DH's more really, as he was actually conscious.

Yes I have to say an elcs is lovely.

DD- 31hrs (emcs)

DS- attempted vbac, ended in emcs- 37hrs

11 hrs from first contraction to birth. If they will be counting from "active" labour which I think is after 4cm then I imagine it was quite a lot less than 11 hrs - 7 maybe?

I was in established labour for 12 hours with DC1 but had been having what I thought were painful contractions but which actually turned out to be mere twinges by comparison to the real thing milder contractions for at least 8 hours prior to that and tightening for about 20 hours prior to that again. The point of telling you all the earlier stuff is so you know that I had no sleep for about 40 hours....and none after the birth for about six weeks .

Should also say I think it could have been an hour or so less as looking back I think I was scared of pushing and sort of held back a bit - pushing stage was 2.5 hrs. I reckon if I'd really tried I could have done it in 1hr.

Oh Bike that sounds awful Thank heavens your DD was ok. Thanks for your opinion re ECS, I'm trying to weigh everything up.

I really appreciate you all taking the time to reply.

No experience of VBAC but my labours have ranged from a 4 day induction to a 25 hour home birth labour (4 minute 2nd stage though so all good ) to a 3 weeks of pro-dromal labour with again 25 hours of active labour (17 minute 2nd stage so again all good ).

I am hoping DC4 does a repeat of labour no.2 (the 4mins of pushing!) as I didn't really enjoy 3 weeks of contractions.

Have you looked at ways of shortening the labour and making the contractions more effective (staying upright, birthing ball, sitting on toilet, not lying down, not going in a birth pool until later in labour)?

I have TruthS - though thanks for mentioning them . I did most of these with DC1 yet still ended up with emcs 3 days after my waters broke, hoping things will be different this time around

2 hours from first contraction to birth.

Ah, sorry preaching to the choir there!

Joymaker DD is fine, and will be 6 months old on Wed. But really, all I knew about the downsides/risks of VBAC was down to my own research, the hospital mentioned nothing about how the likelyhood of it going wrong was low, but the impact huge!

TruthS don't be silly, truely.

Bike I see what you mean I've been doing some research of my own (possibly too much if that's possible) and I'm starting to get the wobbles a bit, though I can't yet quite imagine opting for a ELCS

joymaker, I spent most of my pregnancy with ds trying to decide between vbac and elcs. I think I was hoping that a third, more simple and painfree option would magically present itself.

I think I knew all the way through that I wanted to at least try for a vbac but what I needed in the end was to know that I would have some control over what was an unknown quantity. I had an excellent consultant who took my wishes into great consideration. I had quite a lot of problems after the first delivery with flashbacks, trauma, pnd, ptsd etc and he understood how important it was that I entered labour with dc2 in a positive frame of mind. So we talked for a long time about how I would want labour 'managed'. What I would and wouldn't consent to ideally, at what point I'd like decisions made, how and when monitoring would happen, how long certain scenarios would be allowed to progress for etc. This made all the difference and I highly recommend talking at length with your consultant to make sure they're somebody who you can work with instead of against.

In the end, after a 37hr labour I had a repeat emcs (and also found out why I can't deliver vaginally) but I felt in control throughout and went into and came out of theatre smiling and joking. It was a very positive experience.

It does sound like we had sort of a similar experience first time round. I tried everything I could to have a normal delivery. I was active throughout, walked, bounced, squatted etc, pushed for 8hrs in fact but ended up with a baby severely wedged with muscle damage and a tear on her scalp. I think I can say I gave it a good go. Second time round we were much quicker to move to emcs because it was clear ds was opting for the same position as dd and there seemed to be some sort of physiological issue with my pelvis (confirmed later).

It's very strange to have a pregnancy which is so dogged by thoughts of delivery isn't it? You know first time round that you have no idea what will happen but you just wait and see. After a previous cs you're already having to make decisions about what will happen. I found thinking about it exhausting tbh.

Active labour was 11 hours for me!

15hrs from first contraction to birth, 2.5/3hrs of that was pushing.

GoGo lol at "I think I was hoping that a third, more simple and painfree option would magically present itself." Seriously though you seem to understand a lot how I'm feeling. What you went through after your first labour sounds hard. I think you were gutsy to try a vbac .I'm glad you were able to get some anwers as to why emcs was necessary in your case.

Fortunately for me I have lovely memories of my first delivery even though it ended in emcs (although my waters broke with no contractions I was given 4 days to try and deliver vaginally however there was a "failure to progress") My birth plan was followed to the letter which included having skin to skin and breastfeeding my baby as soon as he was delivered- this was very important to me.

My consultant this time time around is the same one I had with my first delivery so I have full confidence in her care and advice and know that she will support my decision whether I opt for a vbac or an elcs. It's still so hard making a decision up front though not knowing what way things could go...

I suppose what I'm afraid of is the slight increased risk to the baby if I go for a vbac as opposed to having an elcs. Also, if the vbac is not successful I may also be increasing the time it takes for me to recover -because of labouring- if in the end I have to have an emcs (and I'll have a 26 month old and a new born to look after)...and that's not to mention the possiblity of any post-birth complications.

...But on the other hand I would like to avoid surgery if I can.

Hi first labour 16 hours 2 hour pushing stage.

Second labour 1 hour, 15 min pushing stage.

1 and 1/2 hrs from 1st contraction to birth! I'll be scared to sneeze with this one

Oh Plunkett Lol, Good luck!

12hrs from show to baby, first contraction followed the show after about an hour. I think active labour was about 3-4hrs, but I was only 1cm when I went to the hospital the first time at roughly 8pm, back by 10.20pm at 9cm...

I had no warm up, no braxton hicks, nothing, so it came as a bit of a shock!!! Considering homebirth with this one just to avoid the back-&-forth to hospital.