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Original poster

Labour times . . . .

69 replies

libb · 03/02/2004 18:57

Hi everyone,

Just curious really, how long did labour take with your first baby?

Cheers,

Libb xx

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M2T · 04/02/2004 09:49

Waters broke at 3.30am on the Wednesday morning, but no contactions until 8.30am. By 9.30am I was 4cm dilated. Ds popped out at 15.35pm. So from contractions starting to birth = 7 hours. Not bad considering he was OP.

With a history of quick labours for my Mum I'm expecting this one to shoot out after half an hour.

Mum2Ela · 04/02/2004 09:53

Contracts started 5am, baby born 7.25am.

= 2.5 hours!

(& was v luckly - it was all very easy!)

WSM · 04/02/2004 10:11

3 hours. Waters broke/active labour began at 11.30pm, DD was born at 2.31am.

Felt no contractions before waking up at 11.30. In fact felt so well that I carried the cot upstairs and built it on my own earlier that day !!!

happy1 · 04/02/2004 11:33

14 1/2 hours. Woke up at 2am with bad period pains, went to the toilet and had a show. DS was born at 4.27pm

Angeliz · 04/02/2004 11:36

I was crampy all day but not bad! I bled at 5-ish and then it got BAD and i went in to hospital at 5.30 and had dd at 8.58.
So i'd class my labour as about 3 and a half hours!

Angeliz · 04/02/2004 11:40

WSM, i was like that, i was out walking the dog at 4, that's why i think i had a short labour. (I hope i do the same next time)

Angeliz · 04/02/2004 11:52

i mean i hope i am AS LUCKY nezt time, not that i did it
(Just incase i came across as smug and arrogant- not my intention!)

Thomcat · 04/02/2004 11:58

6 hours from first 'ohhh, I think i've just had a contraction' to babe in arms.

I was 10 days late and had just downed a bottle of castor oil!!! From castor oil to first contraction was less than 3 hours!!

Blu · 04/02/2004 12:13

28 hours...long, slow and steady, and not traumatic (baby OP)until ventouse delivery.

AussieSim · 04/02/2004 12:15

Waters broke 9:30am, drove self to hospital at 1pm with contractions. DS arrived 12:30pm next day. My usual answer is about 24hours.

secur · 04/02/2004 12:39

Message withdrawn

Helsbels · 04/02/2004 13:15

went to bed at midnight, got up for a wee at 12.30 and discovered show - went to hosp at 1am no pains, examined at 2 more blood no pain and was told I was 3 cm. Went to delivery room, fell asleep with dh until 4ish, woke up with sickness and pains, put on tens, kept being sick, pains got more frequent and worse, asked for pethidine at 5, emergency on ward kept them away until 5.45, then they came and gave me an injection dh asked them to examine me, I was surprised when the midwife said @bloody hell, best start pushing, then' DS born just before 7!! Hoping for the same this time!!

handlemecarefully · 04/02/2004 13:24

It all hinges on what people define as the starting point. Personally I am not counting the time prior to 3/4 cms dilated (several hours of contractions). I was 3/4 cms dilated at 22.00 hours and delivered at 18.14 the following day - thats 20 hours in established labour which is quite long!

moosh · 04/02/2004 13:47

My contractions began every 10 minutes at 4.00a.m then went up to every hour for most of the day. It wasn't till 12.30 the following morning that they came every 5 minutes and had to go to hospital. But the whole time spent at home was not traumatic at all. Got to the hospital at 12.45 and ds was born at 6.48 a.m. The most traumatic bit was the pushing but it was relatively calm up to that point.

Gumboot · 04/02/2004 14:00

About 3hrs for each of my 2, very quick and would have liked more time to get used to each stage instead of it all being just a blur

katierocket · 04/02/2004 14:09

4 days from 0cm-3cm (yes really)
14 hours from 3cm-birth

Bozza · 04/02/2004 14:11

Well hmc I've no idea then because was not examined until 9 cm.

Linnet · 04/02/2004 22:28

If you're counting from when you were 3/4 cms dialated I was admitted to hospital at 3.30am at 3/4 cms early hours of sunday morning and finally delivered dd at 00.02am Monday morning. a total of 20hrs and 40min, that's what it says on my notes anyway.

Hulababy · 04/02/2004 22:29

If from 3cm then no labour at all; never got to that point

Angeliz · 04/02/2004 22:30

i was 7 cm's dilated when i went in so don't really know exact times then!

gingernut · 04/02/2004 22:45

About 50 hours from first contraction, don't know how long in `established' labour (but it all felt pretty well established to me ).

handlemecarefully · 05/02/2004 08:38

Well if you don't know when you were 3 or 4 cms dilated maybe count established labour from when contractions were regularly 5 minutes apart?

gingernut · 05/02/2004 08:52

hmc, mine were 5 mins apart at the start although then they went to about every 10 mins, then back to 5 mins and so on. On arriving at hospital 12 hours after the first contraction I was only 1 cm dilated. Didn't get to 5 cm till over 12 hours after that. I dilated very slowly but was having regular strong contractions from the start, nothing like Miriam Stoppard describes in her books!

gingernut · 05/02/2004 08:56

Thinking back, maybe from when they were regularly 5 mins apart was around 30 hours but I wasn't really checking by then because I was kept in the hospital anyway (was only timing them before to help us decide when to go in).

handlemecarefully · 05/02/2004 09:05

Gingernut,

I guess a lot of us don't have the text book labours - and my contractions did similar things (became a bit erratic mid way through established labour and I had to have a syntonocin drip - probably spelt wrong). I'm definitely no expert! - just repeating what I've been told are the ways of defining established labour.....