How long were you in labour for?

[obem]

Hi everyone,

I'm pregnant with my first and even though I'm not due till much later this year I'm having terrible paranoia that I'll be in labour and there won't be any delivery rooms available and I'll give birth on the hospital floor or something will go wrong if I'm made to wait and baby will get distressed in the womb.

My local hospital has 14 delivery rooms and stats on their website said they delivered 5300 babies last year. That works out to be about 14 babies a day. But not everyone women will be in and out in a day?! Or will they? I've heard of women being in labour for many many hours (like 20+)

What happens if all the delivery rooms are taken when I present myself to labour ward?!

I've had 5 mc's (worst one at 13 weeks) in the past so you can forgive my paranoia that I don't want anything to go wrong.

DD1 was 12 hours from waters breaking to baby being born - she was an induction, so in hospital the whole time. Probably about 8 hours active labour.

DD2 was 8 hours from waters breaking but only about 2.5 hours in active labour. I was at hospital 45 minutes before she was born.

Total labour time 5 hours and 17 mins, time spent on the midwife led unit 3 hour 17 mins. Sorry for your previous losses, when I arrived they were referring people to another nearby hospital as the labour ward was full. However they told them that over the phone so that they didn't come down and get turned away. They had room on the midwife led unit upstairs for anyone that was low risk.

I posted before I had finished, so sorry about your previous losses. Definitely worth talking to the midwife about your anxiety around this, am sure he or she will be able to alleviate your worries.

36 hours

With both of mine waters went first. Ds1 was about 7 hours at home and 2 in hospital (emcs) and ds2 was 2 hours at home and 2 in hospital or thereabouts. The chances are you will have time to get to hospital and there will be space for you but it's worth discussing your worries with your midwife...

With DS1, from first twinge to baby in my arms was 24 hours. I went to the hospital 8 hours in and all the delivery rooms were full, I waited with several other labouring women in their tea/coffee room. Don't worry, none of us gave birth on the floor. I was taken to a side room, checked and found to be still in the early stages and sent home.

I was back again 4 hours later, most delivery rooms were empty now and I was taken straight to a delivery room and that's where I stayed until I gave birth 9 hours later.

32 hours total from early twinges. 10 hours in hospital after they broke my waters after baby got in distress having strong contractions was on constant monitoring for that 10 hours so couldn't walk around or anything ended up with emergency forceps delivery. Worth it all for the end result though

DS1 - 5.5 hours, went to local mw lead unit where they only had 2 birthing rooms and 6 beds on the ward, I got straight in to the birthing pool room no problem. If they were full I would have had to go to the main hospital.

DD2 - 1hour 10 mins, MW unit had closed down by then so had to go to the main city hospital, they put me in an examination room and I didn't leave there until I went to the ward, with it being so fast there was no time to move me.

There will always be a room to use so just try not to worry so much about that as it is the last thing that really matters in the end.

So sorry for your losses it must make you worry about everything! x

12 hours from first contraction. 5 hours in hospital when my waters went

First baby was 18 hours.
Second baby was 37 hours.
Third baby was 10 hours.
Fourth baby was 6 hours.

First : waters broke, went to hospital, sent me home as no signs of labour. All kicked in 2 hrs later. 4 hrs at home 17 in hospital.
DC2: 4 hrs at home. V light contractions and I was a week early so thought it was false labour. Went to hospital to be checked. 2.5 hrs later DC2 born.

I was induced, they started me off at 11am and I had dd at 16.32pm the same day. My total labour was actually 38 mins! I was quite unusual though as she's my first. It all happened that quick that I wasn't even in a proper delivery room just a normal shared room but luckily no one else was in.

You won't spend your whole labour in hospital anyway so I imagine you will be fine.

From first twinge to holding my DS was 5.5 days 😱 I ended up being in hospital for a week but the majority of that was on the antenatal and postnatal wards (had an EMCS and had to stay in). My time in the room on the actual delivery suite was about 20 hours but my labour wasn't progressing and most of those 20 hours was on the drip with them hoping I'd dilate enough, before they ended up making the call to take me down to theatre.

Mine was 20 hours which sounds like a long time but it didn't feel like it, it started at 4am and baby born at 11 pm, out of hospital the next day in the early evening.

I was at home 5 hours and then in hospital 10 hours

I was in labour for 4 hours and 1 hour, both times there were room available. I stayed in an extra night and I was the only one on the ward during the day until about 6pm (midwifery led unit).

37 hours, 30 at home 7 at hospital. It got to the point where my contractions were 1 minute apart before they saw me. Not a comfortable drive but nothing went wrong or anything. Try not to worry too much

Thanks for all your brilliant replies! I'll speak to my mw about my anxieties and what happens if there are no rooms available.

Thanks so much

3 days but I wasn't in hospital for all of that time. I went into labour Friday night and DS was born at 7.35 Sunday morning, I went into hospital at about 11pm on the Saturday.

Remember that there are three separate areas, you have labour ward for women in early labour or for monitoring, then the actual birthing rooms which are single occupancy, and then they put you onto the postnatal ward afterwards. In fact the hospital was very busy when DS was born and so I was put back onto labour ward rather than into postnatal.

Remember they'll be triaging - if they have a lot of ladies in birthing rooms, they'll probably hold off on moving people from labour ward to a room and they'll prioritise anybody who is progressing quickly, closer to birth than the others or needing more pain relief and it would be unusual for all of these things to happen at once. Remember that they do have a rough idea of how many women are due in the area so they can plan for busier times.

You could also look into having a home birth. If you have a low risk pregnancy it's a feasible option and you wouldn't have to worry about overcrowding at all.

3 hours. You'd only be in a delivery room once in active labour though, a lot of people who were 20+ hours probably had long early labour and were at home/on a ward for a good chunk of that.

For me:
Thurs 8pm waters broke add contractions started
Fri 5am went to MLU as contractions were frequent and regular
Fri 8pm transfered to labour ward for augmentation
Sat 6am DS born

It does sound a lot. I wonder if the stats include homebirths by their midwifery team and/or transfers to the hospital from a local MLU or homebirths where only the very end of labour takes place in the hospital delivery room.

21 hours. My waters went in true film-fashion (the way everyone says they never will) all over the bathroom floor at three in the morning before I'd had a single contraction. Woke up the OH, rang the birth centre and explained they looked clear etc. They told me to come in anyway and get checked.

Went in, got checked, waters had meconium in them because DD was a lazy minx late baby. Went to labour ward and laboured for the full whack in a delivery room. Christ it was boring. Take a book. Several books. At one point me and the OH were playing I Spy.

Honestly OP if you're even slightly freaking, talk to your midwife. I asked what would happen if at the point of needing the room there wasn't one and basically I was told that it might mean going to the other local hospital. Most hospitals offer tours of the wards too and I found actually going round and having a look really helped

Most people, as previous posters have said, will do a lot of the work at home. Me and six of my friends have given birth in the last year and not one of us had to go to another hospital. The worst they had to deal with was a friend couldn't have a water birth because the room was occupied. Please don't panic! They will have contingency plans for if the rooms are occupied I promise.

Mine was 4 hours from the first contraction but 17 hours from my waters breaking.

4 hours with ds and 65 minutes with dd. Water broke both times. Timed from water breaking as no labour signs prior.

So sorry for your loss. I also had a 13 week miscarriage. I understand your anxiety

Please don't worry about room at the hospital, they won't leave you without a bed or care.

For me from first sign to birth,

1st-4 hours
2nd-50 minutes
3rd-2 1/2 hours (he was a big 9lb boy!)