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.

You are only in the delivery room for the final push! So yes, you might only spend 3 hours or so in delivery, the rest in triage or at home or in the antenatal ward. You won't give birth on a hospital floor. I was in labour for 3 days in the most overcrowded maternity unit in central London, and I still gave birth in a bed, in a room, in peace.

ages with first one and 30 mins with second. The main thing is how relaxed you are. It sounds like you've had a really stressful route to this baby so no 1 thing go and do some antenatal yoga for the next few months. This will teach you about your body and take some of the stress away. Good luck. My first was 2 weeks late but I'm sure a lot of this was fear. I had my second at home which was great for me (my husband wouldn't agree!)

YY to pregnancy yoga! I did it from 14 weeks and it was lovely. Did me the world of good, physically, mentally and emotionally.

In my hospital they only let you into a delivery room once you were in really established labour—I was 5cm before they moved me to one. I went to a room at 5am and didn't give birth until 7.30pm. Once I'd given birth I was moved along to the postnatal ward after about 2-3 hours to make space for the next woman. I think it's really unlikely you wouldn't have a room. They really try to keep you in there for the minimum amount of time necessary.
I have heard of labour wards shutting if they don't have beds. Women then get diverted to another hospital but that's really rare. Ask your midwife how many times the labour ward has closed in the last year.

5 with my first and 4 with my second

Hours

2 hours 30 mins (1 hour 10 mins pushing), 2 hours 45 mins (4 mins pushing), 2 hours 20 mins (approx 15 mins pushing).

My situation was a little different.
I was due on Sunday 30th August. From the following Tuesday, I was having irregular contractions. I was booked in for a sweep on the Wednesday but declined, as I wanted to see if things would progress naturally. They didn't, so I had a sweep on the Friday at 3pm.
I was having contractions, but I later found out the head wasn't fully engaged, so my waters wouldn't break naturally. After the sweep the contractions got a bit stronger (though I needed no pain relief until after the sweep). I was told to go to the hospital when they were every so many minutes (I was advised it would probably be around 8pm that evening). I got to the hospital just after 8, and by 9pm I was in the birth centre.
The contractions were still getting stronger, but the midwife broke my waters at 3am. After that, my baby was born at 6.58am.
So in total, I was in early labour for 4 days, then gave birth 4 hours after having my waters broken.

Not entirely sure as i wouldn't let the mw's anywhere near me until i was 7cm lol.. but from then to birth 14hours! And i was induced due to pe and had dd in a delivery suite... after planning a water brith!

14 hours in total...kept moving the whole time which I'd say defiantly helped to stay activiE. .went to the hospital when my contractions were every 3 minutes lasting 90 seconds..and I just made it
..got to the room and was fully dilated much to my surprise as 1st baby.
.stayed on my knees whole time..she was born 40 minutes later...it's all in the mind remembering to stay focused on your breathing.

First contractions Sunday morning; baby arrived early Thursday morning . Only in delivery room from 7pm on the Wednesday after my waters broke though.

I had contractions at home every 5 min for several hours every night for 3 nights, but nothing regular during the day so I didn't need to be in hospital till the waters broke. I was already knackered by the time I went in, but had really brilliant care when I got there!

I was terrified about giving birth for most of my pregnancy, then discovered Positive Birth Movement and it completely changed my outlook - if you're nervous about birth then it's well worth googling and seeing if there's a local meet-up or facebook group. Good luck

4.5 hours. Pop on my waters to him popping out.

As others have said you don't go in during early labour. Mine was horrendous......from first contraction to emergency c section it was 48 hours....TWO FRIGGING DAYS!! Baby is 4 weeks old and I can't bear to think about it 😱

I was in the hospital 2 hours when I gave birth, but if your in labour for a long time you wont necessarily be in a delivery room all that time.

38 and 24 hrs from first contraction With my first I was sent home as only 2cm and went it roughly 10 hrs later and was still only 3cm it's heartbreaking. So assuming all is fine do take their advice and wait until contractions are 4 mins apart and last about a minute it's truly crap being sent home.
( assuming the advice hasn't changed!!)

My waters broke at 10am and at 11pm I was still at home with manageable contractions
In fact I'd probably have stayed at home a while longer but I had a doula (am in canada) who suggested we should go.
Arrived at L&D around 1am and after all that time was still only around 4cms dilated.
My mistake was that I panicked when they said if I wanted an epidural to have it then as the anaesthetist was going into a long surgery and they couldn't promise when they'd be out - so now or never!
I knew I probably wanted one but I probably wasn't at the point I needed one but did anyway - FOMO!!
Anyway it stopped it all leading to having to have pitocin
Arrived 1am gave birth 8pm
Wasn't traumatic but long and boring
I had a sleep but DH didn't really sleep at all
Good luck

I think that's around 34 hrs from water breaking to answer the OP

I was in hospital 31 hours during labour. I was on a delivery ward for about 14 hours (if I'd wanted privacy I could be sectioned off with curtains and was allowed to leave the ward as long as I was with someone) - I didn't care one bit there were others around in labour. I was checked on regularly, but I somehow knew I'd be a long time so sent DH home to feed the cats and have a rest - at that point care was really stepped up especially as I was trying to make a decision over painkillers. I still wasn't sure what painkillers I wanted, so they decided to transfer me to a delivery suite so they were free to administer whatever without others being around - I was there for the remaining 17 hours. I was kept in that room for approx 4/5 hours after birth, so I had all the time in the world. If they'd been busy, then I may have been kept on the labour ward longer or transferred out sooner, what I'm saying is I guess there's flexibility depending on how many are in.

The stories you hear about people giving birth in hospital corridors are rare, I had lots of care and support while I was in labour and nothing was left to chance.

Not sure if someone's mentioned it up-thread, but don't forget in that 14 deliveries/day, there will be elective cesareans going on, (we do 2-3 per day in our hospital), as well as emergency ones too. Once they've had their babies, the women go to the recovery ward and then straight to the post-natal ward, so freeing up delivery rooms much quicker, if that's what you're worried about.

Er. In labour 4 days.

First about 36 hours from start to finish
Second 12 hours from start to finish
Third 12 hours but ended up in csection could of gone longer but baby did not want to get into position.

My first labour was 19 hours but only 8 hours in the delivery suite. My second labour was induced and lasted 4.5 hours from 1st contractions to baby. Both babies were back to back. Dd1 was more difficult because I wasn't dilating properly and needed the drip. I had an epidural after 6 hours of contractions coming every minute but nothing happening. With dd2, I had a pessary to induce labour. Didn't need the drip. No time for any pain relief. It was fine. Epidurals are amazing but natural birth was manageable.

1st was 6 hours 15 min from first twinge to baby being born, 2 hours from waters breaking to baby being born & about 4 hours in hospital,

2nd was 5 hours 54 mins from start to finish, my waters broke, so they told me to go in straight away, contractions started about an hour afters waters breaking, hoping this one (due in 6 weeks) is a quick labour too.

1st was 6 hours 15 min from first twinge to baby being born, 2 hours from waters breaking to baby being born & about 4 hours in hospital,

2nd was 5 hours 54 mins from start to finish, my waters broke, so they told me to go in straight away, contractions started about an hour afters waters breaking, hoping this one (due in 6 weeks) is a quick labour too.

Sorry to hear of your previous losses op, all the very best this time around.

As for my labours:
Dc1 took 30 hours (15 in hospital)
Dc2 took 1 hour 45 mins. Born at home, an absolute dream!