How long were you in labour for??

[esunny]

Hellooo,

I have 12 weeks to go and I am wondering how long you were in hospital for before pushing? And how long your labours were (the very painful part haha) I have no idea what to expect! Any tips please help haha x

DD1 - 21 hours with contractions every 2 minutes from start to finish. No pain relief.

DD2 - 11 hours. Quicker but a hell of a lot more painful. Begged for an epidural.

Jfc those are quick labours!!
With any luck, you’ll sneeze and he’ll come out 😂

My first (6 months old now!), went into 'active' labour from about 7pm - baby born at 1:41am the next day. I arrived at birth centre at 930pm (5cm dilated), waters broke at midnight, but my contractions slowed waaaay down and I was pushing for like 90 minutes! But it wasn't unbearable, I was just tired and in the wrong position. Once moved out the pool, baby was out in 10 minutes! Good luck!! ❤️

I should say although contractions were painful I didn't feel like it was too bad as I got a sort of breather between them. It only got very painful towards the end (transition). Transition puts me in panic, I begged for everything going but glad we (me, DH and the midwives) had had lots of chats about it as although I was begging for an epidural I know I didn't actually want one really. They did go and get it but my midwife knew was really close by that point and I couldn't stop contracting long enough for the anaesthetist to explain the procedure anyway.
Pushing was painful but in a different way. Lots of pushes with my first and only 3 with my second.

58 hours followed by an emergency section. Not something I would choose to repeat. I hope you have a much easier time!

Longest labour-2 hours 32 minutes

Shortest-34 minutes

I seem to just bang em out!

1st baby 4 days 😩 2nd baby 7 hours

Dd1 i managed at home u til 9cm somehow, so labour for about 14 hours in total and I was pushing for about an hour I'd say

Dd2 I went in at 7cm, labour was more start stop with her as she was back to back so from active labour to birth I think about 8 hours and I pushed for ages as her waters wouldn't pop, just couldn't get her out but once they broke then for me she shot out in two pushes

I don’t want to scare you, but I was that person in labor forever. Woke up at 1am with twinges but managed to go back to sleep - twinges, escalated all day then started to feel more real at 3ish pm. Went to hospital and was admitted at 11pm, baby finally arrives at 4pm the following day. It was a marathon. I stopped at one baby.

DC1: Born at 41 weeks. Labour was 12 hours from the first contraction, active labour for about 5 hours and I was in the hospital for an hour before she was born. I was fully dilated when I got there and basically ready to push. I impulsively stripped off all my clothes as I walked into the delivery room 😂

DC2: 41 weeks again. Born at home and labour was about 4 hours start to finish.

Baby 1: Things started getting going for real at about 6.30 pm, got to hospital about midnight and was 4 cm. Baby born 0130. So technically 90 minutes active labour, though I would say the contractions were fairly intense for more like 3 hours.

Baby 2: 2 cm at 1 pm, baby born 3.45 pm. My total labour was recorded as 13 minutes (time from me insisting I was examined again and found to be 5 cm to delivering the placenta).

I wouldn't say that my labours were exactly typical but it's also hardly unheard of to labour fast. I mention it because when I was pregnant with my first I spent a lot of time psyching myself up for a long labour and then when things got speedy I really freaked out because I didn't understand what was happening. Although my second labour was even faster I knew exactly what was happening and the whole thing was much more positive because of it. So what I'm saying is try not to go in with any particular expectations as you might find it psychologically easier.

DC 1 - induced @38 weeks, but was already slightly dilated so they broke my waters at 4pm, hideous contractions and DC born 7pm. All great apart from the 3rd degree tear...
DC 2 - Contractions started at about 12:30am, went to hospital at 1:30, still not really in any pain. DC born at 3am.

3.5 hours
3 hours (arrived at hospital 20 mins before delivery)
crash Caesarean (wasn’t in labour)

First one: 9 hours, ended in emergency Caesarean due to a prolapsed cord

Second one: 69 hours, no pain relief except gas and air (I remember begging for morphine at one stage), and then it ended in another bloody emergency section. I’ve had better long weekends.

Hard to say as I didn't really realise I was in labour properly. Went to hospital because of reduced movements (at full term) and DS was born within 3h. For me contractions weren't painful, and I didn't even ask for any pain relief because I was waiting for things to get going.
Not what you asked, but I found The Positive Birth Book by Milli Hill really helpful for my anxieties about giving birth. I felt a lot better informed about what might happen, and what choices I could have.

Dc 1 72 hours
Dc 2 36 hours
Dc 3 38 hours
Dc 4 12 hours

Technically 70 hours for the first and about 12 on the second, but sometimes it feels like 219,000…

DC1- induction at 39 weeks. Stopped induction after propess as nothing happening and weren’t sure we wanted to continue. Labour kicked in and she was born 40 minutes from first contraction, 15 mins from 3cm

DC2- spontaeneous labour at 39+1, 4 hours from first contraction to birth. Midwife didn’t believe I was in labour until I told her I was 8cm and I was!

DC3- induction at 39+2, waters broken and she was born 3 hours later.

last two labours esp DC3 just felt super easy and straightforward. DC1 was a bit too fast!

Dc1: waters went.
30 mins later contractions started.
1 hour later entered pushing phase.
1 hour after that baby was born.
= 2 hr labour.

Dc2: waters went.
15 mins later contractions started. Few mins later entered pushing phase.
Few mins and 4 pushes later baby was born.
= less than 15 minute labour.

Not the norm!

0 hours. I got as far as having my cannula put in for my induction at 42 weeks (I’d been begging since 41weeks, had two sweeps and been in hospital for 4 days with high blood pressure but no room in the inn) when the midwife pulled the red emergency cord and he was born 30minutes later (emergency c section).

Didn’t get the water birth id planned on, but the birth part was very easy so swings and roundabouts.

(baby was okay, had cord round his neck twice and an infection so we stayed in for another 3 or 4 days whilst he had antibiotics)

You never know how it’s going to go, so unfortunately you just have to go with the flow! Worst thing you can do is try to create a plan, as it’s the deviation from it that often makes women feel like they’ve failed in some way.

18 hours for the first, I had prodromal labour a couple of weeks before though.
On the second now, might update in 6 months. 😂

My first was my only hospital birth. My waters had broken at 37+5 and nothing happened 🫠 not even a twinge of a contraction. So I was induced 48 hours later. Went straight on the hormone drip at 9am and baby arrived at 12 noon.
Second was a planned home birth. Woke up with regular contractions about 6 minutes apart at 4am-ish. Midwives arrived about 7:30am. Baby was born at 2:45pm.
Third was another planned home birth. I acknowledged I was in labour at about 10am…..she was born at 11:02am 😂🫣

12h from waters going to birth - about 9h of contractions, active labour was 2.5h and baby was born within an hour of getting to the hospital

30 hours from my waters breaking. I blame it on the hospital sending me home twice with a 1.5 hour round trip both times!

36 weeks taken in with pre-eclampsia. 6 days of trying to induce me then one day of rest and a planned section. Woke up at 4, waters broke. Baby born before 6. I’ve had worse period pains! I always like to tell people that as I found was I was pregnant that people love telling you bad things!