Making labour easier?

[waitingimpatiently]

My family are notorious for having really long first stages. My grandma, mum and sister have all told me that theirs was long with my sisters resulting in a section.
I would really like to break the trend and have, in comparision, a short one. Is there ANYTHING possibly I can do to make mine even a tiny bit shorter?
Thanks

Not sure, but tbh the first stage isnt that bad. I used to go into cold sweats when I heard how long people were in labour. I was in labour for (officially) 13.5 hrs, but they didnt seem to count the full night when I was awake with contractions, for some reason. But the only but that was anything other than watching TV with contractions lasted a few hours, which wasnt the first stage any more

All I've read and been told is that staying active and as upright as possible is good. I think I'll end up watching old movies while bouncing on my ball.

I started contracting on the sunday evening (after a good walk involving some steep hill-age, recommended!) and ds finally arrived on weds evening. I have no tips for speeding it up, sometimes my contractions waned but not sure why.

I would though say get as much rest as you can, hard i know when you wake up every seven minutes, but you won't be getting much afterwards!
Have some little tasks to do that you can drop (i made crumpet dough, but not crumpets!) maybe some dvds you can have on that you won't need to follow.
Get in a variety of snacks and drinks, for you and midwives if you have them out to you.
I also used a tens early on and lots of breathy technique stuff. Check out ina may's guide to child birth. Even if you differ in your opinions about rain relief later (she's a natural birth guru) there's lots of stuff that should help you get through the first bit, when you can't have pain relief, bar paracetamol! Also the book has some interesting stuff about how your mental outlook can help or hinder the physical process of labour.
Also hold out on g and a as long as poss, i did this and then really appreciated it and didn't need owt else.

I think they won't give you much or consider it established labour till you are four cm dilated. It takes a bit to get to that point, but it does get quicker! I also found it helpful to know what was going on in labour. Stay poss, your experience does not have to be the same as you dm, or dgm. Good luck, try and enjoy it!

Hi waitingimpatiently...

I've been reading anything I can get my hands on about how to 'speed up' labour. So far my list is as follows:

• Stay active for as long as possible (including walking around, using birth ball and generally not lying on a bed defeating gravity)
• raspberry leaf tea (taken from 32 weeks I think) is meant to help uterine contractions
• Use a bath/ birthday pool (but not too early) which may reduce need for pain medication thus speeding up delivery
• Try and avoid epiidural

This only DC1 for me though so unfortunately I can't tell you if there is any substance at all to these points! Good luck though, I definitely think the active labour is supposed to work

My first labour started at 2am with very mild contractions. As soon as I got up for the day at around 7am, they came thick and fast. He was 7lb 7oz, born at 1pm. ( 3 days over)Didn't have time for any pain relief.

I had a little girl on Tuesday (4 days over).
Again, felt a bit crampy in the night.
As soon as I got up for the day at 6am, they started again getting quicker and longer.
I decided to go to hospital at 9am, because I was concerned how quick my first was.
I arrived in the observation room at about 9.30am, and had her at 10.10am.7lb 13oz.
Stupidly no time for pain relief again!! OUCH!!

I remained active during pregnancy, walks, out and about. bouncing on birth ball. loads of rasperry leaf tablets/tea.
SEX !! Also, plenty of early nights, 9pm - 7am to make sure I got plenty of rest too ( you will need it)
I did agree to a sweep this time, which was 4pm the day before.
During contractions, I was so tempted to lie down and just hug my duvet. But my experience has been keep upright, move about through the contractions. It works for me!!
Although, it would be interesting to see if I could manage this if I had big bruiser babys like most of my friends?
I also tried to remain positive, and thought the following:

1. the pain won't last forever!
2. if i tear, again the pain won't last forever!
3. most women go through this, and come out the other end!
4. the quicker the baby comes out, the sooner I can hold her ad get back to normal (ish)! I'm probably gonna get some stick for being too positive, but your post has asked how to make it easy. This worked for me, and I was back home cooking tea 7 hrs after having her! Good Luck, and everyone is different.

Fwiw i think a bath, as opposed to the birthing pool, is good early on. It can help you relax and thus increases oxytocin, which powers labour along. See ina may for more on increasing oxytocin naturally. However you are right about birthing pools planner, they are deeper and can slow it down. Think you are right re epidural too, though,again i think, they won't administer this early on, till labour is properly established? Unless you are induced (which is a drip of synthetic oxytocin)

For all that lying on a bed may slow your labour down, if you are tired try and sleep! It may be days till your baby arrives, and there will be precious little sleep then! Sorry to repeat this!

del1 - thanks for your comments. Hope I'm half as lucky as you!

Sorry, was really distracted when posting earlier and didn't make my point clear! It is this... My labour was quite long, or rather i had contractions for quite a while. But this isn't necessarily a bad thing! It gives you time to hone your pain coping techniques, and get in to "the zone." It also reduces the risk of tearing (i believe) as your body has time to stretch. Labour is a magical time. You may never do it again! Enjoy it!