when people say "x" hours of labor what do they mean?

[ommom]

hi all!

do most people count labor from 1st regular contractions to birth?

my MW said "active labor" is counted from 4cm to birth.

what are most people referring to when they say "24 hrs of labor" "9 hrs of labor" etc?

thank you.

[Phoenix~Mama]

I'm going to count mine from the time I started getting strong regular contractions that I was not able to sleep through and could only work through... 43 hours!! I just now actually had enough brain capacity to figure that out. lol

[jr'smom]

For me, my water broke first both times and strong regular contractions started within 10 minutes--so that's when I count. (BTW--the second time the contractions started at 2 min. apart--for a labor that lasted 23 hours. I think I should get extra credit for that. Can we work that into the formula?)

I don't know how I'll count it when my water doesn't break and intensify the contractions right away. But I'm really hoping that doesn't happen this time.

[quietserena]

Originally Posted by JSMa

I'm going to count mine from the time I started getting strong regular contractions that I was not able to sleep through and could only work through... 43 hours!! I just now actually had enough brain capacity to figure that out. lol

I count like that too. I only got checked once in labor and was pretty much fully dilated so I couldn't even venture a guess on where 4cm was.

Mine was 8.5 hours, from when contractions woke me up, to baby arrival. That's how it was with my first too, though my water broke early on with her.

JSMa, that was one long labor! i hope you can get some rest!

[Kimmiepie]

I counted all of mine from the very beginning (first contraction) to the end because I was induced each time. Had I not been induced, I'd probably not start counting until "active" labor which is about 4cm.

[MeadowAndColtsMama]

With both my kids I was home, knew it was real labor, but they were manageable. At the point where I scream, double over, anything like that. I start counting then. And that's when I go to the hospital, btw. So with dd we left for the hospital around 3pm, she was born about 10pm, 7 hours of real labor. Different for dear son, we went to the hospital at 10pm, he was born the next day at about 4pm, BUT I had an epidural, so I'm sure he would have been born a LOT sooner naturally. But still 18 hours of real labor with him.

[Hallielynn01]

I think most women refer to the total length. I know I do, because it didn't take long from the start to get to where it was REAL labor. However my body didn't dilate until the midwives did a couple of augmentations, so my body was experiencing ctx 2 min apart lasting up to 2 min and back to back sometimes, but my cervix wasn't changing. Im certainly not going to say it wasn't "labor" based on a cervix measure, cause it was misery at times and it was laboring!! I say 36 hours, even though "active, or when I finally achieved 4cms" labor wasn't achieve till a little over 24 hours after the start of labor.

[Erin Lou]

I use the labour=work equation, so I count labour starting when I couldn't do anything else.

[funkymamajoy]

I count active labor starting when I know that I'm in labor. That moment when you think "this is it, its happening."

[thepeach80]

I start mine from when it started. I remember that first ctx w/ Evan during Wheel of Fortune, lol! They were pretty managable till we got to the hospital (so 9 hrs at home) and that lasted 3 hrs for a total of 12. I know I was 3cm the week before, but I can't tell you when I got to 4. I was 4 cm w/ Ilana when I went in for a little pitocin and wasn't in labor.

[Frunchy Mama]

I noticed on my hospital discharge papers they started count when my water broke, but I actually never went into labor on my own. After 57 hrs I finally went to the hospital and was only dilated to 3 cm!! After fighting with hospital staff for a few hours, I finally gave into pitocin and contractions started to get heavy about 12 or 13hrs before I delivered. (Only for him to "pop" out with 4 or 5 contractions of pushing!)

If I count from when my water broke, I'd have been in labor for 73 hours!

[PNCTink]

I count from when my water broke and that was 10.5 hours with my first. My doctor also counts from 4cm and told me it was 4.5 hours. We'll see what happens this time.

[_betsy_]

HA!

If I counted the hours since I hit 4 cms, I'd have been "in labor" for a week with my first and 2+ weeks with my second! And I NEVER ONCE felt so much as a BH contraction to get to that point, either time!

I count my (Pitocin induced) first labor from the time of my first contraction (HUGE, intense, WALLOPING! cx was the first (and only type of) cx I felt with her) to baby: 1 hour, 58 minutes.

With DD2, I count from water breaking to baby: 1 hour, 18 minutes. (Midwife missed it!)

[ommom]

the range of ways of counting is interesting.

makes me realize how very different every person's birth is.

i guess i was asking in part b/c i planned a homebirth, then chose to transfer to the hospital for pitocin and an epidural and am wrapping my mind around the "birth story" in comparison to others to see if labor really "went long" and that was partly why i chose to transfer...

[ainh]

Impossible question to answer. I think there are too many variables/metrics:

--regular contractions
--intense contractions
--water breaking
--greater than equal to 4cm

I count from the time when I was confident enough to tell hubby "this is it". My water never broke until the end. I was having intense, regular contractions, but could talk through them (heck, I put DS1 to bed and read stories and sang and cuddled just two hours before I had DS2).

[Cutie Patootie]

I count from the first contraction where I know this is the "beginning of the end". I wouldn't ever go by "cm dilated" because my midwife doesn't check and I don't want to know. Dilation is so random and some people can go from 2cm to 10cm in 5 minutes, and it wouldn't be fair to discount their 12 hours of hard labor before that happened.

With this baby, my water broke at around 6:50am. I went to sleep for 10 minutes and then woke with a huuuuge contraction that was "it". I was in instant transition and had my baby 1 hour later at 8:02am.

[laurelg]

My first real contractions (as in "That was not a Braxton-Hicks!") started around 2:30 am. I couldn't sleep through them, but it was largely out of anticipation and not pain at that point. I finally had a glass of wine and slept from 5:30-7:30, when I woke up because they were way too painful to get more sleep. I didn't want to be the dork who called the midwife for a false alarm, but I finally decided they were regular enough and strong enough when they were averaging about five minutes apart and a little under a minute each - which was at 10:00 am. By the time the midwives showed up at 11:00 am, I was on my ball breathing "ooooooopen" through each one - but I don't think I was really at the can't-do-anything-else point yet. I will have to see a copy of my chart to know where things went from there, time-wise, because I lost track after that. I don't know when I was 4cm because I didn't have an internal check until I was 6/7, which was many hours later... and my water didn't break until about 15 minutes into my hour of pushing.

My little one was born at 9:42 pm. If you count from the first contractions, that's 19 hours. If you count from the time things were intense, I'd guess we'd be at more like 10 hours. Honestly, I'm not that worried about having an exact number, 'cause all I know is it was way less than my mom's 36 hours with me!

[mommyfied]

My water broke and contrax started within an hour so I count from there... 8 hours from then until baby. If I started from active labor it would be more like 3 hours (2 hrs labor + 1 hr pushing).

[frontierpsych]

My first birth I started out dilated to a 4, so I counted from right away, 16 hrs. Second labour I didn't believe I was actually in labour at first because it didn't hurt like my first. 3hrs from "active" labor to finish.

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

For me I count my labors from the first ctx till the baby is born. I had a 12 hour labor with dd and a 10 hour one with ds. 6 hours hard labor with dd and 5 hours hard with ds.