For mamas whose labor was 24+ hours...

[nyakanyasko]

There seem to be quite a few of us who had pretty long labors, and I'm just wondering if you had a long labor, was it your first labor?

My VBAC labor was technically my second, but I don't really count it because I only got to 3cm with my first.

[Shy0717]

It was my first labor (lasted 54 hours) and honestly no one warned me about that. I had 24 hrs in my head going in but when I hit 48 hrs and they checked me and I was only 5.5 cm (that was HOURS of hard labor after being 4 cm for 12 hours) I think I slightly lost it. It was a learning experience for sure. For me though my big issue was exhaustion. I think I spent hours 24-48 saying I'm so tired...I just need a nap...please. I think I drove my mom and poor friend nuts because I was just literally DONE. I was crying and begging for some sleep. I think overall I handled it well considering that our plans were all out of wack and we were having to fight with hospital staff (we were firm but nice).

[pearl2]

This was my first labor, and it was 42 hours. People are just going nuts when they hear that. For me, it was also exhaustion, not the pain, that was one of the main elements. The MAIN factor was that she never dropped past a -1 station, even though I was dilating and effacing well. We tried everything in the book to get her to drop--deep squats, climbing stairs, lunges, birth ball, all sorts of positions, etc., but she never moved. The c-section revealed she had her little hands up next to her face, like she was going down a roller coaster shouting "Wheee!" but she wasn't able to really get herself in a position to come on out.

I was a birth center for the first portion, which is why I know they allowed me to go so long. A hospital wouldn't have that! After over 24 hours at the birth center, they recommended a hospital transfer, and I agreed wholeheartedly. I was only at a 5cm when arriving at the hospital. Even though I didn't want epi/pit combo originally, I knew this was a situation where it was necessary. Even after that, it did all the job it could and the section gave me Hannah Claire at 8:33pm Saturday. My water had broke Friday at 3am, with basically early labor since that previous Sunday night!

So in actuality, I could have had a longer labor than 42 hours, but I just chose to count when my water broke-when she was born as the actual labor time.

I'll tell you what--it sure didn't seem like 42 hours when you are in labor lalaland and time really doesn't register.

[lovingthis]

This was actually my third labor. My first baby was a typical long first-baby labor, and haks to the hospital,a t least this is my take in retrospect, it was quite miserable. My second labor was incredibly fast ( less than 2 hours from first contraction to end), and while I had a feeling this one would be somewhat longer, none of us, midwives included, expected it to be my longest labor. IN fact, we were more worried during the pg that no one would have time to get here, but in the end, ebatrix gave everyone time to show up and even get settled in So the awesome thing is that this was my longest labor, definitely unexpected, but it was actually really nice- mostly because I wasn't i the hospital where they woldhave given me pitocin to try to *speed* things up...they did that in my first labor, and I don'tthink it sped things up, it just wore me out. With B, I was able to rest when teh contractions would lull...it was great ) I definitely overcame my phobia of having another long labor

[sunflwrmoonbeam]

Yup, this was my first (34 hours at home, 6 in the hospital, ended up in a section), but she was in a TERRIBLE position.

[TraciCortez]

Labor pains

With my 1st, he was 3 weeks early, and I was in labor a little over 72 hours.......no medication but patocine. Yeah I was freaked. But I thank my midwives in my mind all the time for hanging in there for me to just let nature do its thing and not rush me to a C-section.
Then came my stubborn 2nd. He was 5 days LATE and I was in labor for a whole whopping 3 hours......who would have thunk it!

[Chamomile Girl]

Yup, first kidling...I was in labor med-free for 30 hours and never got beyond 5cm. Its amazing that the hospital let me go that long since my water broke at the get-go. The last three hours were 'augmented' with pitocin...uhhhh, awful. Ended in a section.