How do you determine length of labor?

[Vespertina]

I know this has been asked awhile back, but I'm curious what others count as labor. Start of prodromal labor, early or active labor? From first contraction or when contractions become regular and closer together?

[rparker]

I counted from the first contraction that I actually noticed... but they became regular almost immediately after that and were 5 minutes apart a few hours later. My total labor was 6 hours.

[Asparagus78]

I counted as soon as ctx became regular, meaning no interruption lasting longer than the previous one. With DS1, labor was about 8 hours; with DS2 it was 30 hours. With both I had ctx for weeks, but they weren't regular. With DS2, they lasted about 2-3 hours every 3 minutes for days before they actually progressed to real labor.

[limette]

I had prodromal labor the week prior to giving birth last time. I count from when I'm sure I'm in labor. With both labors I started having sporadic contractions around 5am. They are all over the place and really mild until about 8am at which point they become a little bit more regular and obvious. So I count from 8am. In both, baby was out shortly after 5pm. With the first it was via c-section shortly after hitting 10cm and with the second baby was born after 5 after 2 hours of pushing, so I hit 10cm around 3.

So both were 9 hours.

[Right of Passage]

I counted as soon as I noticed contractions, they weren't regular but the way they felt let me know they were real. A gentle pulling on my lower uterine segment followed by a tighten downward sensation in my upper uterine segment. My uterus would pull on my cervix to open and thin it then push the baby down while the cervix opening fadeded.

[lifeguard]

I was induced with cervical gel but I count my labour as starting when I got my first contractions - an hour after the gel was inserted. In all my labour was 11 hours.

[Plummeting]

I guess I counted both of mine from the time I had the first real contraction that I actually noticed for its intensity. My water broke first with both of my labors. With the first one I didn't feel any contractions at all for 7 hours, but that very first one was definitely noticeable. With my second I felt a few contractions about 30ish minutes later, but they were so mild I wouldn't have noticed them if I hadn't been looking for them. The first "real" one that I noticed because of its intensity was maybe 30 minutes after those started.

[snoopy5386]

I always give 2 answers - my water broke at 9am and baby was born at 1 am, BUT I didn't have any contractions until 7 pm. So depending on what you think qualifies the "start" of labor I either had a 16 hour labor or a 6 hour labor. I'm sure as DD gets older I'll say 16 hours when she is getting on my nerves

[sanguine_speed]

I counted my labor as "active labor", meaning contractions that I could not talk through, that were regular, consistent and building in intensity.
I had several days of prodromal labor with 2 of my labors, but I don't count those as true labor.
I sometimes hear women say they were in labor for "days" when what they mean is that they had prodromal labor or they had a lot of contractions leading up to active labor.

[To-Fu]

I also started counting from when they became regular. My total labor from that point on was 9 hours.

[Kidzaplenty]

I start counting the moment I have any "real" contraction that I know is leading toward labor.

[MiaMama]

I don't know how to count either.

I had a contraction that felt different than the ones I had been having and just knew I was in labor around midnight. I stayed in bed, and contractions woke me up all night, but I didn't look at the clock and I think they were irregular.

I checked my own cervix, and started noticing cervical change at 7:30 am.

I got to my MWs house/clinic at 12 noon.

I was able to walk and talk (and smile and sing) during contractions until about 1:45pm. The contractions had been 7 min apart and not really increasing in intensity since I had gotten out of bed at 7:30am. Then, at 2pm, I got a contraction that seemed like it just didn't end.

DD was born at 2:34pm. The MWs broke her water AFTER her whole head was out.

Depending on what criteria you use, I was in labor for 14.5 hours from the time I just *knew*, 7 hours from noticable cervical change, 2.5 hours from arriving at the providers, and 45 min from when I *would* have left for the hospital if that was what I was planning. (And I doubt that my husband could have got me in the car at that point LOL. It went from gentle to crazy and then pushing in a very short period of time)

[wbg]

I count from the first "maybe" that actually leads into active labour. But my labours were all pretty quick so it was kinda obvious. My BH were never anything other than BH. My labours got going pretty soon after that first "maybe" contrax. So I always count from maybe to baby!

[WeasleyMum]

I counted mine from the first contraction, which was around 5am, making my labor around 15 hours. I didn't have any BH contractions/ prodomal labor, so it was a pretty clear "holy heck THAT WAS A CONTRACTION" moment.

[Belle]

nak
for my first I had prodromal labor for two weeks before baby was born. Then I woke up to BOOM two minutes contractions. 11 hours from the start of 2 min contrx.

For dd2 I again had two weeks prodromal labor. Water broke and prodromal contrx stopped. Labor started 36 hours after water broke. Again, BOOM 2 minute contrx. Less than four hours this time.

[Kelly1101]

I always say 8-10 hours for mine, because the water broke, but I didn't start contracting for another 2 hours.

[staceychev]

I wouldn't count prodromal, since I had it for weeks before I went into active labor this time. For this one, I counted when they were real contractions that I was sure were leading to labor. I know there's a lot of complaint about the "you'll know when you're in labor" theory, but for me, I really did, both times.

Anyway, it was just under 18 hours for DD1 (no BH or prodromal felt), and four hours for DD2 (lots of BH and prodromal).

[Romana]

I don't count prodromal labor - had weeks of it with #2.

As soon as "real" labor starts for me, the contractions are painful and regular (although with #2 they were 7 min apart instead of 2-3 min apart). I count the start of labor as the start of regular, painful contractions that increase in intensity until a baby arrives.

By that measure, my first was 21 hours and my second was 18 hours. Shaving off the time by any other measure would seem very arbitrary to me, since the onset of real labor is very apparent (at least in retrospect).

[Vespertina]

Originally Posted by sanguine_speed

I counted my labor as "active labor", meaning contractions that I could not talk through, that were regular, consistent and building in intensity.
I had several days of prodromal labor with 2 of my labors, but I don't count those as true labor.
I sometimes hear women say they were in labor for "days" when what they mean is that they had prodromal labor or they had a lot of contractions leading up to active labor.

Same here. I don't start labor until 5+ cm so I bypass early labor and active labor is actually transition for me.

My labor with my last baby was 15 minutes. I only recall 10 contractions, 5 immediately preceding his birth. Those were intense due to the pressure. There was no labor. It was a birth without a labor, lol.