if your had a long first labor...how was the 2nd?

[chellebee]

I heard from a rather experienced birth profession (totally anecdotal) that if a mama has a long first labor, the 2nd often come very quickly. Was this true for you, or if you are a birth professional, have you seen this as a pattern with clients?

Oh, is there a way to edit the post tile? Yay for grammar.

[milosmomma]

I can only speak for myself but.... Labor with DD was a little over 24 hrs ending with a C/S. Labor with DS was 6 hrs ending with a perfect, unmedicated VBAC.

[GreenMamma]

I've heard many OBs and midwives say that a woman can typically expect her 2nd labor to be 1/2 the length of her first.

[alegna]

I've heard the half thing as well. and and to the short....

1st 31 hours
2nd 17 hours

not short, but around half. heh.

-Angela

[Turquesa]

1st = 27 hrs
2nd = 10 hrs

[chellebee]

alegna--i guess there is a point where short becomes very relative!

I have heard/seen more consistently that pushing times are cut in half, but not necessarily labor lengths, for 2nd babies. It's the long labor primip portion of this that makes me wonder if the likelihood of a fast labor is a special case...or not.

[lookatreestar]

1st- over 48 hours 2 hours pushing (8.4lbs)
2nd- 1.5 hours 5 minutes pushing (10.4lbs)

funny thing is, i had heard the half thing, so i thought id have at least a day of getting ready and preparing my birth area and everything. wrong!! from the first contraction they gave no breaks in between. only until my labor changed did i realize i was in transition and still vehmently denying that the baby was coming.

my first also had a nuchal hand/arm.

eta weights and more

[To-Fu]

This is fascinating! Can't wait to read more responses.

[Unconventional1]

My first was posterior- 50 hour labour, 2.5 hours pushing.
My second was perfect position- 3 hour labour, 5 minutes pushing

Third... well I am still waiting, but hope I can update before I hit 42 weeks (Saturday). If you count prodromal labor, then 3 weeks so far.

[buckeye_bebe]

My second labor lasted longer than the first. The pushing stage and placenta expulsion took the same amount of time for both births though. Best of luck to ya!

[Momalea]

1st labor = 52 hours
2nd labor = 12 hours and a very easy 12 hours at that. The only hard part of my 2nd labor was the last hour of it. The pushing phase with both babies was pretty quick, even with my 2nd baby who was 10# 4oz.

[alegna]

Originally Posted by chellebee

alegna--i guess there is a point where short becomes very relative!

I have heard/seen more consistently that pushing times are cut in half, but not necessarily labor lengths, for 2nd babies. It's the long labor primip portion of this that makes me wonder if the likelihood of a fast labor is a special case...or not.

well... heh....

1st labor ~6hours pushing
2nd labor ~ 12 hours pushing.

1st baby- 8lbs 12oz 41 weeks 3 days
2nd baby- 8lbs 11oz 43 weeks 5 days

I would be nice if there were better predictors. I just keep hearing that the third is just unpredictable.

-Angela

[staceychev]

DD1 was posterior, 18 hours, with almost 2 hours of pushing. DD2 was 4 hours total, with about 15 minutes of pushing. Barely made it to the hospital with DD2--I showed up at 10 cm!!

Midwife for DD2 said, about halfway through my pregnancy "Well, 2nd labors are shorter, but not [i]that[/] much shorter. You had an 18 hour for your first. You're not going to go to a couple of hours for your second." Shouldn't have listened to that midwife! (Or, should have remembered to tell her that DD1 was posterior...)

[Mosaic]

DD1 (posterior, came out facing the wrong way)
36 hours of birthing waves (includes the time when waves were 10 min apart and easy-peasy)
26 hours of concentration needed
2.5 hrs pushing

DD2 (posterior at first but turned easily, probably because she was 37 weeks and small!):
13 hours of waves
4 hrs of concentration
15 min pushing
nearly born in the car

[chellebee]

Originally Posted by alegna

well... heh....

1st labor ~6hours pushing
2nd labor ~ 12 hours pushing.

1st baby- 8lbs 12oz 41 weeks 3 days
2nd baby- 8lbs 11oz 43 weeks 5 days

I would be nice if there were better predictors. I just keep hearing that the third is just unpredictable.

-Angela

Oh my goodness. No words!!!

I keep hearing that 3rds are unpredictable as well.

[CherryBomb]

I hear that about 3rds, too Though she was only unpredictable in how easy she was (vba2c!)

Dd1 was induced, 9 hours of labor then c/s for ftp and fetal distress.
Dd2 was a planned hbac gone bad, prenatal stroke, asynclitic, OP- I think I'd been in labor nearly 72 hours by the time I had the c/s for fetal distress and stalled labor.
Dd3, prodromal labor for a couple days, but once labor really got going, it was 11 hours total, 2 hours of that was pushing.

It would be nice to have a 6 hour labor with 1 hour or less of pushing

[Romana]

#1 = 21 hrs
#2 = 18 hrs

[Alyantavid]

I probably shouldn't even answer this, but both of my labors were 6 hours exactly. With my first, who was 6 lbs 3 oz, I pushed for 2 hours. With my second, who was 7 lbs 8 oz, I pushed for less than 10 minutes.

The docs were very concerned about me making it to the hospital (me, not so much) since my first had been fairly quick and they assumed by the fact that I was dilated to a 6 at 37 weeks, it would go really fast.

So you never really know.

[corysmilk]

#1 got to the hospital at 5 cm one hour later was pushing pushed for 2 hours. total labour = about 7 hours, but I didn't really "know" untill I arived at the hospital

#2 induced at 41 weeks, labour started at 430 am dd born at 935 am, 5 hours. only 3 pushes her birth was fantastic. no drugs and just way more understanding on my part, I was 8 cm when i got to the hospital, lol it didn't even hurt yet.

#3 had contractions for about 5 hours very mild, but then had to push, on way to hospital I was trying to get my body to stopp pushing, ds was born by cs 20m min after ariving at hospital due to featal stress and other things, he was tripple presenting, had both hands in the birth canal.
he would have been born in the car but he was stuck.

I hope this labour is a vbac. but we'll see! my children seem to have their own way to enter the world, all diffrent but so special.

[onlyboys]

My first went from Wednesday afternoon to Sunday early morning. I'd say that only about 4 hours were "painful." I pushed twice. I got to the hospital just before he was born. Looking back, I'd say that I labored the perfect amount of time and I really listened to my body--slept when I was tired (between contractions), ate and drank when I needed to, stayed mobile during daylight hours.

My 2nd was about 24 hours.
My 3rd was about 18 hours.
My 4th (homebirth) was 17 hours.

I just take a long time to labor, but all my babies were out in a couple of pushes.