Possible to prolong labor?

[RoxyJas]

I know thats exactly opposite of what most people wish for LOL. We have no VBAC providers in our area. I drove 3 hours, 2 years ago to have a successful 5 hour drug free hospital VBAC. This time I cannot get homebirth off my mind. I have called and googled every single homebirth midwife within 3 hours of me and none of them can take me due to their insurance. :(  I can homebirth at my sister's house 3 hours away where I have a ton of midwives to choose from. I am so worried I will not make it considering the drive and my last labor being only 5 hours. I know not all labors are the same length, but it does seem they tend to become shorter. Are there any ways to make labor take a little longer or is nature unstoppable? :)  Thanks!

Oh, wanted to add, staying over there is just not do-able. I have had my babies at 36 weeks, 37weeks and just over 41 weeks so I have no idea when this little one will choose to arrive and I have a daughter in school.

[lovebeingamomma]

I think it's a reasonable risk to take, to drive there, and for some reason if you feel like transition hits you hard and you need to push in the car, just stop at the nearest hospital if you don't want to deliver in the car.  My first labor was 3 hours so I was surprised that my next one was 8.  It's probably unlikely you would have a less than a 3 hour labor, although certainly possible, but it's a risk that I personally would be willing to take.  But of course it's your comfort level that matters not mine!  As far as lengthening labor, not much you can do there, especially considering being in car ride for 3 hours will probably only speed up your labor ;)  The only thing I would say is lying down in the car vs. being upright may help a little bit, but probably not matter too much.  Good luck!

[Sunflower223]

I don't really know a good way of prolonging labor necessarily.  I do think that three hours is probably OK if you leave as soon as you start to feel that you are in labor.  It wouldn't be any different than your last experience, right?  You could call sis ahead of time and have her set everything up. As pp said if it gets too intense you always have the hospital option.  It's pretty common around my area for mw's to travel a 2-3 hours to get to clients or for clients to travel 2-3 hours to get to mw.

[carrierwright]

Wow. I think I'd just hop in the car at the first sign of labor and let nature take its course. In general babies who come so fast that there's no time to get to the hospital are nice uncomplicated labors, so just going ahead w/a primer on emergency birth w/your partner is probably a great idea to cover the just in case basics :)