Most of my labors have been short, under 4 hours. Usually I have an hour or two and then hit transition and baby comes. I just do whatever. Here is my post copied from a thread in Birth and Beyond. W/ my twins my water broke and I dutifully went to the hospital right away.
W/ my first HB, it was 24 hours. I took a bath, laid in bed, walked in my neighborhood, ate ice cream, watched tv, got in the birth pool and out, got on my hands and knees on my bed, and finally settled into the birth pool to catch baby.
W/ my fourth baby it was a much quicker labor. I sat on my bed w/ my 3y/o while dh slept, then I shooed her away, got into the birth tub and gave birth to the baby.
W/ my fifth I finished watching a movie and then got into the birth pool and gave birth an hour later.
W/ my sixth I got in the pool pretty early on of my under 4 hour labor. I nursed my toddler in the pool.
W/ my seventh I had a longer labor. I vacuumed, tidied up, ate a sandwich for lunch, laid down to rest, had a friend over for a few minutes, walked around my house, watched the Grammy's or something like that, got in and out of pool and finally settled in an hour before she was born.
W/ my eighth I called dh home from on his way into work, I boiled the scissors, washed out the birth pool, and filled it. I got in and dh arrived home and had baby under an hour later.
W/ my ninth dh were in bed in the morning, my water broke. I walked around the house, took a picture, drank Sprite, read the Sunday newspaper. Around 11am I got into the pool and she was born around an hour later.
W/ my tenth, I thought maybe it was it around 1am w/ painless contraxs. I laid in bed while dh slept. Around 5am I sent him to do things, I got up and boiled scissors, got out pool. I laid back down by myself and contraxs started hurting, did that for an hour. Then I got into the pool, directed dd taking pictures, baby born an hour plus later.
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