How long was your labor? « Back to Group Discussions

[WindyCityMom]

Feel free to explain, lol.  It's not always so clear cut!

My labor was an hour long.  

Woke up to contractions at 3:30am, birthed at 4:34.

I took castor oil at 10:30 pm, 6.5 hours before birth.  Had some spotty ctx around midnight I think, but went to sleep.  They were my usual contractions.  Woke up in labor.

Words to describe it: Brutal, intense, painful.

[activealli]

36 hours long. They were about 7 minutes apart for 24 hours and fairly strong. I had to stop and focus through most of these and definitely could not sleep through them. 8 hours of active labor about 2-4 minutes apart. 50 minutes of pushing. It was long and I kept getting scared things would space out again and that I couldnt go through another night of spacey contractions and no sleep after spending the 2 days before sick and up taking care of a sick kid... so I had started out exhausted. The contractions were strong but managable until transition, which lasted about an hour or so. Pushing was hard because they knew I couldnt last much longer and wanted me to try and push really quick. Her heart rate kept escalating so they were worried about her getting stressed with such a long labor.

Couldnt believe I lasted that long! I was soo tired after she was born I could barely stay conscious, but not until after I screamed "I did it! I did it! I did it! There is a baby on me!" first.

[Ava's Mama]

Mine was 5 hours, i would say painful contractions began at 12:00am and I gave birth at 1:29.  I would call my labor intense as well.  With DD my labor was 6 hours and it was intense but mostly because I was being told not to push and I wanted to.  this time DS's shoulder got stuck and I literally wanted to run away.  My body was pushing involuntarily, but I didn't want to do it! INTENSE!

[Worldshakerz]

I had been having that lovely "prodromal labor" for a few weeks. It hadn't dilated me or anything like that. Midwife insisted I "wouldn't have the baby this week". Three days later i had a 1 1/2 hour labor! It was intense and painful. I started shaking half way through the labor, got really hot and my heart was beating very quickly, and was still physically shaking the next day (although not as much as during the actual labor). I don't believe the endorphins had time to kick in, and the pushing stage was so quick also so I had no natural numbing effect down there (thankfully didn't need stitches). 

[MadiMamacita]

10 hours from water breaking to birth.
8.5 from contractions starting to birth
dilated to a 5 about 5 hours before birth
maybe 3 hours from painful contractions starting to birth.

[MIrandaM]

Had about three days of increasing long but essentially painless BH ctx before I went into labor.

Half jokingly timed first ctx at 11:38am, thought I was just indulging myself Realized I was in labor about 2pm. Got to birthing center around 4, had baby at 7:06.

I would say 7.5 hours grand total, 4-5 hours active labor but most of that was not so pleasant but completely manageable. Of the 4-5 hours only 2 were really intense and downright agonizing, that awful two hours began at 9cm and lasted until the baby had his head fully birthed - so I guess it was transition that was so tough for me. I'm guessing about 30 minutes of pushing, maybe 8-10 contractions. Resting phase - if you can call it that - consisted of three widely spaced contractions, about 3-5 minutes between them and I really did fall asleep between, i was even drooling.

[Monkey Keeper]

Night 1: 6 hours of early labor (for me, contrax 3-6min apart lasting 1min, must stop and focus)

Night 2: 6 hours of early labor strong enough to head to L&D (got shaky/nauseated)

Night 3: 3 hours of contractions at home, didn't time them but strong and consistent; admitted to L&D at 5cm, baby born 2 hours later

So about 17 hours total. But "active labor" was about 3 hours with pushing lasting about 10 minutes, if that? I pushed once and my bag of waters released, pushed realllllllly hard and birthed her head, pushed again out to her chest, then a final push for everything else.

Edited by Monkey Keeper - 9/27/12 at 6:09pm

[MamanFrancaise]

1 hour 7 minutes.

Water broke, then real contractions started. Before that, I was having mild contractions in the afternoon that were 8-20 minutes apart.

It was intense, painful and overwhelming for sure. 

[domermommy]

Probably around 5 hours. I was getting up at night to go to the bathroom, but I didn't think they were real contractions until about 5:45am. DS was born at 10:20am. It was so different from my first birth, and definitely overwhelming, but shockingly enough I didn't end up with any tears this time around, despite a much faster labor and only 20 minutes of pushing. It's still too real though to think about doing this again anytime soon :)

[hyde]

No idea. My midwife and I differ in how we think about this, but I still don't know where to call it.

Timeable, increasingly painful contractions from 2am until about 8:30pm Sunday, when they spaced way out again. They continued throughout the night but the spacing/intensity chilled out enough to let me sleep. Monday morning they were lighter; around 10:30 we DTD and went for a walk and they picked up again enough to make the car ride to the chiropractor pretty hairy. By 1-2pm they had clearly shifted into something more than what I'd experienced to that point. ~4pm I had a contraction that I had to get on all fours and vocalize to get through, and vomited and shook when it was over. Called midwife, she got here at 6pm and I was 9cm, went to 10 as she examined me, had my baby at 7:33pm. 

In all of this, my contractions never became regular. My midwife considers Sunday a day of prelabor, but I don't know if that's entirely true- I had bloody show several times and believe there were cervical changes happening. They very obviously were on Monday.. I'd been sending her updates throughout the afternoon, but until I called her and she heard in my voice that it was on, she was waiting for me to get to a 5-1-1 pattern which was never going to happen. I am apparently one of those that dilates with irregular contractions.

So anyway- anywhere from about 41 hours to.. 6 or 7, lol. (Love this thread, btw.)

[crystal_buffaloe]

I had about 2 hours of back pain that came in waves on Thursday night.

I think 5.5 hours of contractions total Friday night/ early Saturday morning. Finally in the last hour and a half they got regular, and just the last hour was really difficult

[MissE]

From the first painful contraction until birth it was only 4 hrs and i thought it would hurt a lot more than it actually did.

[teegan db]

Contractions started around 8 am on Monday, became regular (4 minutes apart) by 10 am. Gradually increased in intensity and hardly every got more than 5 minutes apart, though I could still doze off between some of them. By 8 am, I could hardly focus in between them. At 11 am, my water broke, and by noon they were crazy painful (I was hollering through them). I started feeling pushy around 1:30 and baby arrived at 3:11 pm. 

[Monkey Keeper]

Originally Posted by hyde 
In all of this, my contractions never became regular. My midwife considers Sunday a day of prelabor, but I don't know if that's entirely true- I had bloody show several times and believe there were cervical changes happening. They very obviously were on Monday.. I'd been sending her updates throughout the afternoon, but until I called her and she heard in my voice that it was on, she was waiting for me to get to a 5-1-1 pattern which was never going to happen. I am apparently one of those that dilates with irregular contractions.

And I'm the opposite--regular, strong, closely spaced contractions that don't do much for a a really long time :)  I too love this thread because it shows that labor is unique for each woman and each birth!!

[Lucy Alden]

16 hours from first twinge to last push. No braxton hicks or pre-labor. My labors are slow and steady with no warning in the days before.

[nukuspot]

2.5 hours of active labor (estimate, could be less)

4 minutes of pushing

no latent or early labor, just woke up in active labor.  It was intense and very painful!  Contractions from 3 minutes apart to 3 seconds apart for the whole time.

Exact opposite labor from DD1 (50 hours)

Zero bloody show?!

SROM with birth of head

I can't remember anything else, it was such a blur...

[Carlin]

Increasingly uncomfortable contractions from 5 AM  to 9:30 PM staying around 10 min apart, so I guess 14 1/2 hours early labour.

Active labour was about 1:45 including about 30 min pushing?

Water broke about 5 min prior to crowning.

[2sweetsparrows]

I think I was in labor for 24 hours but maybe 12- I was induced at 39 weeks- they told me the cervadil which softens your cervix would be gentle, and I would sleep through it- well they put it in at 7pm and by midnight I was having contractions- not rhythmic but erratic double peakers that were 30 seconds apart- this lasted until 10am, and I was only dilated 1.5cm- all that work for nothing- AHHHHH- then when they started petocin things started moving more quickly- my baby boy was born at 11:19pm that night.  LOVE!!

[BRC_MacKenzie]

~45 minutes

I had been having mild contractions for a few weeks but the day or two previous they had stopped, even when DH and I took a hike earlier that day I only had one or two tiny ones. 

First contractions a little after 10pm was very intense. Next contractions and I was in transition - shaking and doubting myself. 10:50pm and 3-4 pushing contractions and he was out. 

It was brutal, overwhelming and a bit scary (midwife wasn't there yet) but also liberating because I never felt the urge to push with DD and that was frustrating so in hindsight I loved how primal my body became and how it just took over for me this time. 

[Princessjules]

2 hours including about 18 minutes of pushing (8 min to fully dilate and get baby past cervical lip, 10 min to birth baby)

I was dilated to 8cm w/ hardly any ctx when the MW broke my water and the they just hit lol crazy but I will take it! I'm just so happy that I can now post in this thread!!