Length of Delivery for VBAC?

[etoilech]

I have a friend who's considering a VBAC for her next child and she wanted me to ask you this:

I wonder if anyone here knows if the delivery for someone who previously delivered with a cesarean and tries VBAC the second time around, if a "VBAC:er" usually also is in labor shorter amount of hours, like a mother who is delivering vaginally the second time around.

At the birth classes they always distinguished between first time around and second (or more) time around mothers. The "first timers" were warned that they would probably labor longer, while the "already experienced" were informed that their labor would probably be shorter than the first time around.

Any help would be appreciated!

Olivia

[stafl]

I asked my midwives this same question. I never went into labor with DD1, so my second delivery was considered as my first-time labor (if that makes sense). We expected things to go really slow, especially considering how slow things were going the first time before doc got impatient and... well, you can imagine what happened... anyway, since I didn't labor with my first before the cesarean, they thought my labor would be more like that of a first-timer.

In fact, my labor was really fast. I went from just barely starting to dilate to holding my baby in 3 hours. I only pushed for about 15 minutes. I think partly it was because of how comfortable I was with where I was laboring (ie, not in the hospital), because of how confident I was in my body's ability to give birth naturally, and partly because my mother's and my grandmother's labors were really fast, too.

[flminivanmama]

my 2nd labor was shorter - my first labor was 5 hours and ended with a c-section (twin a was crowning when they took me in but twin b was dbl footling breech and i was 29 weeks so they did a c)
2nd labor was 3 hours

[Colorful~Mama]

1st baby water broke, no contrax, pitocin - fetal heartrate dropped, distress, surgery
water leaked at 8am. she was born at 10pm

2nd baby was induced (longstory)... but same result. induction at 9am, she was born surgically at 6pm

my son was vba2c. i guess i was in labor all day but didn't know it? lol. at 8:30pm my water broke, i arrived at the hospital at 11pm (at 5cm) and birthed my son naturally at 12:54am

[Gemini]

Water broke at 4:30ish am, contractions started about 9am, hard labor at noonish, delivered at 4:54pm after pushing for a half an hour.

That's my VBAC.

[etoilech]

Do you guys mind if I relay your replies to her? She had a c/s because her son was breech and external version didn't work. There were no docs or midwives where she was that had experience delivering v-breech... so she never had any labour experience. She was so set on having a antural birth... if she has another little one she is likely to attempt a VBAC IMO.

Thanks!

OLivia

[Aurora]

I was told that I was basically a "first timer" too. My water broke at 2:33 a.m., contractions started about 3:00 a.m. and ds was born at 6:04 a.m. What stafl said about thinking it went fast in part because she was comfortable with where she was and believed in herself rings true for me as well.

[ilovebeingamom]

My mw's also considered my VBAC as a first labor, since my ds was also breech and we had a c/s with no labor. My VBAC took eight hours. Good luck!

[thepeach80]

I was induced w/ AJ and it was 9.5 hrs from pit to pushing (and another 3 to c/s). My VBAC was 12 hrs start to finish w/ about 3 hours of hard, hard labor.

[nmccarroll]

I read somewhere (sorry, I can't remember where) that if you got to 5cm before going to surgery your next labor will be more like that of a mom with a prior vaginal birth. My mw agreed with that info.

I was in very early labor when my first c-sec was done (basically, I'd already been scared into it and had a date scheduled, but went into labor), so with #2 I was still considered a first-timer. I made it to 5cm before c-sec for FTP, and am supposedly not a first-timer with this one.

We'll see, I guess!

Nikki

[KiwiZ]

My understanding is that the length of the VBAC has a lot to do with how far you dilated with the previous birth that ended in c-section. For example if you never got past 4-5 cm dilated then most likely the VBAC will be more like a first labor. More than that, the cervix is "experienced" and dilates quicker, like a 2nd labor.

My 1st labor was 10 hours long and I got to 6-7 cm dilated before my c-section. My 2nd labor was 5 hours long with 20 minutes of pushing.

[loved]

I think there are a lot of factors that play into the length of labor for a VBAC. The fact that maybe she went into the hospital too early with her first, the fact that the environment in the hospital itself is disruptive to labor, being scared, worried, or anxious, disrespectful nurses or unsupportive practitioners, all of those things may have played a part in the cesarean.

And so by choosing to be more informed the next time and having a different plan in place, often means the labor will progress naturally. I have known many mama's who chose a homebirth the second time around and thier un-interefered with labors just move right along.

Of course, I have also known many VBAC mama's to have longer labors - and often that is because they were rushed into an uneccesary cesarean and that's just how thier bodies do it.

My advice is always the same: privacy, darkness, love, trust/security. These are what let labor to unfold naturally. "Do not disturb the mother" as Michel Odent says over and over.

[etoilech]

Ah-ha, you see she has never been in labor. She had a c/s delivery b/c of the breech position of her baby. So technically she could be considered a first timer?

Thanks again!

Olivia

[loved]

Yep!

[3 little birds]

I was also considered a first timer because I never went into labor with my twins before the section.

For my son's home waterbirth, I was in serious labor for less than three hours, dilating from 3cm to "hello, baby" in one hour. I attribute this to being left alone and having the freedom to get in any position I felt like. I definately feel like it would have taken much longer if I was forced to stay on my back, or be hooked up to a fetal monitor.

[melixxa]

I was in labor for 42 hours (37 from water breaking to c-section) and dilated to 9 with the help of pitocin before finally having the section. I know that my labor got all screwy after the transport (which happened around the 10-11 hour mark). The frantic half an hour in the car, the rush and the panic, the checking into the hospital and the having to deal with an OB I immediately took a dislike to (a man - haven't had a male OBGYN for years - and the first thing he did of course was a vaginal exam - the first I'd had during the whole pregnancy!).

Now I have this terrible horror of transport, more even than of the hospital per se. I feel like, if I can just be allowed to stay at home in my space, it will be OK.

But I'm also scared of another long labor. The first 24 hours with pain medication despite the transport and the pit and being in the hospital ... were not easy and NOT how I imagined my labor as going. I was simply too worn down to deal. In my weak moments I really wonder if I can endure labor, and I doubt my choices .... It's a little comforting (even if it's just anecdotal evidence for the most part) that this next labor should be considered a second labor and HOPEFULLY will be shorter (and sweeter)!

[JayGee]

For my c-birth it was 40 hours from induction to surgical delivery. I never dialated past 3cm.

For my VBAC, it was 30 hours from first contraction to delivery. Hard labor lasted about 12 hours.

[Electra375]

My first labor was completely on Pitocin and the total time was much longer than the actual labor time. My total contraction time from the time Pit took effect until I was pushing was 9 hours, followed by 3 hours of pushing -- then a c/s.

My second was a scheduled c/s, no labor.

My third was a planned homebirth (hba2c). From start of noticable contractions to the pushing phase was 12 hours and the pushing phase was 2 hours.

I was told that my labor might be as long as it was on the pitocin and that the pushing phase would be just as long as a first time mother since I did not have a proven birth canal.

I am hoping for a quicker pushing phase next time, the labor wasn't so bad at the med to slow and steady rate I was in.

[buddhasmomma]

I have only had a csec, no vbac yet.

But my midwife said that women who didn't labor with their csec would be more like a first timer. And that if you dialated to say a 5, then had a csec, that sometimes the body gets to 5 with the vbac and stops or stalls there. But usually women who dialated fully with their csec, should have a vbac like a second vb.

Just my two cents, well really my midwife's two cents. Hope this helps.

[KariM]

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