If I Had A Third Baby...

[salado]

...what could my labor/delivery be like keeping this in mind...with my second dd I had progressed to 6cm before even feeling contractions!!! Could a third delivery go super fast?

[teachinmaof3]

No way to know until it happens.

Here's my experience:

My first two were pretty fast (5hrs and 3hrs). With both I thought I was having more bh than usual. When I got to the hosp w/ #1 I was 4cm and w/ #2 I was 5cm. LOL!

My third labor was my longest...8 hours. I was already dialated to 4cm when labor finally began for real.

[georgia]

My third was my longest, too! My closest friend just had her third, and hers was her quickest. My old college roommate's third was her fastest labor as well. Peggy Vincent writes in Babycatcher that third babies are wildcards. You never know what to expect! I firmly believe this

[plantmommy]

My m/w agrees about the wild card third.

My first and second were both 19 hours long, but the first started w/ cntrx 2-5 mins. apart, lasting a minute or more, and they just intensified over time. It sucked! No breaks. My second was mild cntrx, starting at 10-15 mins. apart, and when I hit transition and it started being difficul to manage, I was scared that I still had 19 hours to go! However, an hour and a half later, I had my babe.

With my third, I'd be hard put to it to say when labor really started, since I was having cntrx from about 10pm the night before, back labor, babe was posterior. I got babe to turn at around 7am, and took a nap for three hours. After that, it wasn't painful, cntrx were irregular, from 5-10 mins apart and short. During what I later ID'd as transition (which I wouldn't have said it was, at the time) cntrx were 2-5 mins. apart but lasting only 30 secs. or so, and not painful. The uncomfortable part was just the hip pressure, as he moved down. He was born at 4pm, so total about 16 hours, but active labor, when I was actually dilating, was much less. Also, since it didn't hurt, I could say labor was only the pushing part, which was about 20 mins.!