a question about super fast births... - Page 2

[savithny]

Mine weren't *super* fast, but...

They were very easy until the very end, both times.

#1 - I was 5cms at 9am when the midwife checked me based on my oddly rhthmic backache. I felt nothing in my belly, no cx at all, though I was having them. Jsut regular stabs in my lower back. And that is all I had, plus some menstrual type cramps, until transition. They never got unmanageable, they never got to the "oh, 3 minutes apart lasting a minute each time." Not until my water broke and I was pushing. The whole active phase of labor from realizing it was serious to delivery was maybe 3-4 hours?

With #2, even though she wasn't posterior, all I felt was waves of backache again. It didn't get intense until transition again, and this time I was in the tub and didn't even recognize transition (?!) until my water broke and (I think) triggered a fetal ejection reflex - she crowned *instantly* and came with only two more pushes.

For me, I think I was in early labor for longer, but my early labor was so mild that it really wasnt' recognizable. But both times I went from 6cm-birth *very* quickly, once I felt like I was settled and ready to birth. And it wasn't particularly intense (okay, pushing was with #1, but not in a painful way at all).

[Kidzaplenty]

For my shortest labor, 1 hour 15 minutes, I was NOT in labor beforehand. I had been expecting it to start any time, and really watching for it, so I would have known when it started. I had one REAL strong contraction and that got the ball rolling. Just over an hour later I had a baby in my arms.

My longest was my first, but even that, although I count it as 20 hours, was not that long. I had PROM but labor did not start for hours. 20 hours later my daughter was born.

For my other births, they were 4 hrs, 6 hrs, 5.5 hrs, 3.5, hrs, and 5.5 hrs. No prelabor there either.

[savannah smiles]

Originally Posted by kerikadi

Her lungs being filled with fluid has nothing to do with it being a fast birth. All my babies were pushed out in less than 10 minutes and my last labor was 45 minutes from beginning to end and she was born in the bathtub and none of my children have been suctioned.
What usually happens is that when a baby is born in a hospital they stimulate the baby, clamp the cord immediately and hold it on it's back and the baby inhales fluid at that time. During a homebirth the baby is put on the Mamas chest right away and any fluid drains naturally. There isn't a lot of stimulation to make the baby cry and the cord is left attached longer so there is no need for the baby to inhale deeply and it is MUCH less likely baby will have fluid.

Keri

That's very interesting. I had assumed the fluid was due to her not getting squeezed very long since she came out so quickly. Hmmm.

[Katana]

My ds's labor was long, only because he was big, and stuck, and I was scared.

Both my dd's labors were about an hour and a half, from the first contraction to pushing them out.

I didn't have labor before hand, and never even had braxton hicks that I felt with dd1. With dd2, I had a few days of braxton hicks, but they could have been brushed off as nothing. When the real thing started, it was, bam, labor, hard and crazy.

Since having ds, I've only had to dialate to 6 or 7 centimeters to push out both the girls. He was over 10 pounds, but I've always thought any one smaller than he was would just pop out. And so far, that's been true.

[Undercover Hippie]

For me I think my body just dilates quickly once it gets to a certain point. With DS I was induced when I was 1 cm and not effaced at all. ( : ) It took about 12 hours before my cervix was 3 cm and 75% effaced. I think if I hadn't been induced my body would have gotten to that point naturally and then started labor. Anyway, from there to birth was only 5 hours and it was very intense. With my second I had a completely natural labor and birth. I was about 2-3 cm dilated for a month before labor started. Then one night a strong contraction woke me up, ctx were 3 min apart from the start, and DD was born 3 hours and 45 min later. I don't think I had dilated in my sleep, not much anyway, because when I woke up I was very chatty like women in early labor are and I didn't see any sign of cervical change (bloody show) for about half an hour.

It seems to be genetic, as my mom, aunt, and grandma all had fast labors too (5 hours or less for all babies). Pelvic shape might have something to do with it--I have a feeling mine is big enough to drive a mac truck through! My babies both were in good anterior positions too, I'm sure that helped.