3 cm to anterior lip in 30 min. on a first-timer? (LONG post) - Page 2

[sostinkinhappy]

Originally Posted by holly6737

I want that kind of labor! (I say that now...)

But you won't want it when they have to insert gortex mesh into your pelvic region to keep the girlie bits in place! (Be sure to scroll down to see the total mesh implant placement). Fast labors come with a high price I have decided.

Back to the regularly scheduled thread.

[1stimestar]

Originally Posted by momileigh

These stories are insane!!!

I need me some wild birth stories...

(Well, now that I think of it, I have a couple... maybe not *quite* that wild, though!)

OK I take it back. I just realized what I asked for.

Hahah, I was going to say...

I have a few "exciting" birth stories but have never gotten a concussion. Oh my goodness Nashville. Did she realize what had happened to you after the baby was born?

[sapphire_chan]

Originally Posted by momileigh

But IME, anyone who is dilating uncommonly quickly has a lot of bloody show, and she had very, very little.

Totally ignorant question, but in "Pushing for First-Time Moms" there's this bit:
"Are you continuing to see "show"? Red show is a sign that the cervix is still dilating. Once dilation is complete the "show of blood" usually ceases while the head molding takes place. Then you can get another gush of blood from vaginal wall tears at the point that the head distends the perineum."
So, since the head was well-seated, would it have been stopping the bloody show you would normally expect during quick dilation?

[roadfamily6now]

THis is a wonderful thread! I am currently a student midwife and love reading all this.

My take on your story is that she was at 3cm but she was definitly acting like she was in transition.
Anyway, I have never felt a cervix besides my own so I have no experience there. Just guessing.

I have fast labors, in fact my last (#6) was just 1 hour long, born at home in my shower. I never knew what was coming! LOL
I went from 0 to baby is 1 hour, hit trasition about 40 minutes after first contraction. Did not push, called DH to come help me! (it was 2am) and just let my body do all the work. DH helped baby into the world.
Fast labors can be really awesome!

[SublimeBirthGirl]

Originally Posted by sostinkinhappy

But you won't want it when they have to insert gortex mesh into your pelvic region to keep the girlie bits in place! (Be sure to scroll down to see the total mesh implant placement). Fast labors come with a high price I have decided.

Back to the regularly scheduled thread.

My UC baby was born in less than 4 hours, start to finish. I don't have any pelvic floor issues.

[OHmidwife]

Here's a little trick if you're not sure if it's cervix you are feeling. Try to run your finger a little bit UNDER the cervix and lift up a little. If you can go under and lift, your are pretty sure to be inside the cervix. if not....maybe not. And yes, in my early days I've been fooled before too and thought someone was complete when the cervix was 1 cm, 100% eff., and veeerry posterior.

Also, bloody show can vary widely from one mom to the next. I've seen mom's who never had a speck of bleeding during their entire labors and some who had so much show that it tricked down their legs throughout labor. So you can't base anything on just that.

But I'd vote that your first exam was correct and she dilated fast. My record was a mom with a 10 minute labor. It was her second baby- first labor had been over 24 hours with a 3 hour second stage. This one -three contractions. Start to finish. First contraction- water breaks. Second contraction- head out. Third contraction- baby out. Ta da!

Said she didn't even have any cramps or twinges AT ALL before that first contraction. Needless to say, I didn't make it. Neither did the ambulance they called, even though she lived 5 mins from the hospital.
So, it can happen!

[mwherbs]

Originally Posted by OHmidwife

Here's a little trick if you're not sure if it's cervix you are feeling. Try to run your finger a little bit UNDER the cervix and lift up a little. If you can go under and lift, your are pretty sure to be inside the cervix. if not....maybe not. And yes, in my early days I've been fooled before too and thought someone was complete when the cervix was 1 cm, 100% eff., and veeerry posterior. !

I do something similar- move one finger across to the top of the front- if there is still cervix you will feel it is sort of tented and mom will say she can feel it- it if is bow/head it just moves smoothly around and past

[Robinna]

Not a BP - just wanted to say such a great thread, I'm loving these stories!

My 2nd birth was 75 minutes from "whatever I was walking around at" to pushing. about 8 contractions. You can bet I'm homebirthing #3...

[mendomidwife]

About checking the cervix - I do the same as above. I make sure I can get my finger under the rim of the cerivx and can feel it lift up.
I did a birth last week - 20 minutes from her first contraction waking her up to feeling pushy...waited for me to get there to push TWICE and the baby was out.
Makes all those 36 hour labor sitting births worth it....
Robinna - good for YOU. I did 7 homebirths for a women who was given a c-section for breech - and the baby was vertex at surgery..(they thought it might have changed on the way to the OR).

Carla

[hattelatte]

I went from 4 to pushing in 2 ctx and then pushed twice... but that was my second baby.
Just yesterday I felt a cervix that was a snug 3cm and very posterior on a laboring Mom. She was holding her baby in 35 minutes!

I once talked a primip (intending to drive 2 hours to birth with us at our center) through her less than 1 hour labor while she waited for her husband to get home! He showed up in time to catch.

[sevenkids]

After the birth when we had a minute, the midwife told me that when she first checked her, she thought she was at 4, but then she realized that it was the fontanelle she was feeling.

Maybe she was 4 when she first checked, and the cervix just melted away....

I've had the experience several times, with a ripe, buttery cervix that is 3 or 4 when I check, and while getting position on baby the cervix just disappears (dilates) and melts away under my fingers without doing anything stretchy to it.

Here's me to the woman;

"Okay, you're a nice 3 cms, no, you're 5....wait a minute, you're 6.....um, no, you're now 7, okay, do you want to get in the tub? Quickly?!?!"

Pretty amazing!

[flapjack]

I'm with sostinkinhappy- it was a fourth birth, not a first, but I was definitely at around a 4cm when my midwife checked when she arrived, and at that point I immediately stalled out due to living my worst nightmare (long story.) Eventually got my head together, dilated, broke waters, birthed baby in the next three ctx, but the cause? In my case, adrenaline. I was seriously, seriously scared by the implications of giving birth in that time and place (at home, with a kid having a lifethreatening asthma attack) I could imagine a "whoa, shouldn't have done that" second thought about castor oil also causing that kind of adrenaline, though.

[tinyshoes]

You've summed it up right here:

Originally Posted by doctorjen

In the years since I first started, I find that I've become pretty adept at figuring out where women are in labor. I'm not too hot at guessing dilation by looking at someone, but I can usually be pretty accurate about whether the baby is coming soon or what based just on how a woman is acting.

and especially

Originally Posted by doctorjen

The fact that my client was acting like someone about to birth a baby was much more accurate than the fact that her cervix was 3 cms dilated! I'm guessing it was the same for your client.

[CarolynnMarilynn]

I find that a woman at 3cm looking like she is about to birth needs lots of attention because, either, she *is* gonna birth any minute, or she has a really bad malposition and she might need some help getting that baby moved around to a better position before the baby gets too far wedged in that position. Y'know?

I had a mom this week go from 4cm/70% effaced to fully in just a few minutes. That baby would have flown out, except he had his arm wrapped around his chest and up by his ear. We wondered why this 4th time mom was pushing so hard and worried about shoulders. Well this chunky almost 9 pounder just had the arm wrapped around and a little nuchal hand by his ear that slowed him down. Her last labour was under an hour, too, beginning to end.

I've also had 2 multips stalled at 7cm for a loooooong time and the baby come out with my fingers immediately after an AROM. It was like, "ok, lovely clear fluid... and a baby! Hello little one!"

My all-time fasted client carried equipment around with her as she reported her last baby was born with only a couple of contractions. She carried a little kit around at work and around with her on the farm she lived on. One night I got a page from her with no message. I waited a bit while I tried to unsuccessfully contact her then headed out to her place. When I arrived, she was in the tub, placenta in a bowl, and the baby dressed and in a car seat watching her bathe. Her 5 other kids were asleep in her room. It was 4 am. She said she tried to get me there, but awoke with a contraction, paged me, then on the next contraction the baby slid out, with her not moving from the side of the bed! She said it was so fast that none of the kids, not even the ones bedsharing, woke up. Sure enough there was her barely mussed sheets, sleeping kids in the room, and a little tiny smear of blood on the side of the bed and a bit on the floor. She clamped the cord and cut it herself, then gave herself a bath, and dressed the baby, all in the 30 minutes it took me to get there. I had very little to offer her, other than cleaning that littlle bit of blood up, and playing with the kids. She was awesome and and inspiration. (She was also interesting because, even at about 110 lbs, she never had a fundal height above 26 (!) at term, and had 8lb+ babies! She hardly looked pregnant! I still can't figure out where she hid those babies from a pure physical perspective - she was stick-thin. She had such great faith in her body and was a lot of fun to care for.) When I think of truly precipitous birth, I think of her.

[lorijds]

Okay, I'm waiting for the day that I tell someone they are a tight one, but it is only because I have stuck my finger up their baby's butt. It'll happen to me, I'm sure. And then when I realize it, I'll faint and get my concussion. I can see it now. And it makes me giggle.

The only babe I caught (I'm a nurse) was a mom who had a history of precipting, and she came in, was a three (as she had been in the office earlier that week), had only had a few contractions that day but felt like something might be happening. Less than an hour later she is on the toilet, had ONE contraction, and out came baby head. I just happened to be closest and have gloves.

My own births differ in that my first was less than 6 hours from start to finish, and my second one was somewhere a long the lines of 30+ hours. The difference? Well, I felt the second one turn, so I suspect she was OP. AND I had a colpo with multiple biopsies 6 months before I conceived her. So I agree, anything that might cause cervical trauma could result in scar tissue that hangs out and doesn't give until it *really gives*. Because I hung out at 5 cm for 29.5 hours, and then I asked the doc to break my water, and 30 minutes later I was holding my baby. I have personally seen this with many moms, post cervical procedure.

I agree, watching how they act is as (or more!) important than the cervical dilation.

[redfern]

Originally Posted by dianna11

Not a birth professional either, but that is a very interesting thought! I had a LEEP procedure done about 4 years prior to DD's birth (first child). I'm not sure how fast I dilated, but the whole labour was under 4.5 hours, with 10 minutes of pushing. Nobody was expecting that!

I wonder how common this is?

I had a LEEP proceedure too, 12 years or so before DS was born. At 32 weeks I had a transvaginal ultrasound and discovered I had a short cervix - only about 2cm (3-4cm is normal I think). Four weeks later I had a great home birth. My water broke at 3pm (at work!), contractions started (they were intense but managable; I assumed I was in early labour). I called my midwife to come over at 11:30pm that night when things intensified and I *knew* I wanted her there (as per her instructions). When she arrived and checked me I was fully dilated. Guess I had been in active not early labour. I think I had fully dilated for some time because DS had one of those spongy hematoma things on his head where he had been resting on my dilated cervix (sorry if my conclusions are wrong, I'm not a birth professional, just trying to put 2+2 together). I didn't have the urge to push until I started consciously pushing, then it became uncontrollable. Anyway, he was born an hour or so after she arrived. I didn't push hard until our midwife said his heart rate was speeding up - it only took 2 100% pushes. The whole thing was fantastic. Yay for LEEP lol. Oh, he was born at 36 weeks and 2 days and had a few little signs of prematuraty. His latch was great though and we didn't have to take him in to the hospital to be checked or anything. I'm pregnant again and just pray I carry this LO to term.