How long can we safely labor

[NCjen]

My midwife is slightly medicallly minded and told me she would not let me go as long as I did last time(60 hrs with broken water) but we would give it the old college try. At what point do you give up? I am very determined and sometimes I am afraid I will put myself in harm just to acheive this vbac. Anyone have some encouraging LONG labor stories for me so I know it can be done?

[JanetF]

It's not actually up to her to make that decision. According the the best practice guidelines in the UK, a woman with ROM can quite safely go at least 96 hours before labour begins, and those guidelines are used in hospitals not by hippy home birthers ;) Provided you and the baby are well, what's the deal with a time limit??? A woman in my birth group had about 60 hours of prodromal labour, 4-5 hours strong labour and then a beautiful HBAC. Time isn't important, how you feel and how your baby is are the important things. If she's going to go all clockwatchy on you, don't call her till you feel pushy then she can time all she likes and it won't go anywhere near that length. If you can't dump her altogether and get a MW that practices client focussed, evidence based care, that is ;) If you are truly concerned about your UR risk going up, learn the signs, get your supporters to memorise them, leave for the hospy immediately something isn't right. That's a WORST case scenario but having a plan isn't bad. Remember, length in and of itself, in labour, is not innately bad. Not at all!
:hug

[Stayathomemommy]

also what others dont know cant hurt.........meaning, dont call your midwife rightway. i plan on calling once i am in serious labor but i am also not anticipating a long labor.

[momnmidwife]

I am very determined and sometimes I am afraid I will put myself in harm just to acheive this vbac.

Don't be afraid of what you instinctively feel is best for you and this baby. You’re just trying to protect your child from any unnecessary and potentially harmful interventions. Don't just focus on having the VBAC...remember all the reasons why you wanted to have one in the first place.

You can do it!

[KKmama]

I had a 40 hour labor with my VBAC....

Will someone please correct me if I'm wrong--it's my assumption that the later contractions (say when you're going from 7-10 cm) are stronger than the earlier ones and therefore you're more likely to have a "problem" (UR) later in labor (when you're more likely to be watched closely by your caregiver anyway, because you're closer to pushing)... it's not a matter of how many hours you've gone, especially if you're just dilating very slowly. (Sorry if that made no sense. :wink )

[OnTheBrink]

I had a 63 hour labor with my VBAC. It was not prodromal labor. It was a lack of communication between my uterus and my cervix, as a result of the cesarean birth. I was in serious hard labor for at least the last 24 hours. The entire time, though, my MW said that I was fine and baby and I were perfectly healthy - just tired. She would have "let" me go as long as I wanted - but it wasn't her choice anyway. After 54 hours, I was still at 1 cm and asked to transfer to the hospital for a cesarean. We got there and the hospital refused the cesarean and the epidural I requested because they said that baby and I were fine and they were not going to agree to elective surgery just because I was tired. I was so mad at them then, but I am so grateful now!

Anyway, I was manually dilated from 1 to 4 cm (OUCH!!!), labored for 9 more hours, pushed for 2 and John was born.

It was a really rough labor, but all went well!

[kittymac]

Nancy...63 hours! :bow You're awesome!

I agree with an AP..if you are worried about her time constraints, I would just wait to call her till things started to get going. As long as you and baby are fine, I don't see why there has to be a time limit.

[OnTheBrink]

Nancy...63 hours! :bow You're awesome!

Thanks! But, you know... Lots of people react that way and applaud me. But I tell them that it's not like I had a choice. My body was doing its thing and I was just going along. The only choice I made was for an epidural and cesarean and it was denied!