5.5 hours, 2.5 hours, 2 hours, and 2.5 hours. Please don't throw things at me.
In truth, fast labors are not always all they are cracked up to be. My first three were like freight trains (I didn't even experience early labor with the first and third, and got a small glimpse of it with the second). By the time I was holding them, my brain was trying to catch up with my body and trying to figure out what the heck just happened. Contractions were right on top of each other, and it was really intense.
I used Hypnobabies with my fourth, and it made a huge, huge difference. It was the same length as my second labor, but I was so relaxed through my contractions, I didn't even believe I was in active labor until I was in transition. DS3 was born about twenty minutes later.
#1 just under 5 hrs
#2 just under 8 hrs
#3 just under 2 hrs
I hope that this is more of a 5 hour birthing. While I have the tools to let go, allowing my body to do its job, the longer births are so much nicer! I have never finished the Hypnobabies course, but hope to this time.
1st - 22 hours (hospital birth with ob/gyn. It was my worst birth)
2nd - 3 hours (hospital birth with another ob/gyn as he was only 35 weeks and my midwife wasn't comfortable delivering him at home)
3rd - 55 mins (home water birth)
DS1- 23 hours, pitocin involved, cesarean
DS2- 3 hours, quick painful vbac
DS3- I say 4 hours, but I only have 40 minutes of active labor
DS4- 20 hours, transition lasted about 2.5 hours
1st - 22 hours (hospital birth with ob/gyn. It was my worst birth)
2nd - 3 hours (hospital birth with another ob/gyn as he was only 35 weeks and my midwife wasn't comfortable delivering him at home)
3rd - 55 mins (home water birth)
My first - 24h. 45min home water birth. Baby spun ~350 degrees to get from ROA to LOA
2nd - 2.5 hours. Maybe 1h 45 really active labor. 8 mins pushing
3rd - 6 hours very very mild labor (I slept through a lot) w/ very short transition & less than 15 minutes pushing.
I didn't mind the 2.5 hour labor in the slightest. Totally hoping for that again. All I want is enough time to get the birth pool set up. All were home water births. Different homes but the same birth pool <3
# 1 - 3 hrs maybe (water broke 1st, so as soon as I got to the hospital he was born) I was definitely fully dilated and ready to push in the car.
#2 - Water broke early, then hospital stopped labor to administer steroids and antibiotics. Then I was induced and labor lasted about 4 hrs.
# 3 - 4 - 5 hrs I did not keep good track because this was my first experience of early labor, once I was at the hospital he was born in under an hour.
I am hoping for a similar experience to # 3's birth this time. It was nice to know what was happening to me! Also we live farther away from the hospital now so I need time to get there. I have so much respect for moms who have long labors. It must be so hard to keep going! Also I learned from my second birth that the longer you are in the hospital the more they end up wanting to do to you!
Both of my previous births were nearly the same, down to the day: About 8.5 hours and 9 days (plus a few hours) late! I can't imagine it would all happen again a THIRD time, would it?
My second was born on Thanksgiving morning. We had signed up to bring mashed potatoes to dinner; if we had a baby that day (or before), it would be easy for someone else to take over, and if I was still pg, it would be something easy to make while very pg (I was already past my EDD).
When I woke DH up and said that I thought I was in labor, he flew out of bed and started busying himself getting the tub ready. I said, "We should start boiling the potatoes." He laughed and said, "No, you're crazy. You're going to have a baby in a few hours!" DS2 was born 2.5 hours later!
I kept thinking maybe my second would be faster than my first, especially since 8.5 hours is considered to be on the shorter side of the spectrum for firsts, but nope. I wonder how it will be this time!
First (39 weeks) was right at 5 hours.
Second (36+4) was 2.5 hours. I'd had several hours of light contractions but thought they were my usual Braxton hicks ones that I'd had since 16 weeks. They didn't hurt, just annoying.
Hoping for a quick third!
I had 3 days of prodromal labor in the weeks leading up, then 5 hours of very intense labor on his birthday. He was born 2 hours before his due date. I panicked when I went into labor because I was expecting the easy early labor first and it never happened. I didn't know it was so intense because it was going to be short, so I was freaking out that I was going to have 12+ hours of this. I'm sure some of that worry contributed to the pain I had. I had a birth center birth last time and there were 7 other people in the room (my choice but wouldn't do it again).
This time I'm planning a very private home birth with just my husband and maybe someone to be with my son. I'm expecting it to go very quickly because your second is supposed to be faster and I will be home and won't be as distracted. I also know what labor feels like so I won't be surprised.
First: Water broke at 39w2d and labor did not start. 10 hours of active labor after pit aumentation. Epidural, 4 hours pushing, forceps delivery. Def my least pleasant birth and the main reason I sought natural births thereafter.
Second: Cervidil induction at 42 weeks. No pit. No epidural. 6 hours of active labor once things got rolling, 40 minutes of pushing. Def my most wonderful birth experience. The recovery was cake.
Third: I had planned on a home birth. Water broke at 41w5d. Active labor started right away. 6 hours later I was 9 cm and stalled for 12 hours. After several hours at 9 cm, I transferred to hospital and got an epidural and then nothing would get rid of that last bit of cervix, and I had a section. So, 18 hours. Will was in a God-awful position, and I am at peace with the fact that the section was absolutely necessary. The recovery was brutal. I get sad knowing that had he been in a decent position, he would have been born in my bedroom after 6 hours of active labor, but it was out of my control, so that's that.
For this baby, I feel I have a great shot at a VBAC, having had 2 prior vaginal births. Hopefully this baby will be in a great position, and I can have another birth like my second. I am planning a midwife attended hospital birth. If complications arise and another section is needed, so be it, but the midwife group I am seeing has a fabulous VBAC rate, so I am optimistic.
My experiences have totally fit that adage that "First labors are long, second labors are short(er), and third labors are unpredictable". I'm a nurse, and worked as an L&D nurse for a time and it was wild how often that was true!
First baby was born at 41 weeks + 3 days hospital birth with midwives. Used hypno birthing method. 6- 7 hours of active labour.
Second baby born at 41 weeks + 1 day homebirth with midwives. Hypnobirthing again had me so relaxed that the midwives barely made it as we called them right before transition 2 hours max labour.
I here third babies aren't neccesarily as fast as second babies at least to start with. We'll have to see!
#1: 41weeks, 8.5 hours, birth center with midwife, turned emergency hospital transfer- vaginal birth with OB.
#2: 41weeks: 2.5 DAYS, birth center with midwife, hypnobirthing, water birth, AMAZING.
#3: 40w3d: 3.5 DAYS, planned hospital with midwife, got an epi after over three days of active labor, I was sooo tired! No regrets. It was a great, but weird, birth.
Mine just keep getting longer!!!
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