# When people say they had a "40 hour labor", what do they really mean?



## momsgotmilk4two (Sep 24, 2002)

I hear this a lot, even here. "After 60 hours of labor, I finally consented to the pitocin, c section, etc.". and I'm just wondering what is really meant by this. Not judging anyone's birth just genuinely curious. My labor with my second child lasted from Friday morning until Sunday morning, but I don't consider that to be a 48 hour labor. I only counted from the time in which I was really working with every contraction, having to use my hypnosis and relaxation. That would have been about 7.5 hours. The OB really wanted me to go to the hospital Friday morning when he checked me and I was 4cm (this was my regular appt. and I thought since I was in early labor I'd go ahead and keep the appt. and have him check me). I did not feel even close to needing to push the baby out so I decided to stay out of the hospital and I'm so glad I did. I know he would have at the very least pushed me into an induction because he tracked me down at my mom's house on Sat. morning to tell me that I was in an "abnormal labor pattern" and the baby could be in danger. Just because it was taking my body longer to dialate than the textbook cases. I felt fine, was walking around, went out to dinner, went to my Bradley class, so I saw no reason why I should be in the hospital. I'm wondering if others with long labors were having what I had or did it really feel like you were in transition or at least unable to talk through contrax for 40 hours?


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## neveryoumindthere (Mar 21, 2003)

FOR ME IT MEANT 24 HOURS ON pitocin







(induced---sorry for caps; dd helping me type)


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## Moon Faerie (Aug 2, 2004)

I never really understood how to decide how long labor was. When my midwife asked me how long I was in labor with ds, I asked what she wanted to know. SHe wanted to know from starting when I was getting regular contrax that did increase in frequecy and intensity. By those standards, I was in labor for 26 hours. 18 hours of painful contrax, 12 hours after water broke.


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## Truvie (May 4, 2004)

I started having regular, 4-minute apart contractions on a Monday, but didn't go into "active labor" until Tuesday evening. My early contractions were bad enough that I couldn't sleep, but not so bad that I couldn't talk -- I just had a long early stage. Then active labor began Tuesday night and lasted for 25 hours. This was 25 hours of really painful contractions, and I needed my husband, doula, mom, and sister to get through each one (people fanning me, give counterpressure, suggesting position changes, all that stuff). If anyone asked, I'd say I had a 25 hour labor. Maybe people add in the early labor hours, especially if they weren't able to sleep. I know my labor felt like it went on forever; I certainly had never stayed awake for more than one night in a row!

Three of my friends have also had very long active labor stages, so I don't think it is too uncommon, even though most women have much shorter labors.

Truvie


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## sadean (Nov 20, 2001)

With ds#1: I tell people I had a 41 hour labor. The first 24 hours were "early labor", easily controllable contractions, far apart, but regular, not too intense. The second 17 hours were active labor (15 hours), transition (1-2 hours) and pushing (about 15 minutes). Close contractions, increasing intensity, finally culminating in birth. I tell people it was 41 hours to show that it can be done drug free (well, mine wasn't, but it should and could have been...they shot me with Demerol without my consent during transition).

With ds#2: I tell people I had a 24 hour labor. Again, I had a long "early labor"...about 12 hours. 10-11 hours of active labor, 1-2 hours of transition, 10 minutes (or less) of pushing, then birth. Completely drug and mostly influence free homebirth.

I basically counted from the first contraction that I had that I intuitively knew was "it".


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## BoobyJuice (Jun 25, 2003)

I always wonder that too. I know a lot of women who say they had outrageously long labors only to complain that the hospital tried to send them home because they weren't yet a cm. I think a lot of women (maybe not around here) count it from the first contraction. I think most people (pregnant women and dr's included) only know of the "typical"







labor pattern they write of in books - labor starts, contractions increase in frequency and stregth growing closer together, baby comes. So I think most people count from the first regular contractions, which is why there are so many long labors, stalled labors etc.

With my first I was 4 cm two days before he was born, might have been longer but that was the only time I was checked. They didn't want to let me go home because that was "active" labor - great, call it whatever you want, I wasn't having contractions. They made me walk for 2 hours and finally, reluctantly, sent me home. My son wasn't born for two more days.

With both pregnancies I have had regular, consistent, every 3- or 4- minute contractions for an hour or two starting at least a month before labor. They go a few hours then they stop. I know I'm not in labor but I think many women (and drs) count it from the time they are every x minutes. I count it from hard, active labor - the stuff you can't walk or talk through. And I have damn fast labors


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## mommystinch (May 18, 2004)

I consider my labor to be about 30 hours. I started with regular contractions in the early morning. I don't remember a time, but they woke me up well before the sun came up. They lasted all day, about five minutes apart. We tried to go about our day, go to the mall to walk, etc. But they were very painful to walk through, so I often had to stop, relax, etc. By 9pm, they were comming on very strong. Stop everything strong. We tried to go to bed, but the night was full of close contractions, screams (I didn't do too well with the relaxation thing), trying to get comfortable, taking showers, starting to doze off as a contraction eased up only to be startled awake again by another contraction. We finally went to the birth center around 6:30 in the morning, after I had been having double contractions for an hour or so. I tried the birthing tub for comfort, but it was horrible sitting in such a confined space! Hailey was born at 9:14.

I think labor starts when the contractions start. Even though you are able to talk, walk, do whatever through the early contractions, your body is still laboring!


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## AllyRae (Dec 10, 2003)

Well, I'm not sure because I didn't have a "normal" labor. The doctors told me I was in labor at 6:00 PM on a Thursday. At 6:00 AM Friday, I needed pitocin. Brandon was born 12:33 AM Sunday...so um, long labor....


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## IdentityCrisisMama (May 12, 2003)

My water broke and I started regular contractions so that's what I used. I think it's a little relative and up to what the mother considered labor at the time.


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## IdentityCrisisMama (May 12, 2003)

Oh, but my labor wasn't even close to 40 hours!


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## Elphaba (Nov 19, 2001)

I labored for almost 21 hours. I started having contractions around 3 AM and she was born at 11:30ish PM. My contractions started out at 4 minutes apart and stayed that way or closer the entire time. I was pissed that I did not get to start out slow and build up, but went full-freakin' throttle from the get go.

Apparently, my sister was the same way, which I wish she would have told me!


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## Evergreen (Nov 6, 2002)

i hear you labor most like your sisters.

I was all set for a 2 hour labor like all of my mother's and I was dead wrong!!!

Mine was 29 hours. From the first obvious contraction to the final push. My rushes were 5 minutes a part the whole time and each one of them hurt like hell!


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## KiwiZ (Apr 4, 2004)

I personally think its really hard to try and figure out how long labor is. I naively (sp?) thought that I would know exactly when mine started and when I was in the active stage, transition, etc. I guess I thought I'd hear a bell and hear a narrator say "she has now entered transition..." LOL

My dh knew I was in labor before I did! I just thought it was Braxton Hicks contrax! I did not go "by the book". My contrax were never regular, just more and more powerful. I guess labor is whatever you call it!


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## HelloKitty (Apr 1, 2004)

I normally say it's from when regular intervaled contractions began, I include the early labor in the count. With my first is was 16 hours, second 15 hours and third 20 hours. Even in early labor I certainly couldn't sleep or do anything but concentrate to try to manage the pain. Some have easier labors then others but I would still count the time the same way - regular intervaled contractions that do not stop and begin again. If I counted from just the first contraction I would have been in labor for a month with DS #3!

Kitty


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## KKmama (Dec 6, 2001)

I say mine was ~39 hrs going from the time I started having to use coping techniques --> when ds2 was born. I had several bouts of increasingly "serious" BH contrax in the last 2-3 weeks. But if I wanted to count from the last gap to the very end (when ds2 was born), I guess I probably could have said I was in labor for something like 3-5 days.

I agree with the general sentiment here... everyone is different, and it's hard to figure out.


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## suebearsmom (Jun 26, 2004)

I always counted mine starting from the 1st contraction that involved any kind of discomfort senation.Like with my 1st baby I had regular but painless BH type contrax for about 24 hours before but I could sleep thru them etc. The 1st contrax that involved any kind of pain (tho very mild) came at about 3:30 pm and stayed regular and got more intense until I had dd at 11:39pm.So I considered it an 8 hr labor - not a 24 hour labor. Then with my next baby I had painless but regular contrax all thru the night before I had him and could have slept but kept having to get up to the bathroom because mty bladder would get squeezed. This continued until about 1:30pm when I had the 1st contrax that involved pain of any kind,only this time the 1st one was intense.They continued to be regular & grow in intensity until I had my son at 4:39.So I consider this to be a 3 hour labor - not a 24 hour labor. Hugs,Catherine


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## BlueStateMama (Apr 12, 2004)

Mine was easy to define. My water broke on Sunday night at 11:30pm, hard contractions started within a half hour - 4 min apart. I labored 8 hours naturally, then found out I was only 1 cm dialated despite contractions every 3 minutes, got an epidural and pitcocin and watched my contactions on the monitor for the rest of Monday...finally dialated and had DS at 12:47 Tuesday am. So I was in "labor" as I define it for about 26 hours


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## momsgotmilk4two (Sep 24, 2002)

Thanks for all of the thoughtful responses







. It does seem like it's very hard to pinpoint exactly when labor started. I think with ds 1 I knew something was up around 11pm on Sat. night and he was born at around 5pm on Sun. But if I tell people I had an 18 hour labor, or in ds 2's case a 48 hour labor, I think they get the wrong idea and think I was screaming in pain for that long which couldn't be further from the truth. I get these wide eyed looks of pity:LOL I really considered both of them to be easy labors, I only really felt that OMG I don't want to do this anymore feeling for a couple of hours with the first one and maybe half an hour with the second. The not being able to sleep wasn't fun though. I do agree with the person who said that your body is laboring even when you are in very early labor. I just hesitate to use the definition from first contrax to birth because most people seem to get the wrong idea.


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## tinyshoes (Mar 6, 2002)

I asked my hb mw this question, and she says 4cm/start of active labor is the start time.

By that measure, my labor lasted 4 hours. BUT I think I had a 6-hour labor. I had some "can't talk thru the ctx" labor for 3 hours before that, so in a contest, I could say 9 hours...but what about latent labor? Can I add the 10 hours of pre-labor ("false" labor) I had 10 days prior, to get my number to 19 hours? Do I add the 10 days x 24 hours to that for a grand total of 259 hours od labor? LOL

I'm gunna say 6, even though my mw says 4.

I think when people say they had a 40 hour labor, they are

*rounding up
*counting from the first twinge
*people who went to the hosptial and got jerked around
*giving the 40+ hour report to get a little sympathy/support, because they _didn't_ get it when she _needed_ it, when she was in labor, alone w/ loving-but-novice dp, awaiting the next intervention at the hands of the OB & L&D RNs

(Obviously, I'm not assuming this is the scenario for all mamas, but to answer the original topic, in general, I think this is the case.)


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## nikirj (Oct 1, 2002)

I'm sure some women have very long labors, even if they only count the tough parts.

For me, if you count going from when the contractions were continuous and getting harder/closer, my first labor was 24 hours or so. If you count from when I had to work on contractions, it was about 4 hours long (before then, they were noticeable and sometimes even took some of my breath away, but I was still sitting through them, eating, etc. even when they were only 1-2 minutes apart).

My second labor stalled so it is harder to say. It was really labor and I was really dilating and picking up, though still easy, but I got a 'break' from around midnight to about 8am, that involved one horrendous contraction an hour. It must have worked. Once the 'break' period was over, and things got started up again, labor was less than 2 hours. If you count from the first obvious, dilating contractions, labor would have been around 24 hours again. Only those 2 hours were actual harder-to-get-through labor.

I suppose if I wanted to tell horror stories I'd say my labors were 24 hours. I don't, though.

I guess sometimes it is just hard to tell what someone is using to 'measure' labor.


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## Viola (Feb 1, 2002)

I've counted both my labors from the time my water broke. Both times I was in bed, trying to sleep, but having some gas pain. Then my water broke and I had to rush to the bathroom. The contractions just after the water breaking were not that bad, but quickly became what I would consider labor. 14 hours the first time, 7 the second. But counting from when the water broke just seems easiest.


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## mollyeilis (Mar 6, 2004)

I count my labor as starting with strong contractions and when I coudln't sleep. So that means I had 96 hours of labor. However, except for transition, they were really strangely timed contractions, which I've since learned is a hallmark of a malpositioned baby (in Eamon's case, posterior with one or two nuchal hands/arms). In transition they were double and triple-peaking, one on top of another, and I don't remember anything except ghastly pain. But other than transition (which, as is common with posterior babies, didn't mean I was ready to push at the end) I did have time between the contractions to regroup.

That said, I loved our labor.

Until the midwives decided it was too long and they were packing to leave unless I transported, I finally agreed, and then the OB coerced me into a c-section.

I figure another good 24 hours of labor at home, if DH and I had been smart enough to let the medwives quit, and the baby would have been born. And that would mean a 120 hour labor? Yowza.

But I don't consider it to be a horror story unless I'm telling all the junk the medwives did to get me to a c-section. Because I actually really liked labor, well, except for the transition part. But if I could trade more transition to get rid of the c-section, I'd gladly swap.


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## mommystinch (May 18, 2004)

I think that people get the impression of torturous (sp?) pain and screaming from tv. Hollywood makes people think that your water breaks, you go through torture, and then the baby comes within a short amount of time. So, if you were in labor for more than a few hours, of course people picture some horrible! I spent a long time thinking that labor all started with you water breaking. I know that happens with some people, but not all like tv makes us think. My water didn't break until about an hour before dd was born.


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## momsgotmilk4two (Sep 24, 2002)

Molly, I can't believe the midwives were just going to leave you stranded! How horrible









My water never broke early on either. The OB broke it the first time when I was 6cm. What a mistake to let him do that! The pain was pretty awful without the water bag cushioning me. With ds 2 it broke on it's own and then I felt like pushing.


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## jane-t-mommy (Mar 24, 2004)

Well, I had a 38 hour labor with dd. I don't count the first half hour of surges. These were mild and exciting, because I was finally in labor (at 42 weeks). But then I had my first OMIGOD surge and couldn't believe that all the books told me that I could make bread or take a walk or something during early labor. Not durning this early labor. My surges were 2-3 minutes apart and lasting a minute, taking all my concentration. I continued with this pattern for the next two nights, giving birth on the following afternoon (Friday-Sunday) All in all I labored for about 15 hours at home, 12 hours at the birth center, and then another 11 hours at the hospital.

Now that I am planning for my second labor I have come across lots of insightful info about babies who are presenting with some sort of malpostion causing a labor similar to mine. It's really nice to know that I'm not alone and that there are possible physical reasons why I had a long hard labor, and that I'm not just padding the numbers.

That being said, I try not to mention the number to pregnant ladies, I truly believe that our birth expectations can influence our experience.


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## Hey Mama! (Dec 27, 2003)

I count my labor times as the time I was stuck in a hospital bed. With dd#1 labor was an induction from hell and I was stuck in bed for 17 hours, so I say her labor lasted that long. With dd#2 she came on her own. Even though I had had contrax all day long, I was able to walk, talk, and eat through them. I don't consider her labor longer then 2.5 hours because that's how long I was in the hospital before she was born, and that's how long I had intense labor pains.


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## mollyeilis (Mar 6, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *jane-t-mommy*
Now that I am planning for my second labor I have come across lots of insightful info about babies who are presenting with some sort of malpostion causing a labor similar to mine. It's really nice to know that I'm not alone and that there are possible physical reasons why I had a long hard labor, and that I'm not just padding the numbers.

I totally agree. I have found out SO much about posterior and other more difficult positions to birth, and almost everything that was odd about my labor is explained by that. If only the midwives had figured it out.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *jane-t-mommy*
That being said, I try not to mention the number to pregnant ladies, I truly believe that our birth expectations can influence our experience.









In real life, if asked, I generally say "4 wonderful days of labor except for the 3 hours of transition".







If they asked how I birthed the baby we'll go on to that, but the hours of labor is really a big one that people ask.

momsgotmilk4two, yep, it was really no fun to get out of the shower to find them packing up and my husband and aunt in chaos. I just realized today that we *should* have let them quit. They were of no use in the hospital (and even if they had tried to be of use, I was so sick of their faces by then I was ignoring them and we sent them home), so what was the point of us going with them to the hospital? Insane. I'm hiring someone I trust implicitly the next time, or going unassisted. Of course, my list of midwives decreased dramatically now that I'll be "a VBAC".







:


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## gwen's mom (Aug 1, 2003)

For me, I counted the hours once my contractions became consistant. I had had 3 days of random, 10-20 minute apart contractions which I did not pay much attention to but when they finally became regular I had 31 hours of "hey-concentrate" contractions that were 3-5 minutes apart. This includes my 2 hours of transition and 40 minutes of pushing.


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## annakiss (Apr 4, 2003)

I always say that I had a 10 hour labor, but that's from the moment my water broke & the first, regular contractions. But if you start from when I really had to work through them, it was probably only about 7 or 8 hours.


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## kavamamakava (Aug 25, 2004)

I think care providers only go by active labor (which is generally characterized by contractions which are 5 mins apart or less) but mamas who have been up for days and feeling contractions for days will count all the hours. With my first, my labor started at 1 am Saturday morning and he was born Sunday night at around 9 pm. My midwife didn't come over until Sunday afternoon. But I was still laboring all that time. I went to see a movie, picked my mom up at the airport, went for walks, stopped at the grocery store, cooked up some mashed potatoes... It got serious to the point where I needed to focus on labor and nothing else at around 3 pm. So my midwife wrote that my labor was 6 hours.
If I wasn't a homebirther, I probably would have gone to the hospital around 10 that morning and I would have been there for almost 12 hours (if they let me labor on my own without interventions) by the time he was born. I think it's up to the mama to decide how long her labor is. I slept two nights while in labor. My sister couldn't do that. She's a bit more of an axious type and could never sleep when she was having contractions - even if they were only coming every 20-30 minutes.


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## chow46 (Aug 21, 2004)

With my first, I never felt cx until right before transition. My water had broken about 5 hours before but nothing. It was pretty bad...I went from absolutely nothing to *wham*...transition. That one was only 2 hours after first cx..and would have been quicker if his arm wasn't wrapped behind his neck. My second was 12 hours from the very first cx to birth. I have pretty fast labors, I guess. I was told to let the Dr know everytime so that s/he would be there!


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## eilonwy (Apr 3, 2003)

With my son, I had regular, strong, "breathe-and-meditate through the pain" contractions from about 26 weeks. I was on terbutaline and vicodin and recieved four shots of terbutaline before they gave me the pills to take home. I was told at my 36 week appointment that I needed to stop taking the vicodin so that my son would be able to breathe on his own when he was born. I ran out of Vicodin on (I believe) a Monday morning, and was again in agonizing pain, having strong, regular contractions and no drugs to keep me functional. I was not able to speak during the contractions, and had to focus to keep breathing. My water broke on Monday evening. The contractions became even more painful. I was admitted to the hospital on Thursday morning around 9, and after much more agony, an epidural (around 2pm Thursday), hours of pushing, developing pre-ecclampsia and ecclampsia, my son was born early Friday morning, via vaccum extraction.

When asked how long my labor was, I count from when my water broke; about 4.5 days. If you're counting from when the contractions were too much to deal with on their own, I was in labor for over a month; that doesn't make a lot of sense to me.


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## rowantree (May 8, 2004)

I was in nice walking labor for 3 days, getting worse slowly. Then I ha abou 18 hours of 'dealable' labor, after that I was in bigtime labor for 36 hours. There was a stretcher ready for a cescarian..a wonderful woman who was with me told me that and that I had to have ny babe 'RIGHT NOW' so I did. 3 pushes.
my second labor was 6 hours, I felt like it was a vacation comparatively


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## sadean (Nov 20, 2001)

I forgot to mention that both babies were born "malpositioned" (I don't really like that term)/ie. posterior.


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## eilonwy (Apr 3, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *tinyshoes*
I think when people say they had a 40 hour labor, they are

*rounding up
*counting from the first twinge
*people who went to the hosptial and got jerked around
*giving the 40+ hour report to get a little sympathy/support, because they _didn't_ get it when she _needed_ it, when she was in labor, alone w/ loving-but-novice dp, awaiting the next intervention at the hands of the OB & L&D RNs

(Obviously, I'm not assuming this is the scenario for all mamas, but to answer the original topic, in general, I think this is the case.)

I think that's an awful lot to assume.

If we're counting from the first twinge, I was in labor for 13 weeks.







:

If we're counting from when the contractions were 1-4 minutes apart, again I was in labor for several weeks.

Rounding up for sympathy? I've long since learned not to expect any sympathy here, after all, my son wasn't a planned homebirth so I must have been uneducated and the whole mess was my fault.







:









I rarely discuss how long my labor was with pregnant women in real life, or even with other mothers, because I don't want to scare them. The only thing I say about labor is that they should keep an open mind, be aware of themselves and their options, and know that they can still have a healthy, close, loving relationship with their babies even if labor and delivery don't go as planned.


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## candiland (Jan 27, 2002)

"Technically" my labor was 36 hours. However, I could sleep off and on through early labor and things didn't get intense until transition. (I was out shopping until then). Then I pushed for a little over three hours. It was only really intense through transition (an hour, maybe?) and pushing.


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## pageta (Nov 17, 2003)

I was told that "active" labor was when I was dilating. If that was the criteria, I was in labor for 12 hours. However, I had back labor and regular contractions for 30 hours (including the 12).

The details: I was 3 cm at the dr's office on day 1, that evening at 9:00 contractions had been 3 minutes or less for a couple hours (as timed by my doula) so we went to the hospital. Got there at midnight and was still 3 cm. Had some morphine so I could "rest" and still needed dh to push on my back during every contractions. The next morning at 8 am, I was still 3 cm. Other progress was made the entire time (effacement, etc.) but no more dilation. I was exhausted at that point because the contractions were very painful. They wanted me to start pit and that's about when I got the epidural. Pit dose was very low, progress was slow. Dr. broke my water at noon, reached 10 cm by 5:30 p.m. and ds was born minutes before 10 pm.


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## candiland (Jan 27, 2002)

I wouldn't know when I actually started dilating with dd because I didn't get an exam until I was ready to push.

I didn't get any exams with my ds.

I wonder how one would decide under those circumstances?


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## BinahYeteirah (Oct 15, 2002)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *KiwiZ*
I naively (sp?) thought that I would know exactly when mine started and when I was in the active stage, transition, etc. I guess I thought I'd hear a bell and hear a narrator say "she has now entered transition..." LOL

LOL! Ding.


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## cottonwood (Nov 20, 2001)

To me, it doesn't make sense to say labor starts when the contractions get hard, because for some women it never does get hard, and for some women even "false" labor is hard. I also don't understand why some people don't feel it's "true" labor until the mother reaches a certain point in dilation. Who got to decide that labor isn't labor until the mother is at 4 cm. dilation? Seems awfully arbitrary to me, and discounts the work that her body is doing up to that point.

So I count from the time that regular contractions begin and do not stop again (not counting the break that sometimes comes after transition.) I tell people that my first labor was 56 hours long. I don't see why people should assume that I spent that entire time in utter agony, unless they know absolutely nothing about the birth process. But I'm not going to say my labor was shorter than it was just so they, in their ignorance, don't get the wrong idea. When people's eyes get big I just add that it was only the last 7-8 hours that were really hard. But I *was* working the rest of that time. I *was* in pain. The hormones to initiate the final part of the process *were* being released. The contractions were intense enough that I didn't sleep for more than a few minutes at a time, for two nights. Please, don't try to tell me that that wasn't labor!


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## cottonwood (Nov 20, 2001)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *candiland*
I wouldn't know when I actually started dilating with dd because I didn't get an exam until I was ready to push.

I didn't get any exams with my ds.

I wonder how one would decide under those circumstances?

Mm-hm. Makes one wonder how millions of women throughout the ages have known they were in labor.


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## darsmama (Jul 23, 2004)

Originally Posted by KiwiZ
I naively (sp?) thought that I would know exactly when mine started and when I was in the active stage, transition, etc. I guess I thought I'd hear a bell and hear a narrator say "she has now entered transition..." LOL

Yep. I did that here too! LOL

I always say if I want to scare people I can say I labored for 21 hours. In reality, I count labor from when it became really uncomfortable, which was 9 hours.

Really, it was only the last 4 hours that I thought were going to kill me, and that I wanted HARD CORE DRUGS in.


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## TurboClaudia (Nov 18, 2003)

I, too, have wondered what people mean when they say how long they labored. For me, it was when I couldn't sleep through the contractions and had to start moaning my way through some of them. That was about midnight on between a Sunday and Monday. I could do mostly normal stuff between squeezes, though, but I generally had to concentrate or focus on relaxing during one. I don't remember it being really really uncomfortable until about 32 hours after that on Tuesday morning when I was leaning over a birth ball on my bed. That was hard. Before I labored, I suspected I might come to a point where I didn't think I couldn't do it anymore, but it surprised me that I never had the feeling. I felt frustrated, tired, uncomfortable, achy, but I never once thought I couldn't continue laboring. I would have liked my labor to be shorter, sure, but I decided not to dwell in that and let it be what it was going to be. I truly did live in the moment for those 36 hours.

warmly,
claudia


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## clewal (Nov 20, 2001)

I went to bed both times with contractions, because I could sleep through them, I didnt count that as labor. So, with my son, I labored 4 hours, then had a section because they had just figured out that he was a breech two hours after I got to the hospital. With my daughter, I went to bed with contractions, slept for two hours, tried to sleep for another hour, then gave up, and labored 38 hours.


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## Keeper (Sep 5, 2004)

I count from the first "real" contraction to the delivery. Just because it's not active labor doesn't mean it's not labor. I don't pretend that all 28 hours of my son's labor were extremely hard, but I would feel rather slighted if people expected me to pretend that the latent phase didn't happen either.

Sarah


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## Amberlyn (Aug 5, 2004)

Hey there! I have often wondered this same thing.. cause soooo many women say what LONG labors they had.. And i have seen on TV (BirthDay show) that some women really do labor for hours apon hours. For my with my DD, I went in for my reg appt at 34 weeks, and was 75% efaced, and 1 cm dialated. This put me in "preterm labor"... so technically the way some women look at it, I was in "labor" for 6 weeks. On a Sunday, I went to the hospital in "false labor" and did this 4 more times through out that week, everytime.. getting all hooked up, walking.. crying in pain.. always to be sent home. The following Sunday early early morning 5am.. My water broke.. Went to hospital at 7am. Started pushing at 10am... and had DD at 12:55. Although I was in serious pain from about 5 minutes after my water broke (like couldnt walk type pain, contractions every 90 seconds.).. I consider my labor 3 hrs... since that is how long I pushed.. and let me tell you.. it felt like 6 weeks!! LOL


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## Kundalini-Mama (Jul 15, 2002)

Well, I had a 60 hr labor w/my son. And that is not counting the contractions I had every 5 min all day and all night from 28w until he was born at 40w and some change.

I was 3 cm before I went into labor, and a day after the labor started I went to the hospital to be checked and I was 4-5.

And it was easy labor until the last 24 hrs or so.

Amy


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