# Hey all you other tall women!



## pianojazzgirl (Apr 6, 2006)

I was talking with my doula yesterday and apparently in her (very extensive) experience taller mamas tend to birth faster than shorter ones! I never went through labour with my first so I have no first-hand experience, but I'm certainly hoping it works out that way this time around. Have any of you experienced/heard of that?


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## barefoot mama (Apr 30, 2006)

Interesting. It doesn't seem to apply in my case, though.









I'm 5'10", with 6 children. My labors have been 3 1/2 hours, 5 1/2 hours, 11 hours, 17 hours, 4 hours, and 4 1/2 hours. For me, it seems to be the position of the baby that makes the difference in length of labor. Something else that seems to make a difference is how many people are around. More people = longer labor.


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## SublimeBirthGirl (Sep 9, 2005)

I'm about 5-10. My first was about 12 hours of active labor. My 2nd was not quite 4. Though I preferred my 2nd labor and birth for many reasons, I'd have been a bit freaked out if it had been my first labor. Fast labors definitely get very intense very quickly. I'd done it before, and I'm a CBE now, so I knew if it was starting off so intense it'd be over faster. But if I'd started that the first time I'd have been thinking, "average labor 15-17 hours! OMG, NO WAY I can do this for that long!"


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## shelbean91 (May 11, 2002)

I'm not tall, but I had very fast labors. No pains until about 6 cm, from 6 cm to delivered in about 2 hrs.

ETA- I'm not short, either- just average. 5'6"


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## bryonyvaughn (May 4, 2007)

I'm 5'6". My induced with a Bishops score of 0 labor was something like 14 hrs. My spontaneous labors were 1hr 40m, 50m, 7m, 2m, & 10 m. If your doula is right I'm glad I'm not any taller.









~BV


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## kerilynn (Sep 9, 2005)

I am 5'11" and I labored for 4 hours and pushed for 13 minutes


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## MsElle07 (Jul 14, 2006)

I heard something similar and put up this poll a while ago: http://www.mothering.com/discussions...ht=tall+height

I'm tall and had two fast labors and one 13 hour labor.


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## hapersmion (Jan 5, 2007)

I'm 5'10'' and my labor was 18 hours, but since ds was breech that may have slowed things down a bit. I wouldn't mind cutting back to 12 hours or so next time.









hapersmion


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## lifescholar (Nov 26, 2006)

I'm almost 5'9", and had a 54-hour induced labour.

But, I don't think my physiology had much to do with it...I think it was more of a psychological thing....just too many hang-ups that I didn't even realize I had!!

Next time will go MUCH better...then I'll let you know!


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## cal195 (Jan 30, 2007)

5'9 here. With #1, I had a 20-hour labor. Not counting the ~24 hours of mild prodromal labor before that. We'll see how long #2 is in January.









My mom is 5'4. My older brother took 12 hours from start to finish, and she said from first contraction to holding me in her arms was 1 1/2 hours. Wow!

Catherine


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## georgia (Jan 12, 2003)

Not true IME







My best friend who is about 5 ft. has had three labors all under four hours....meanwhile, I'm tall and have had three labors that lasted well over 8 hours. I personally try not to get too attached to any ideas about how long labor will or won't last..IME, it can be really frustrating when what I expect doesn't come to pass and I start thinking/wondering "what's wrong with me??" ITA with the more people around=longer labor...and also positioning has a lot to do w/labor. My affectionately referred to "malpositioned" baby's labor was about two weeks of prodromal hell!

You're gonna do great


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## AugustineM (Mar 21, 2005)

Yeah, I've heard the same thing from my midwives. They said that taller women generally have easier labors and births. Why, I don't know... maybe taller women have larger hips?? Who knows. But in my case that wasn't true.

I'm 5'11" and my first labor was easy... about 6 hours. But when I showed up 9cm dialated at the birth center my baby was a footling breech, my water broke, and I was rushed for an emergency cesarean.

With my second labor it was super long and painful -- about 24 hours -- then 3 hours of pushing, and another cesarean.









IME it's the position of the baby that really matters!!


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## TypingMJ (Nov 10, 2005)

I guess you'd need to define both "tall" and "faster" for me before I could answer yes or no. I'm just under 5'9" and my labor took 20 hours.


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## Village Mama (Jul 22, 2004)

I am 5'9 and my labours were 4 and 2 hours long.


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## angelcat (Feb 23, 2006)

If you're taller, there is more room for bay to stretch out without hitting your ribs...easier to get in a good position, and for labour to go faster.

Of course, if that is true, ut means sahorter women have a harder time, which was true for me. My dr. told me short women are more likely to need c-sections. (Which I did)

However, most of the short women I know have been able to give birth vaginally.


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## bryonyvaughn (May 4, 2007)

Well there's no dispute that genetics plays a part in height *but* I also remember reading that anthropologists would use average height as an indicator of prosperity and health. (Pygmies are never going to be taller than Scandinavians but we're generally talking within your typical gene pool.)

Pre-WWII the average adult in Japan was quite short. After reconstruction the protein percent in the Japanese diet increased and children started far outgrowing their parents and grandparents. They started seeing 6' tall Japanese young men!

I easily imagine someone who was nutritionally deprived in childhood and adolescence, would have skeletal and other impacts that could affect the health of the children as well as the course of labor. Dog shows will have a bitches competition where the female isn't judged on her conformity but the conformity and vigor or her grown pups.

Maybe the original perpetrators of this myth misapplied these correlations to individual women's labor? FWIW while I am only 5'6" tall, other than my 5'6 1/4" father, I am taller than all the other men and women in my family (siblings, cousins, nieces & nephews, (great) aunts & uncles, (great) grandparents) all short folks from southern Germany. I've also had by far the shortest labors of anyone in my family (spontaneous labors of 1hr40m, 50m, 7m, 2m & 10m.) Maybe there really is a trend (not a rule) but it needs to be more precisely applied.

~BV


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## Redifer (Nov 25, 2006)

I'm 5'7, and put myself in the "average" category; not tall, but not short. But, I have a HUGE ribcage and an even roomier pelvic structure; plus excellent muscle tone. I think that contributed more to my 5 hour, 40 minutes of pushing first labor and my 3 hour, 15 minutes of pushing second labor.


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## mommajb (Mar 4, 2005)

I am 5'9" and all 4 of my labors have been precipitous. #3 was induced and the ob still didn't make it on time to catch. #1 did officially take 3 hours of labor, the others much, much less. I made it to the hospital with #1, #3 and #4, the ob made it for #1.


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## AuntG (Apr 2, 2007)

Hmm, well I am 5' 11", and I labored about 10 hours with all three of mine. With this last one I pushed one giant push and out she plopped!

I credit my left-handedness. Got to hand it to us lefties!


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## ColoradoMama (Nov 22, 2001)

I'm 5'9" and my labors were:
1 - 7 hours 30 minutes
2 - 5 hours 24 minutes
3 - just over 9 hours
4 - 6 hours 17 minutes (posterior)


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