Labour

[Toni]

Hi girls, just a quicky.

Does anyone happen to know if the length a woman is in labour for is supposedly hereditary? ie, if your mum had short/long births is it the same in the daughters generally? I had heard somewhere that it was, but Im not totally convinced............................................

Love and kisses

Toni xx

[LittleP]

Oh, what a thought - as far as I know it isn't!

That's worth finding out .... I'm going to keep an eye on this thread

How are you feeling

Little P

[Toni]

Hi Little P

feeling crappy thanks, but getting there - its so annoying getting colds when you are pregnant! keeping my husband awake coughing all night, so he keeps skipping off to the spare room as he needs his sleep bless him, what with him working long hours at the moment!

the reason i asked this is cos i only found out from talking to my Dad last night that my mum had me about 2 1/2 hours after her waters broke, and my brother in even less time, so heres hoping!!!!

Toni xx

[Toni]

PS i am keeping an eye on you lot over on the general side, how are you getting on with tmt?

Toni xx

[LittleP]

I've just had my blood tests to see if I have a high number of Natural Killer cells (nothing is ever easy in life, is it?) so have to wait another week for the results and then on the back of them will hopefully be able to go straight into the treatment.

The idea of waiting any longer is driving me I've had 6 months off since my last treatment (+ve but m/c at 4 weeks) so feel ready to try again

2.5 hours - what a breeze that would be

Here's hoping it's hereditary for you then

Little P

[Wendy]

Hiya, not sure it is in all cases but could be in some. I think the hereditary factor may lie in pelvic size, baby size etc etc but I think there are so many other factors involved its not a given. My mum had 3 children all in a reasonable amount of time (not 2.5hrs but 8 - 12 I think) whereas I ended up with an emargency c section after 32hrs due to lack of progress and sheer exhaustion. The quicker the better really as the pain is manageable as long as it doesn't go on forever. They say it can be more painful if its very quick, but I've heard various stories. A friend of mine had all 3 of hers within 1hr after feeling like she had a tummy upset !! A lot depends on the 'hardness' of your cervix - apparently mines like a rock !! So I'll be having a c section this time around - but planned and relaxed unlike last time. Good luck - hope its quicker than mine at least !!
love from wendy xxx

[randa2006]

Hello, even though I'm not pregnant yet with IVF, I can't resist adding what helped me through labor many years ago.
I had two children in my twenties and in those days it was fashionable to have "natural" childbirth. So I did. No drugs. Both of my babies were born after only 2.5 and 2 hours of hard labor (I had mild contractions a few hours leading up to this).
Anyway, here's my point. The Lamaze book back then (80s) had a line in it that said something about "letting the contractions do their job by not tensing up and fighting them." I really believe this is why my labor was so quick. When you feel a contraction coming, it's natural to tense up and brace yourself for the pain and all that does is make the contraction less effective... and the result of that.... longer labor.
So, I felt I had a choice. Let the darn things hurt like hell and get it over with quickly. OR, fight them and drag things out all day.
It sounds crazy, especially with the monitors that ROB you of the only peace you have in between contractions to relax because they know before you do that another contraction is coming (geeze). But you really can convince yourself to give into the pain (breath through it) and let your amazing muscles do their job.
On the other hand, maybe I was destined for quick labor anyway.? Who knows. Maybe that will help someone, maybe not.
Seems that in the U.S. the trend now is an epidural (spinal block), which sounds pretty good to me. What is going on around the world? Does anyone know?

[kappy]

Hi Randarandolph,
Just had to comment since I saw something on the news the other day that ties in a bit. What you said about not fighting the contractions and letting them do their thing makes sense. Apparently for years doctors thought that epidurals slow down labor, so they would make women wait until their cervix was dialated to a certain degree. Now they've found that giving an epidural earlier on in labor doesn't inhibit labor at all ... and if anything it helps speed the progress. They said that since women don't acutally "feel" the pain of the contractions (only the related pressure), the muscles are more relaxed and stretch as needed. It does make sense.

Sounded similar to what you said about breathing through the pain ... just a bit easier to deal with =) Not sure what I'm going to do yet. I have a ways to go anyhow. I figure I'll research Lamaze a good bit and go in with an open mind. If I can go natural, great. If I get to the point where I feel I'll enjoy the birth more with some pain relief, then I'll opt for an epidural. Then ... if it ends up being a C-Section (I'm told is a possibility since I have a large fibroid that lies on the bottom of my uterus), then I guess it was meant to be. As long as my baby is healthy in the end that's what counts!

Little P and Randarandolph ... good luck to both of you. Sending lots of PMA your way! Toni ... wishing you a speedy delivery like your mom! Wendy ... miss ya! Looking forward to an update soon.

[randa2006]

Kelly,
Thanks for sharing that. Now I feel even better about going the epidural route this time. Looking back, the natural thing was over the top. But each to his own.
Best of luck to you, too!
Randa

[bubblymichelle]

Everyone is different I would say on this one.
Love
Shell.
xx

[DebraP]

Hi Toni, I've only had one labour so can't really comment but my exp. was very like Wendy's ie. emergency c-section after long and fruitless (3cm dilated after 12hours of 2min contractions) hard labour + my baby was only 2.7kgs so pretty small. My Mum had my brother and I quickly and easily.

I have friends with very different experiences with each of their children which would imply it's nothing to do with being hereditary. A friend wrote last night that her 2nd child arrived last week after 2 hours of labour and 12mins pushing. Her first took over 24hrs pushing (she was at home and refused to go into hospital long after the midwives had told her to).

hth
Debra

[Susie]

My labour lasted 36 hours in all after 35 hours I was told I had at least 5 hours to go. Feeling like I was about to die I screamed for and got an epidural. I was told that the epidural helped me relax and so speeded up the process. Before that I was against epidurals as I didnt want an injection in my back, but if I get pg again, I'll be having an epidural the second I get to the Hospital!