Slow dilation

[Caz1971]

I am pregnant again. With my DS I had a cesar - and I was dilating very slowely. The doctor this time round told me cos I was a slow dialator, I would prob. be in the same position again. So does that mean Im bound to have another cesar?

I want to try a VBAC this time round.

Caz

[Ellibam]

caz
im sorry the doctor has 'branded' you! usually subsequent labours are quicker then first (although not for me!)
no where in any medical book does it say that every women dialates one cm per hour! althoughthat is what most doctors believe!
all you need is time! your baby will come!

[Alan]

I agre with ellibugs. It oes not matter if it takes you 24 hours to dilate. Some doctors just don't want to have to get up in the middle of the night so it is much easier to do a CS

[Tobily]

A "slow dilator?" wow way to wreck your confidence hun!

The idea that women should dilate at 1cm an hour once they're in established labour is a total crock. As Alan said it doesn't matter how long it takes and some women even take hours and hours and hours to dilate to say 6cm and then they do the last 4cm extremely quickly. Point being we're all different and to impose some arbitary rate of dilation on a labouring mum is just setting her up to fail.

My advice would be if you really want your vbac, find a care provider who won't stick you with their labels and has a bit more faith in your body to do what's its designed for. Someone who believes you will most likely end up with another caesar before you've even gone into labour is not going to be your biggest supporter for a vbac.

Makes me crazy that they throw these derogatory labels on women and completely destroy their confidence like that

[slimjadey]

You know what, that is one of the worst excuses for doing a c-section that i've heard. As long as baby's happy and you're happy to keep laboring there should not be a problem at all. Stupid doctors like that make me really angry.
And no pregnancy or birth is the same, i've read plenty of birth stories where the first birth drags on and the second ends up being insanely quick.
You're much more likely to have a quicker birth if you have trust in your body aswell and this doctor is obviously arrogant and doesn't trust in something that women have been doing since the beginning of time. I would certainly look around for a different health care provider, whether it be a Midwife at home or another doctor in a hospital, just make it someone who is not so close minded and arrogant.

[koala]

Just curious if anyone knows. Is it common/likely for a 2nd pregnancy to be a faster birth if the first one never really got going before the c-section. In my case I went 2 days with no progress and only mild period like pains.

[Ellibam]

koala. it should! why did you have a ceaser if you were not in labour?

[koala]

I was in labour according to the monitor thingy. Having contractions on and off. I was 41weeks so they induced me (yeah I know now it wasnt necessary) but nothing really happened. When the Dr looked at the paper thingy he would say "oh isnt it hurting?" and the first time he looked at it he said "wont be long now".

After 2 days the Drs said my son was getting distressed. My cervix was so far up they couldnt reach it and my son hadnt engaged.

I often wonder what could have been if we had just waited but knowing only what I knew then and not what I know now I thought it best to go with what the Drs were recommending. They felt quite sure I would have had shoulder dystocia if he'd come out vaginally but who really knows.They really had to yank him out of my uterus. He thought he was just gonna stay there.

Not even TTC yet but cant help myself from going on VBAC boards and nosing around.

[slimjadey]

I've been wondering the same thing. I've heard how 2nd births go quicker because you've already been stretched or w/e hehe. I got to about 3cm dilated before they did the c-section because of fetal distress and i had ecclampsia, i was just about fitting.
So yeah, will only get to 3cm get me a quicker birth this time around or will it be just as long as if it were first time?

[becmc]

My second baby was a vbac and I was in labour for 32 hours. Maybe I am one of those 'slow dilators'! But my dd was also posterior which can cause labour to progress more slowly, at the end of the day though I would still prefer to have a long slow labour and give birth vaginally than risk another c/s. As long as everything is going okay with you and bubs it doesn't matter how long you are in labour.
Lots of things can cause slow dilation, position, epidurals, stress. Doesn't mean there is anything wrong with your bodies ability to birth naturally. That doctor sounds very pessimistic to me.