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Everyone is different, just relax and enjoy the journey.. For the record though,
Baby 1 - Already 5cm dilated when I got to hosp, and 1 hour later I was fully dilated.
Baby 2 - Already 8cm when arrived at hosp, and 1/2 hour later fully...
Baby 3 - Fully dilated at arrival, and had baby 13 minutes later!
No more for me - I will sneeze and it will pop out!
Good luck hun!
It was long for me too. After 42 hours of contractions I was only 2cm dilated. I was so tired from lack of sleep I started crying. My water broke while I was crying and there was meconium in it so they admitted me. 5 hours later I was at 5cm and already unable to stop pushing. Exhausted, I had an epidural at that time so I could get some sleep and it took another 9 hours to reach 10cm. It was 2 more hours of pushing before DS finally made an appearance. He was sunny side up though and had his head tilted back which slowed things down a little.
With DD#1 it took about 26 hours - she was induced at 4 days overdue. With DD#2 I went from 4cm to baby on my chest in 10 minutes! She came in her own good time at 9 days overdue. With DD#1 I took RLT and evening primrose oil which supposedly speed things up. With DD#2 I took nothing.
I don't think there is any reliable formula you can use to work out how long labour will be. It is what it is. Somewhere between 26 hours and 10 minutes would be good!
I was 3cm on arriving at hossy at 11pm, and 10cm at 7am. So 7 cm in 8 hours, with a posterior bub, I was pretty darn happy with that! Had a four hour second stage, but I guess that's not relevant here hehe.
I am unusual, but I went from 2cm to 10cm in between 1 and 2 hours with my first labour. My second labour was 3 hours from start to finish. My mum had quick labours too, and it often is hereditary.
The important thing I think is to remember that everyone is different. For many women it is 1cm per hour. For others it is much quicker and for others much slower. You won't know about you until you get there. But don't take it as gospel that it will be 1cm/hr.
I was 4cm and fully effaced when I got to hospital at around 2 pm. I had in my head that it would be another 6 hours and decided I couldn't do it so asked for an epidural. By the time I got the epidural and they did another internal, I was 8 cm. DD was born at 5:53pm. In retrospect, the expectation that it would be an hour per cm is what convinced me to have an epidural, but now I know I could have done it without it. It was only that intense because my body was working pretty hard and fast.
;)
I was another one who had a fast and full on labour, it took me less than an hour to go from 1cm to fully dilated!! My total labour time was 2 hours 5 minutes, but I was induced.
Like the other ladies said, everyone is different and it takes as long as it takes.
:)
i went from 4cm to birth in 2 hrs.