'Perfect' length of time for labour?

[No.5]

DS labour (induction) from start to finish was about 8 hours. No idea about the total hours that were active though.

For me, 4 or 5 hours would be a good length

[AndiE]

I reckon the length of my (spontaneous) labours have (so far) been rather perfect - for me.
With both boys I birthed for approx 7-8 hours, of which only probably the final 90 mins was "hard yakka". The first 5-6 hours was a gradual build up of contractions and intensity, making both my births "perfectly manageable".

Honestly though, I don't think "perfect" is a one-size-fits-all scenario

[Babyluv]

Mine was about 10hrs from the first contraction. I think about 5ish hrs of active labour 3 mins apart.
I think mine was the perfect length, my body had time to adjust, I found it manageable.

[Heaven]

My first was 35+ hrs. That was not fun.

So with DD2 when I had a 10hr labour from start to finish it felt like a walk in the park. Could have just done with a bit less than the 2 hrs pushing though.

[luna moth]

I reckon 6 would be about good. DD was 12 hours early labour, 9 hours active, and I was happy enough with that. When I hear of less than 3, my first thought is sympathy for the mama, I feel like they've been ripped off.

[Novella]

I seem to have about 6 hours of active labour and that seems about right for me, but early labour has varied with each labour. With DD1 and DD3 I was in hospital for the last 2.5 hours and that seemed about the right time to be in hospital too, I dont think I would have handled the car ride well after that. With dd2 my waters broke and I started contracting and because I was only 35 weeks I had to go in straight away, it made the labour seem longer and I think it would have passed more quickly/easily at home as I was in hospital 5 hours before she came.

I found the last 45 minutes before pushing to be the hardest with each birth, up until then things were easliy managed by walking/rocking.

Pushing for me was around 45 min, 25 mina and 3 min but it all seemed like the same amount of time. I think I really lose sense of time when Im pushing

[Sagres]

I've had 2 hours and 4.5 hours (active labour, not sure how much pre-labour with either because I couldn't feel any contractions or BH until it was show time!) and I liked the 4.5 hours muuuuch better. I reckon that was pretty close to perfect, and I would take the 3 minutes pushing any day
Having said that the labours were TOTALLY different, the 2 hour one went from 1 to 12 on the pain scale in a short time, no build up then KAPOW! The 4.5 hours labour was similar in that the real serious stuff was about 1.5 hours long, but with and extra 2.5 hours of nice build up and progression tacked on at the start - so much better!