How hereditary is labour length????

[amber]

My mother had 4 hour labours from beginning to end with all three of us. I was hoping for something similar but unfortunately had a 25 hour labour. I don't think there is much truth in it but maybe I'll have better luck next time!!

[Evie76]

OK. You ready for this?

My mum: in labour with me for 32 hours in 1976

Me: in labour with my son 4 hours - start to finish - in February

Definitely not hereditary!!

[MantaRay]

My mum had two quick labours - 5hrs and 3hrs and 1 posterior baby with a long labour (40 hours).

I was the 5 hours labour and my labours were 8 hrs (but slowed down by epidural) and 3 hours.

My sis was the long labour and just had a 48 hr labour with posterior baby.

It seems hereditary in my family!

[Catastrophic]

my mum never had a labour longer then 6 hous with all 6 of us kids!
meanwhile my first was 30hours!!!

[{sarah}]

My mum was in labour for 12 hours with her first but that ended in an emergency c/s. It was quite dreadful because she had had an x-ray saying her pelvis was too small & she would have a c/s but they wanted her to labour for a while so she didn't reject the baby - WT???? Then the other 3 were elective c/s.

My first labour was 36 hours from my first contraction, but around 25 hours in active labour before having an emergency c/s.

[visitor1]

Mums first labour with my sis was 36 hours, then 28 with me.

My first labour was 10.5 hours.

My sister always had extremly long ones as well (20+) with all 3 of her kids.

[Cricket]

It's hard to know if there is truth in that old wive's tale or not. I can't really compare, since my mother had a c-section with all 8 of us. Her mother delivered 7 naturally (haven't heard the story - should ask sometime!) Her one sister has 6 by c-section, and the other has two natural. (Labour under 10 hours, I think.)
My sister has two so far, with about 14 hours of hard labour, for each.
I have two so far, with about 7 hours of labour, each. (I have a much easier time than she does.)
I think they are figuring that you might be built like your mother, and so have a labour like hers. I am not built like my mother, but my sister is. (Which makes me wonder if c-section was necessary for my mom. That was 1980.) Anyways, I don't know if that helps you at all. Hope all goes well for you!