What is harder..getting from 0-5cm or 5-10cm??

Hi there i dont really know where else to put this question but i wanted to know from all the ladies who have been through labour, birth and actually felt it lol.:D

Is it harder getting from 0-5cm or 5-10cm like which is worse in perception of pain and managability if thats an appropriate word lol

It is a weird feeling to have given birth but not actually 'experienced' it...i feel as though its my first pregnancy all over again because i have never ever felt a 'natural' contraction only the lovely sledgehammer type pains brought on by medical inductions.

5-10 was a little more painful, but I would say 0-5 was worse as that took two blinking weeks! At least 5-10 was just about 4-5 hours. If you accept that the pushing is a 10 (I never got to feel the actual birth, just the start of the journey) then the early contractions would be maybe a 6 and the later ones a 7-8, but the amount of time they go on for is far more the big factor for me! (BTW, I'd put an obstetrician in the room as a good five gazillion, six hundred and four billion, three hundred and forty nine million, twenty six thousand, nine hundred and eighty six. Maybe more.)

For me it was harder to go from 5-10 cm. The first 4cm can still be classed as early labour as the contractions tend not to be as strong and are generally further apart too. The second half of dilation can be a bit harder as they are stronger and closer together. That said it can vary so much from woman to woman too. A syncto induction can be a lot harder in terms of the strength and duration of the contractions too, but if you don't have an induction this time you will notice the difference between them - I felt a lot more in control with them as even towards the end of the first stage they can still have a rise and peak in their strength kwim? but an induced one was just bang, bang, bang.

I hope I'm not crashing your thread here, but I can't help but ask... my sister is 2cm dilated today and at home, does that mean she could go into labour at any minute? or could it still be another week away yet?? I've been told hrs, and i've been told days...
guess it depends on each person?

You can be at 2cm for weeks, apparently - I was 2cm for just one day before I gave birth.

How long is a piece of string? LOL The worst thing about knowing that you are already dilated is that you keep wondering when it is all going to start to happen and you tend not be as relaxed as you could be. Of all the women I have known to be dilated before 40wks, it would be very nearly half and half as to how many went the distance to term or over and those who did go early.

Thanks Ryn.

I found the 0-5cm (in my case it was 3-5cm) bit the hardest because it took so damn long. I was 3cm dilated before I was even in labour, but those last two centremetres took 10 hours of established labour and really strong contractions. The 5-10 was only 3and a half hours but intensly painful. I had a back labour and due to bub's position was why it took so long as he wasn't moving down into my pelvis like he should because he was large.

I was 3cm for at least a week before labour.

I was in what i felt was labour (couldn't talk during contractions) for 11 hour and was still at 2-3, 25% effaced, which i'd been at for 2 weeks. 4 hours later DD was born and though the intensity gradually increased the pushing urge was stronger than the pain iykwim. I was told not to push as they really didn't think i could be ready. The sight of DD's crowning head convinced them. LOL.

Bec

Thanks for your replies..i really would like to have a waterbirth and it has been reccomended not to enter the water until you have reached 5cm incase it stops progression etc so i was actually curious to see what people thought was harder lol.

Sherie i am so hoping to experience the natural rise and peak feeling because the continuous hammering from the induction was so unbearable i cant imagine having to do that again...but saying that i dont care about having an epidural if i feel i need it.....the only thing i can hope for is that i can spontaneously go into labour and actually get the oportunity to see if i can deal with it..if i cant then i am happy to have tried thats all i can ask.
(and DP will be alot happier he is freaking out about how he is going to handle me screaming :lol: he has already said it was easy the first time because i was so out of it!!!)

I think you will surprise yourself at just how much you can handle (and you may not even scream ;) ). If you do get to the stage where you want pain relief, then that's fine - you haven't cheated yourself or let anyone down. My first two were spontaneous and my third was induced and the difference was astounding. Needless to say I am very much looking forward to a natural birth this time LOL.

I took about 24 hours to go to 5cm and then 10 mins to go from 5 to 10cm. That was a surprise!

LOL for me 9-10cm was the hardest! I was 9cm dialated when I got to hospital (laboured at home quite nicely thankyou very much even with a posterior bub) but as soon as I got to hossy things slowed down, what with all the poking and prodding and machines. Needless to say, planning a birthcentre birth with this one!!

Pain wise...definately 5cm-10cm...thats like the transition faze....youch....

well I would say 5-10 as I dilated 0-4cm without knowing it with both my kids! The 5-10 only took about 2-3 hrs of full on labour. Good luck with your birth

For me, definately 5-10cm. I was 4cm when I arrived at hospital and by then I had had a lot of mild contractions (not really painful, but enough for me to feel it and for it to be distracting and annoying kwim?) My waters also broke and I began much more painful contractions straight away. That happened just after 1am and I think we stuffed around at home for about 30mins before going to hsopital. Got there just before 2am and was told I was 4cm. So dfinately that first half was easier.
The 5-10cm was so much harder - physically , It was very painful (duh) and exhausting. I had been up for about 30hours by that point so all I wanted to do was give birth and go to sleep.
I didnt use a bath - at the time I just didnt want to.. but I did use a shower and it felt quite nice. Dont worry about screaming - I screamed heaps and now I look back on it and i think its really funny !

Hi Rylan's Mum

I personally think 0-5 was harder! It seemed to take a gazillion years to get there, and although I was in immense pain, my first check reveald I was only 2cm dilated. It did seem that while 5-10 was a lot more painful, it didnt take as long.
I guess that would be different in every labour though! Good Luck

The first time I was checked I was 9cm dilated so i'm not sure??
My whole labour was 32 hours and I have no idea at what stage I was how many cm dilated. I was 28 hours into it when I was first checked

I'd say the last 5 cm are the most overwhelming, but the first 5 can be the most exhausting, IYKWIM. With both my girls, I had relatively quick, "easy" labours (7 hours). I found that the earlier contractions hurt, but I could breathe through them, and with my second, especially, "manage" them with my mind. But in the later stages, I don't know if they necessarily hurt so much more, just that they come a lot faster, and I think hormonally you start to go a little crazy - with oxytocin and adrenalin, etc. With my first, I panicked at this stage and couldn't breathe. With my second, I was much better (you might be surprised at how much better a second baby can be!) I still felt a little out of control, but no screaming, or panicking. The last stage, from 7-10 (transition) can go in 15 minutes, but it is pretty intense! The only time I remember yelling a bit was when I was pushing, and I was sure I was going to split wide open. :redface: (with my second) But in a couple of seconds, her head was out, and I didn't tear at all. :)
All the best with your waterbirth! I am hoping for the same for myself with this baby.

I found 0-5 the hardest because it was the longest. About 16 hours - 12 hours just to get to 1cm. I then went from 5cm to giving birth within a couple of hours. The midwives didn't believe it until they saw DS's head appear. DS was posterior though which is maybe why the first stage was so long and painful without much happening.

0 - 5 cms was harder for me

I found the last 5cm the hardest, the contractions were hard, fast and very painful which all made worse by exhaustion and the transition stage. the first 5cm took longer though. i used the bath for a while and it didn't slow things down but having said that i didn't feel very comfortable in there. the shower was my god send. i personally found the pushing contractions to be a completely different feeling, not really painful.

0-5 were hardest for me. I was induced but it still took 34 hours. 26 hours into it despite all my plans I had an epidural which they kept topped up until I needed to push, so the 5 - 10cm passed without anywhere near as much effort.

My contractions started at 2.20pm. I was checked at 9pm and was only 3cm dilated (!!).. was then checked again at 12.30pm and was fully dilated 10cm. So the 0-5cm took longer for me.

I would say that 5-10 was harder for me. My waters broke at 9pm, contractions started at 10pm, I was 3cms at 11pm and 7cms at about 4am. Nicholas was posterior, so I found the pushing contractions to be particularly painful, more than anything else.

I know it sounds crazy, but I enjoyed all of my labour, particularly the second half! So although it hurt more, it was a good pain IYKWIM? I hope that makes sense :)

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but an induced one was just bang, bang, bang.

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So, so true! I was induced 5-10cms was really tough. I asked for an epidural at this stage as I was just not getting a break into between contractions.

I'm looking forward to a much more relaxed birth this time around. Hopefully spontaneous but if not with much lower doses of drugs.

Well i am still here and waiting for my little miss to make an apperance!!!

Thanks for all your experiences, i was told by my midwife to expect a 5 hour labour (well heres hoping anyway) lol so im hoping that it all goes well and i can handle it...

With my first i managed to go for 5 hours without anything for pain and that was after an induction so if i can handle that kind of pain i can deal with a 5 hour labour lol

Cross your fingers for me

I had a <4 hour labour rylansmum - intense but what a blast! :)

Good luck and have a great one!

Bec

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Well i am still here and waiting for my little miss to make an apperance!!!

Thanks for all your experiences, i was told by my midwife to expect a 5 hour labour (well heres hoping anyway) lol so im hoping that it all goes well and i can handle it...

With my first i managed to go for 5 hours without anything for pain and that was after an induction so if i can handle that kind of pain i can deal with a 5 hour labour lol

Cross your fingers for me

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That's great I lasted 5 hours too - I'm hoping for a relatively quick hypnobirthing experience this time around.

I never got to 5 so that bit was the hardest for me....four days grrrr

each persons labour is so diffrent and there are so many situations that can arise that you really can't say in general which is easiest or hadest.

For me i dilated so quick that i can't say any was harder then the other. i just found the pushing painful, i also had a drug free labour and delivery but those that do chose pain relief might not feel some of what others feel at the back end..... just relax and enjoy your experiance, it will be yours and yours only and at the end regardless of how painless or painfull it was you will be so proud of yourself and deffinatly well deserved!! because YOU did it!!!