labour time is genetic??

Hi all

i just have a quick query - is labour time genetic. i.e. my mum gave birth to me in 3 hours and my sister in 4 (and i'm really hoping that i'm the same) - does anyone know if there is any fact behind this rumour. :pray:

I doubt it... My mother had her first child with only 2-3 hours in labour. Her second went for an hour, with her being slowed down the entire time. My sister spent 18 hours in labour...

It would be nice if it were true and I could expect a quick, easy labour like my mother, though!

BW

Sorry babe, my mum was in 32 and 29 hrs and my longest labour was 5 hours!

Mum was 36 hours with my sis, 22 with me....

My 1st labour was 10 hours and my 2nd was 6 hours...

Ill take my labours over my mums any day :p

My mum was in labour eight hours with me, and six hours with my younger sister. I gave birth to my DS in five hours ... :D

Mum had two quick labours, and one 40 hour labour with a posterior bub. I have had two quick labours. My sister who was the posterior bub, had a posterior bub and a 40 hour labour! History can repeat....

My mum had 4 quick labours (my brother was born in the ambulance, didn't make it to the hospital in time!). My sister had a quick 4 hour labour and they told me I would have had a quick one too. My waters broke and contractions 5 minutes apart straight away but I had to have c/s due to placenta praevia. So, yes, think history can repeat....

I wish!

I gave my mum a 45 minute labour (such a sweet kind daughter arent i?!!), first and only baby.

My DD was 15 hours.

I'm telling myself this one is gong to be 3 hours :pray:

My mum had a 34 hour labour with me, her first, a 3.5 hours labour with #2 and an hour with #3.
I had a 36+ hour labour with DS and am hoping for a nice quick one this time.

My mum had 4 vaginal births, labours, in chronological order, were 9 hours, 7 hours, 4 hours and 96 hours. My labour with DD was 15 hours from Go to Woah, under 4 hours active phase.

Bx

Mum was in labour with me for 35 hours, and my sis for 6, and my yougest bro for 6hr VBAC (a PPROM c/s, no labour, with my other bro).
I had a 42 hours labour... interestingly... since I was the longest with my mum.

Morning girls

From what i can tell from everyones responses it really isn't genetic, you might be lucky and have quick births too but can also go the other way. i can only :pray:

Hoobley- O.M.G. 96 hours. the thought is enough to put the fear of god into me. your poor mum, that would be so utterly exhausting.

here's hoping for quick births all round for us all. :D

I had an 18 hour labour with DS.

However, mum's labours;
Me - 8 hours,
Bro - 2 hours
Bro2 - 48 mins
Twins - < 4 hrs - all the while they were trying to stop the labour as they were 33wks gestation.

LOL mustangsachy - that was my sister! She was 4 weeks late (mum was 44weeks PG!) and was born on my mothers own birthday. I once asked her "were you surprised she came on your birthday?" and she replied "Yes, because she was due at the end of October (came Nov 26th). And my birthday was on Thursday and my waters broke on Monday!". She said she walked her out - by the sounds of it sis was in a weird position and it took 4 days of labour to get her into the right position, then she came fast. She was born at home so i think mum found it ok, tiring, but not like having to be out of the house in a hospital for all that time at least.

Bx

My mum had 3 bubs and her longest labour was 4 hours. I had my hopes up, but nup, wasn't to be for me! My first labour was 37 hours and my second was 16 hours. If only hey?

ETA - Funnily enough my mum nearly had my sister in the hospital toilet and my sister nearly had her DD in the hospital toilet! :o

Mum's labour with me was 25hrs and my labour with DD was 20hrs - so quite similar.
Hope you have a short one (but not too short!).

I was counting on the genetic thing to kick in... but nope not for me. Mum had a 6hr labour with me, no tears or cuts, and 4hrs with my brother. Mum gave birth two weeks before her edd on both occasions. I was in labour for 27hrs, emergency c/s and 41wks so definatley not like my mum :(

My labour was the length of all three of my mum's put together + more.

I went into pre-term labour at 28weeks after my waters broke, and they stopped it a few times during 2 weeks before they just let him come. My labour time, recorded on my disharge papers is 344.25 hours. :lol: But I only count the last 20 hours, because thats when it REALLY hurt :lol:

I think it could only be coincidence not genetic. You have to consider all the factors in every labour to determine what might happen. Sorry not trying to dishearten anyone, but i wouldn't actually like to have an excessively quick labour, your body doesn't get the chance to get used to the pain IYKWIM!
My first labour was 8.5hrs and i was happy with that :D

lol oh i wish! my mum had my sister in 4 hours, my brother in 3 and me in 1. DS's labour was 11 hours and then DD's was 15.5 hours! So my second born was longer than my first!

I'd say 'possibly' but and this is a BIG but, there are SO many other factors which come into play for length of labour,

your fitness
babies position
your careprovider
drugs
your labour positioning
how many people are present
where you are giving birth...

etc etc.

I really dont think there is a link either. I'm pretty sure my mum was in labour with all 4 kids almost a whole day each. My Sister was in labour with her #1 for quite a while (don't know the exact time) and ended up having an emergency c-section... normal C-sec with her #2.
I, however, didn't go into labour naturally, I had to be induced 2 weeks after due date and had DS in 3 hours. Labour started at 7:30pm and Ben entered the world at 10:47pm.

I was so scared I would have the same experience as my sister because we are so much alike (same height, weight, body shape etc... we even look alike!).

DanniiM - I would actually say that the time length of my labour was perfect (for me anyway)! It was over so fast. I didn't get the chance to use any pain relief, but afterwards i was so proud of myself and felt as though i could really work with my body properly.

I'd be inclined to think that there could be a link, but that circumstances can certainly change whether there's a pattern, as Cyathea mentioned.

For instance, my mum and I both had posterior bubs with our first-born. Her labour was 30 hours (I'm a bad daughter :lol:), mine was 14 hours (and would have been less if I'd not had such a long second stage). I was very active during labour, ate and drank well, and used water and gas for pain relief. Mum laid on a bed, wouldn't eat or drink (because she was scared to, but wouldn't tell the staff, poor thing), and used no pain reilef. No wonder her labour went on for 30 hours, her body probably almost shut down! I think if we'd laboured in similar ways our labour lengths would have been more similar.

ETA I'm not saying that not using pain relief made mum's birth longer, just that with all the other factors, she must have been bl00dy exhausted!

Janie - I reckon there is a lot of truth to what you said about circumstances being different. Strangely though, the opposite happened with my mum and I! My mum was 20 when she had her first bub (my bro) 38 years ago. She went to hospital at night and they put her on a bed, shut her in a room by herself with some gas and turned the lights off! She was absolutely terrified. She still managed to have my brother in a total of 4 hours labour. I had my first DS in the same hospital as mum had hers, but I had mum and DH as support and only used gas. My whole labour was still 37 hours! It's sooo not fair LOL!

My mums were 8hr, 5hr and 90min.
Mine so far were 3hr and 90min. No idea about #3 as I havent had him yet but Im expecting mega fast lol
My sister is yet to have any kids.

I think that genetics CAN influence it but I also think other things factor in - how you labour, fitness levels, weight, bubs position, spontaneous or induced, personal mindset, use of drugs etc etc etc

We really dont know how our bodies will react to labour until we've done it atleast once! I have such quick labours because a) Ive dialated before I went into labour and have weeks of pre-labour cx's, and b) my cervix is a fast dialator. Just luck really.