How do you determine length of labour?

I read heaps of posts about people saying their labour was X hrs and X mins and I wonder how they time it. People ask me "how long were your labours?" and I'm not really sure how to answer. Do you time it from first symptom/pain or what? Is there a "rule' that people follow for this?

With my first, it started with water breaking but no contractions until few hours later. So how many hours do I say - baby was born 10hrs after water breaks, 7hrs after 1st contraction, and 3hrs after 'strong' contractions (from 4cm dilated). So how long was my labour? With my second I had mild pain all night but didn't actually know I was in labour until 2 hours before baby was born (arrived at hossy 10cm dilated, baby born 1hr later) - so how long do I say my labour was here? Everyone else seems to know theirs!

I go from when contractions start - if they're fairly regular. My first labour they started at 8 mins apart, so that's when I counted from.

It can get tricky if you've been having contractions on and off for a few days before birth, but I guess I go from when things were established. So for you, I'd say 7 hours.

Someone might be along with a different definition, but that's how I see it. :)

Ive always gone after 1st contraction too.....my last baby i had contractions start at
2am, and i had her at 5.08am.... so a 3 hour labour i say.....my labours have always been (fast !!) contractions....waters breaking...bit of pushing.......baby......:lol:

Hi,

I've always said mine was 5 hours, going on established contractions too. But I think, 'officially,' is it from 4 cm's dilated? Or that's what they put on hospital discharge papers anyway- mine say 3 hours, 2 minutes.

I'm totally confused on this too!

My labour was:

18-20 hours from first "contraction" (my BH just got stronger and more regular until eventually they were a tiny bit ouchy at the peaks - i was asleep at the time, but would wake up every now and then with one)

16hours from breaking of waters (i went back to sleep after this happened though!)

6 hours from strong (i.e. couldn't talk through them, was in the bath for help with the pain) contractions starting.

Estimated (by midwife) as under 3 hours from 4cm-birth (i was 2-3 at 2.30pm, DD was born at 6.20pm)

Also i never got to really push because they thought i wasn't dilated, so my second stage, on my medical notes, is written as 7 minutes (which was 2 contractions and the gap between them), but i was fighting the urge to push for well over 2 hours!

Bx

This is a good thread.... i've always wondered the same thing.

I figured it would just be from when contractions are regular enough to be timing them.... :dunno: ? Look forward to the posts.....

I would like to know how people recall their birth experience with exact times like to minutes!! How on earth do you remember what happened at what TIME?? :lol:

I have always understood it to be from the start of active labour, usually around 4cms dilation, to the birth of the baby. Before that you're usually only niggling and contractions aren't usually consistent or strong enough. That said though, some women will labour strongly the entire time

I thought officially it was from the start of active labour too - same as Trillian.

But, personally, I say my labour was three days because I had a very long prelabour and my waters broke two days she was born so for those three days I was on alert and didn't get much sleep - 7 hours over 3 days to be precise.

For me, I FELT like I was in labour for three days, so that's the story I stick to and bugger officialdom.

Trust me Ren, you do notice the time! Although time went really wacky for me during labour, (apparently this is common), I still knew what time it was when my waters broke, when I had my first contraction, and what time DS was born. It really sticks in your mind! It's just the time in between that really freaked me out! I sooooooo didn't believe my DH and middy everytime I asked what time it was. They actually had to show me the clock, I just couldn't believe how much time had passed! Fortunately I wasn't that interested and only asked a couple of times during the 14 hours ;)

Yeah, good question.

Plus, isn't it amazing how incredibly different - yet how much the same, each woman's labour can be!

I was told that labour is counted when a woman is considered to be in "established labour" but never found out what that was??

I was one of those strongly labouring for a few days, started with 10 min apart contractions at midnight on a Sunday/Monday which kept me from sleeping and delivered my DD at midnight on Tuesday/Wednesday. So 48 hours by my calculations!

However, I usually say 36 hours as this is when the contractions went from 'ouchie' that wasn't pleasant to 'holy moly' and began to really ramp up! Plus I always feel that if I say 48 hours people won't believe me!

And of course that all meant 3 nights without sleep... that was much more torturous than the actual labour ;)!

Ive always been asked 'What time did you really start feeling the contractions getting stronger and you felt that you were not in control of the situation'.....and they have taken the time from there.

My hospital counted it from the start of regular contractions.

If it was active labour I would have had a 3 hour labour woot!!!

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How on earth do you remember what happened at what TIME??

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...thats what your DH is for.....;)...

With every birth ive always written a birth story straight away (i.e on my hospital bed), as i tend to forget the little details, and its the little details that i love to read back on.....so yeah, i guess i kept a diary of the exact times too of each birth......

The times i remember...
3am - my waters broke. I remember so vividly because XP had gone out to his mates (despite me begging him not to, i was 11 days overdue!) and wasn't in bed next to me and i thought "where the heck is he at 3am!?!)

2.30pm - my only VE which found me to be not at all in labour - i think the trauma of feeling slightly "pushy" at the peaks and then being told i'd have to deal with that for "at least 12 more hours" by the guessing-with-the-textbook midwife made the time stick in my head.

6.10ish - they tell me to go pee then they'll check and see if i'm in "real" labour yet - i worked this out from the knowledge that if the membranes are gone already they limit VE's to 4-hourly and the fact that my 2nd stage was written as 7mins and they counted it as beginning when i lay down after going to the loo.

6.20pm - DD was born - you will NEVER forget this time! It was written on the card we took to get her birth registered too. :)

If i counted from when i felt the contractions were out-of-control i would say my labour was about 90 minutes.

Bx

This is such a great question, and such a grey thing to define!

Technically speaking, from some of the definitions here (such as 4cm dilated is when you're in "active" labour) I was never in active labour, but had DD 40 hours after my waters broke!

When my waters broke (7.30am), I was only having the odd BH-type contraction with the odd painful one chucked in here and there for the 1st 13 hours after. From there, I started having much ouchier contractions every 6-8 minutes (8.30pm), and they lasted like that not getting any further until I had a VE the next day at 2pm (18 hours later) showing I was only 3cm dilated.

I was then augmented on syntocinon, and I went from having 2 contractions every 10-15 minutes (they were still somewhat irregular) to having 6 contractions every 10 minutes, 3 hours later. VE at 7pm (4 hours later) showed I was still 3cm dilated though. Eventually the drip was switched right down, and I was back at 2-3 contractions every 10 minutes naturally. I didn't dilate any further in this time before I had to have a c/s as it was clear I wasn't going to dilate.

So if my body had have been left to its own devices without the augmentation, I probably still wouldn't have been in "established" labour (or only just), 40 hours after my water broke!

I don't know, but can you count being augmented as being in established labour? My body was forced into having more regular contractions, and I doubt it would have on its own otherwise. It's just another thing that adds to the greyness of the whole "length of your labour" question!

Miss C

the hospital times it from when you are in proper labour, so regular, strong contractions and about 4cm (I think?)
My first labour went for 2.5 days, but only 47.5 hours when you go from regular strong contractions.

My ob also said the 4cm thing but I have always gone from when contractions were regular and painful. Having said that they were never really regular until I had syntocin.
My waters broke at 11pm tuesday and I started having 5-7min contractions by 12am that night. Went to the hospital 10am wednesday but was only 2cm dialated. Laboured all day and night with the contractions getting to 2mins apart but I still wasn't dialating much and had had no sleep despite my doctor giving me a sleeping tablet, then at 2pm on the Thursday I was 6cm so they put me on the highest dose of syntocin and it was predicted I would have my bub at 11pm. Well at 11pm was only just fully dialated and didn't actually have my baby until 2:23am Friday morning after two hrs in second stage Olive wouldn't engage so then an epi and forceps delivery. So I say that my labour was 50hrs and my husband and mum who were there can verify it if nobody believes me. I also think it's a good idea to write your birth story soon afterwards as it not only helps the healing process which I needed but you also have a more detailed record of your most amazing achievement and can also reflect upon it when and IF you decide to go back for more.

The definition of labour is regular, painful contractions approx 3 in 10 minutes. It doesn't go by cervical dilation as everyone dilates differently each labour and it depends on which number baby you are having too. So a contraction is timed from the beginning of a contraction to the beginning of the next contraction.

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The definition of labour is regular, painful contractions approx 3 in 10 minutes. It doesn't go by cervical dilation as everyone dilates differently each labour and it depends on which number baby you are having too. So a contraction is timed from the beginning of a contraction to the beginning of the next contraction.

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So how does that work if you aren't in pain until transition? ;)

With dd#4 I felt like I was in labour for a month. I had a hindwater leak at 36 weeks, after having had contractions on and off since thirty weeks, with no cervical changes. We thought it was all stations go but then there was nothing. I just had constant contractions, with no change, for the next four weeks until dd was born a day after her due date. I didn't even know I was in labour until 5cm. The last two hours were intense but not painful until the last ten minutes or so.

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The definition of labour is regular, painful contractions approx 3 in 10 minutes. It doesn't go by cervical dilation as everyone dilates differently each labour and it depends on which number baby you are having too. So a contraction is timed from the beginning of a contraction to the beginning of the next contraction.

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Wow, i was only having 3 in 10 for 40 minutes! That was one of the factors that made them think i wasn't in "real" labour yet, along with "contractions not sufficiently strong", "no pain on mid or upper abdomen" and "able to listen and talk between contractions" - in retrospect i wonder if my first attending midwife was just unused to doing it all without the ctg as i could see my whole belly flexing during those insufficient contractions, she was testing how strong they were by bouncing her fingers on my bump during them. And i had no idea before labour that "real" labour was supposed to hurt all across my belly - i expected, and got, only cervical heat and stretching feelings. Once i'd had 3 in 10 for half an hour, that was when they asked me to go pee, DD was born 10 minutes later. Could it be there IS no "normal" with labour?

Bx

3 contrax in 10 minutes....if you're having contractions that are about a minute long (which is pretty stock standard once labour gets going) then we're talking contractions being three minutes apart minimum before you're considered to be in established labour.

Wow - I've seen labours where contractions weren't that close until just before transition. And once in transition they were five minutes apart again (v.common).

Just goes to show how much notice women's bodies take of medical textbooks doesn't it :lol:

You hit the nail on the head Bec. There is really no normal for labour. Every woman's labour is different and unique to them and of course there are exceptions to every single definition and example that can be given. I was only trying to help by giving a definiton of labour.