What is the longest labor you've had?

[Mrs Mungo]

It depends upon what you call "in labor."

 

With my first my water broke and she was born 22 hours later. However, much of that I wasn't really in active labor and I think if the hospital had left me alone it would have gone the same as my other labors.

 

With my middle daughter contractions started one morning but weren't strong or close. They got strong in the middle of the night. We went to the hospital about 4 am. I was ready to push after about an hour. Three hours of pushing and she didn't budge. The midwife got the OBs, they decided to do a c-section. It turned out her cord was too short and she couldn't descend, otherwise it would have been fine. She was born at 7:30 am.

 

With my son I started contractions about 5 am but again, they weren't strong or close. We went to the hospital at 9 pm, got there at 9:30 pm. The midwife didn't believe I was in labor because I was only 2 cm. She humored me and put me in a room. When she came back an hour later I told her I had to push. At that point the midwives went into panic mode because I was, indeed, 10cm. I was pushing while they were trying to put me in a gown, give me a hep lock, etc. He was born at 11:30 pm.

[2greatkids]

Wow, I can't believe some of these times!!

8.5 hours was my longest!

[ereks mom]

With my first, my water broke at 7 AM when I was in my 34th week. ER was born that night at 9:34 PM.

 

With my second, I started having contractions at 6 AM when I was in my 36th week. EK was born that afternoon at 2:29 PM.

[SLH in ND]

I always say I was blessed with super labor/deliveries because I had not-so-good pregnacies (nausea/vomiting for 8 months with all 3). My times for labor: about 2 hours for dd#1, 20 minutes for DD#2, 9 minutes (no kidding!) for dd#3.

 

The girls always ask me to tell the story about dd#2 and how, at 5:30 in the morning, I thought she was going to be born in the car on the way to the hospital. We had to drop off dd#1, who had just turned 2, at my Dad's house. We called him and told him we were coming (a 5 minute drive) and when we got there we threw dd's suitcase out of the car, along with her carseat, then dd herself, onto the driveway. We sped off as my Dad was running out of the house, in his boxers. I'll never forget that scene of me, working real hard against the urge to push while shouting at dh, who was still half asleep, to just throw everything out of the car ... and dd, still half asleep, standing in the driveway ... and my Dad, still half asleep, collecting dd & her stuff!!:willy_nilly:

 

Sheri

[Mandamom]

37.5 for my first from water breaking completely (can you say gush) until delivery. I ended up on pit on the second day and pushed forever before she was finally born.

 

12 hours for the second from. No water breaking but I was nursing my first and felt a definite change in contractions.

 

16 for the 3rd. He got stuck and I pushed forever with him -- ended up fracturing my tail bone which was the worst part of recovery.

 

No epidurals on any of my labors.

 

Congrats on the girl.

[RedHen6]

My 5th baby was right about 72 hours. It was crazy and unpredictable the whole way through. In the end we found that he had a "velamatous insertion of the umbilical cord" which, if the labor had proceeded hard and fast, might have resulted in the umbilical cord rupturing which could have been life-threatening for me and my baby. So we think my body knew what it was doing in that case! That was my first homebirth.

 

My next baby was my shortest labor--about 2 hours and 45 minutes. Go figure!

Edited May 15, 2009 by RedHen6
Just realized 3 days is NOT 36 hours!

[JennifersLost]

SEVENTY-TWO HOURS!!!!

 

Ugh - I hate even thinking about it.

 

Labor started late one night. I went into the hospital the next afternoon around four, I think, after hours of hard contractions that were 10 - 15 minutes apart. They said I was less than 3 cm. I went home, took something (I can't remember what) that gave me diarrhea (the worst of my life).

 

I had horrendous contractions all night, all the next day and into the next afternoon. By they still didn't get any closer together. By that time I had the shakes. I went back to the hospital at some point that night and.....(you guessed it)...still 3 cm's.

 

They gave me interthekal morphine so I could sleep for awhile and pitocin to make me dilate and around 5 that afternoon I was ready to push. All the medication wore off and I had my "natural childbirth".

 

I pushed for two and a half hours and my son was born!

 

The first twelve hours of labor was "do-able". The next 40 or so hours were hell on earth. I couldn't cry it hurt so bad.

 

Sigh. My second son only took 21 hours and the third (a water birth!) took four hours.

 

My fourth was a c-section and took about 10 minutes!

 

At that point they gave me something to help

[LizzyBee]

With my second, I had regular contractions starting at 30 weeks. Sometimes they were so mild I didn't notice them very much, but they showed up on non-stress tests. When I walked, they'd get strong enough to make me double over. I had to go to the hospital several times so they could make sure I didn't go into full blown labor. I went off turbutilene (sp?) a few days before I hit 36 weeks, and we thought we'd have a baby any day. She didn't come until 38 weeks, 5 days!! All that wasn't really labor, per se. But it sure was stressful!

Edited May 15, 2009 by LizzyBee

[10Newtons]

I have super long labors...all of them.

 

My longest was with my 38 weeker. He was determined not to come out! Induction due to Bp...35hours.

 

Shortest 16hrs with my 7th...finally ended in CS because her head would not engage.:)

[Jean in Newcastle]

SEVENTY-TWO HOURS!!!!

 

 

I was the 72 hour one and I should note a couple of things.

 

1. I was told that I was unable to have a baby.

 

2. Once I got pregnant, I was told that I shouldn't get pregnant (oops! too late).

 

3. I have a muscle problem. When they tried giving me Pitocin I went into one long contraction that wouldn't stop. The nurses were yelling "turn it off! turn it off!" to the person in charge of the I.V. I think my muscle problem was why it went so long.

 

4. There was an earthquake in my city. Women all over the city started going into labor! I had to wait a few hours to even get into my room.

 

5. I was only semi-conscious by the end.

 

6. Dh was so scared that it took me 4 years to get him to consider having another baby- thus the age difference between my kids!

 

7. Baby #2 was born in 6 hours. When they wanted to give me Pitocin when labor stalled, we said "no thank you" and walked for miles up and down the halls.

[JennifersLost]

LOL.

 

I meant MY longest labor was 72 hours. Poor us!

[Jean in Newcastle]

LOL.

 

I meant MY longest labor was 72 hours. Poor us!

 

Hey, it's a tie! :D

[AuntPol]

Over 48 hours

[clementine]

You women deserve a medal!!! These labor lengths are unbelievable!!!

 

Mine are embarrassingly quick....my longest was 45min. after walking through the hospital doors. Not including the 1/2 car ride. My big fear was that I didn't want to be that exhausted looking woman on the 6:00 news who had her baby in the car on the interstate.

[Dirtroad]

49 hours from first "back" labor pains (1 hour a part) to birth... whew. It was actually 23 hours from water breaking to her arrival!

 

Glucose drip or some IV kept me hydrated and with energy. I didn't even need sleep.... amazing. They need to sell that stuff.... haha.... just joking.

 

edit... I just saw the 72 hours.... WOW! You are awesome!

[Katiebug_1976]

My longest labor was about 7 hours, only about 4 of those hours being with contractions. I guess I'm not much help. But my mom was in labor for 36 hours with me, and 48 hours with my brother. I'm not sure if there is a maximum "safe" time for labor.

[MommyJo]

With my first I was only two months into my 18 birthday and had no idea what to expect. I was 56 hours into hard labor and my epidural would not work. I screamed and wow! it was a very rough experience with MAJOR complications. The baby ended up in distress and came out not breathing which is still affecting him to this day. Oh and this was after being induced because of preeclampsia.

My second son was an induction as well and after 36 hours of labor they had to do a c section. I was pushing and everything but it just wouldn't work. Again, the epidural wore off an hour into labor so they had to put me under and my husband was not allowed in the room for the surgery. He was almost 6 weeks premature and 7 lbs 11 oz. The biggest baby in NICU.

My third son was also an induction because of preeclampsia as the other two were (I have kidney disease that makes it inevitable) and this time opted for NO epidural. I figured we may have to have a c section and that if so I wanted my husband in the room. So I screamed and fought my way through 43 hours of labor, began pushing and again the baby went into distress (yes, your starting to see a pattern). We had a c section and after they gave me the epidural it worked for an hour. In the middle of the surgery while my husband was by my side, the meds wore off and I could feel them cutting me. Needless to say, they knocked me out mid surgery but I got to hear my little man cry so it was okay.

All of my labors have been hard, induced, and never had any pain meds that worked. I do have to say though that I appreciate my children much more than if I would have breezed through it without any of the pain. With the first one I almost passed away afterwards because the preeclampsia moved to severe toxemia. I had to be in the dark for two days and was not allowed to have visitors or anything for fear of a stroke. We have our tubes tied now but I'm thinking of having them undone. I know, I'm a little nuts but we wanted a very large family. Maybe adoption though. :)

 

Congrats on the niece!!!!

[Brindee]

My longest was 14 hours from the water breaking (4am) to the birth (5:55pm). That was with my first. I had no epidural with him. The contractions weren't starting and his heart rate was right, so they gave me pitocin. Then the contractions were so intense and hard--YOW! Aomost at the same time the baby's heart rate dropped dangerously low, and I stopped breathing. They had a team working with me and a team working to get the baby out. They LITERALLY ripped that baby out of me! Turns out his chord was around his neck twice, so every contraction was cutting off his supply! As soon as they got him out, they rushed him away, as he wasn't responding much at all. They got me breathing again, but I was ripped all over the place! They had used forceps to get him out, and I was ripped all the way back, all up inside, and spread out all over. I didn't sit down without a pillow for a long time! He was 3 weeks early and only weighed 7-3.

 

My second I was sick the whole pregnancy! I swore I'd never do that again! I had an appointment on my due date, and the doctor said NOTHING was happening, so I cried! ;) 2 days later, still nothing. I was doing jumping jacks, stimulation, walking running (as well as you can with a huge watermelon inside!), and even made a rootbeer special (rootbeer and castor oil)---twice! NOTHING worked! I was so big I couldn't sleep, I wasn't comfortable at all, ever. I was getting exhausted, so I asked to be induced so I could have the baby vaginally. 3 days after the due date I was induced at 8:30am. Nothing much happened until about 10:30 am. The contractions were still quite bearable, but kept getting stronger. By 1:30 I was having full-blown contractions and decided to ask for an epidural (after my first experience, I didn't want to go through all that again!). 45 minutes later the guy came to give the epidural. I was shaking and having contractions fairly close together, They helped me sit up then he said, "Don't move!" In whateve state I was in at the time, that hit me wrong! Normally I'm fairly mild, but I guess I yelled at him, "Don't move? Tell you what...You sit here and have these contractions, and I'll tell YOU not to move!":glare::tongue_smilie: I started a major contraction as he was sticking the needle in, and moved involuntarily enough so that a small square patch on one thigh did not take. So I could feel all my contractions in that one square patch. Strange, and still very painful! They came and gave me something that took that pain away. After that took effect I felt so good!:001_smile: They told me when I was going into transition and when to push. I had a GREAT nurse that spent time preparing the area well, and I only had one small tear. What a relief! Now, I am tall (5'9"), but small boned, so don't have a lot of room for the babies to come out! But, this boy weighed 10-3! It was then that I was told that I have a kink and my first baby, and this baby had gotten stuck there, and wouldn't budge. They had to use forceps AND suction to get this big boy unstuck. There was a guy all scrubbed and ready to go for a c-section, since they thought they'd have to do that. He barely made it out in time! So inducement to birth was about 9 1/2 hours. I stipped breathing with this one too, and they had to rescusitate(I can't remember how to spell that!) me.

 

My 3rd I got a nurse that was like mom---sweet, acted like I was her only concern, I was so pleased with her! It got busy and she had to leave for awhile (ended up being 3 hours!) to help with an emergency birth. Her replacement was the nurse from hell! Right around the time she came in, they had broken the waters so my labor would start. Within an hour my contractions were very intense. I asked for an epidural, so dh went to find her. Nothing happened for an hour, then she came in with the guy and said since I was whining about it they would give me a "walking epidural", but not a full epidural. Why? Because it's only been 2 hours since they broke the waters, you can't be in that much pain yet! WHAT???? She never even checked me, and I was too out of it to get out that she should check me! Suddenly I started feeling the urge to push. My dh ran out to tell her (No, she wasn't in my room much, and when she was she was ugly!). She came sauntering in, "What's wrong now?" She saw my contraction and yelled, "What are you doing?" I yelled back, "I'm pushing!" That finally got her moving. She went running out to call my doctor. About that time the first nurse came back. My dh was frustrated, my sister, who was there with me too, was livid! She told the good nurse what had been going on, and this lady apologized and said not to worry, the other nurse wouldn't be coming back! HALLELUJAH!:tongue_smilie: Come to find out dd was face up, so this nurse reached in, and worked with my contractions to pull the baby past the kink and turn her face down. She stayed face down thankfully! But as the contractions got worse, I again stopped breathing! Not sure why I did that! But I was back and breathing okay before she was born. I didn't believe it was a girl auntil they showed her to me! :) They induced her 9 days early so she wouldn't be as big as my second, cuz he barely made it out. She was only 8-6. That labor from inducement to birth was 10 hours 11 minutes.

 

Our doctor said it would be a good idea if we didn't have anymore, so we listened and dh got snipped. We are thrilled with the 3 we got, and I was happy I'd never have to encounter the nurse from hell again!!!:glare:

[Vida Winter]

14+ hours extremely hard labor (pitocin-induced), plus pretty significant contractions for many weeks leading up to it. I was 2 weeks overdue.

 

My next two children were a lot easier.

[JenniferB]

With my first I was in labor for 3 days. I ended up delivering via c-section. If it wasn't for the Bradly Method, curse that method, I would have had the baby with much less pain and suffering.

[Brindee]

:blushing: Ummmmm, sorry I got so long-winded! I haven't told those stories in a long time, and went overboard!:001_huh:

[westcoastmom]

4 1/2 hrs and I would take that any day over my last one which was 20 minutes.