I was in labor for about 16 hours. I expected it to be longer because my mother was in labor with me for a couple days!

16 hours sounds bad compared to the 12-14 average for first-time moms, but only the last 3 or 4 hours were really tough. For the first 12 hours or so I was in early labor and totally OK between contractions. So my active labor and pushing was only about 3-4 hours… pretty short for a first-time mom. The pushing only took 40 minutes.

I checked into the birth center around 1pm and my baby arrived at 2:40pm.

By the way, even though I had a small baby (6lb, 13oz) and I am a big girl (5’11″ and 175lbs at the end of my pregnancy!) it still hurt like hell! If I ever have another baby I will not be doing it naturally again!!

FOLLOW-UP:
In my earlier post I forgot to mention the length of the pushing stage: luckily for me that goes well: only 30 min. for the first(they say the average is 1-2 hours) and just 2-3 pushes for each of the others.As for the births, they were all vaginal, 8 with epidurals, one natural, one with gas mask, another PCA.I had an episiotomy(and stitches) with one, and tore with 2. I had Pitocin for 8 of them(for both sluggish labors and excessive bleeding), excessive bleeding with 9 of them, one preemie(35 weeks), one I had Cholestasis(and induced at 37 weeks to prevent stillbirth) and half of them were born facing up(“Sunny-side up”.)

From the time my water broke at home to the actual delivery, it was 24 hours. I had trouble dilating towards the final stages. In the end, after pushing for an hour and a half, I was moved to the operating room. The doctors were preparing to do an emergency c-section. I was determined to have a vaginal delivery. And out came a beautiful baby girl, 8 lbs. 10oz! By far my proudest moment in life.

And to answer the question, no I didn’t think it would take that long.

I was induced with all 3 of my children because of big babies. My first was 5-1/2 hours (Lamaze). I thought I would have time to get an epidural, but my son pleasantly surprised me! My second labor was 3 hours (Lamaze). With my third I was told I would only be in labor for an hour (we live an hour and a half from the nearest hospital) so I opted for a Bradley natural delivery because my second child was born “blue” as he was not getting enough oxygen during the pushing phase due to the breathing. Ten hours later I was in tears, telling my husband, “I should be in a postpartum room, eating a steak and nursing my baby – I WANT AN EPIDURAL!” He and the nurse did not believe me, stalled the epidural for 2 hours, and 12 hours after being induced I delivered my third son. I really give women who are in labor for over 10 hours and deliver their babies naturally a lot of credit – they are heroes. (PS: If I was do do it again I’d definitely have an epidural!)

Well with my first one I guess I was technically in labor all day but to be honest just thought I had really bad gas. I went to the hospital they said it would be the next day to go home. Went to the grocery store and then back to hospital. When I got there I was a 3 (dilated) I went around the corner to give a sample and when I got back literally two minutes later I was an 8. They ran me down the hallway. My son was born 45 minutes later.
With my second son, born in August, I actually got up and went to work. I am a school teacher. I decided that I needed to go home at 10:30 a.m., my husband said hospital because we thought the water had broken. We got to the hospital at about 10:45, the doc checked me prob 15 minutes later. I remember the nurse was like you just have to relax. And my doctor told her “Yeah, she really can’t, she is complete! Lets go. So I left work at 10:30, got into my room about 11:00 and my son was born at 11:30 a.m. I literally pushed like 4 times. But I went Drug Free both times.

To top it all off I was ready to go home that day. But they wouldnt let me.

To all mothers who had a time in the delivery room I admire you. I can’t even imagine. You go Ladies!!

I had precipitous labor – 2 hours and 45 minutes. We took Bradley classes and I was expecting 12-14 hours, too. We almost didn’t make it to the hospital, and I was in 2nd stage before we left the house. In hindsight I wished we’d just stayed home, but I was in complete denial that it was happening that fast, though my husband recognized all the signposts. We’re planning a homebirth for #2.

I was in labor for 29.5 hours with my first. Turned out she was face-up and had the cord around her neck, but everything worked out. I had a 7 lb, 8 oz beautiful baby girl, Emma.

I love the name Cheryl picked for her daughter, though I can assure her (from experience) that NO ONE will ever spell it correctly.