Hi everyone!

was wondering how long everyone was in active labour for with their first?
I live about 30-40 mins away from the hospital I am booked at you see, but really dont want to go to the hospital nearest (it has the highest morality rate in Britain and is generally crap) which would happen if I called an ambulance. As my OH doesnt drive , we are planning on getting a taxi, I am just worried about my labour progressing quickly. I believe most people have a longish labour with their first, is this correct?

I was in active labour for 40 + hours with my first baby N ended up with an emergency section but i was induced early so that may be why.x

Hiya my labour was about 27 hours and I went into hospital after 6 as like you i live 40 minutes away lol. Just call labour ward and tell them you are in labour and tell them why you need to come in sooner. I did and they had me on the antenatal ward and I had about 4 baths untill I needed pain relief and then I went to labour & delivery.
xxx

I was in labour for 8 hours from first definite contraction to delivery - i went to hospital after 2 hours of being sure it wasn't braxton hicks and was already 4cm dilated then was another 6 hours before the birth. Everyone is different but i i found the advice from the midwife staff at the hospital very good and they seem pretty good at guessing when you should come in. Good Luck

hi lucretia

as a general rule most books say that u shld allow roughly one hour for each centimetre dilated so on this basis, theoritcally it wld take 4 hours to get to 4 cm, 5 hrs for 5 cm etc etc.but obviously this is just a rule of thumb and womens first labours can vary from anything between 3 hours to 50 hours. my mw told me to go in once u can't talk thru a contraction anymore and if ur waters break to go straight away as they like to deliver u within 24hours to minimise risk of infection.
speak to ur midwife about ur concerns of getting there in time as i'm sure all hospitals do things slightly differently.

xxx

I was in labour about 24 hours. My contractions were never very consistent so i called hospital and they said come along anyway. I was 5/6 cm dilated when i got there. Although i never pregressed beyond that and had to be put on a drip.

For most 1st labours they take at least 12 hours. The only problem is if you go to hospital and you arent actually in active labour they will send you home. Speak to your midwife about your concerns and she will tell you when to go. We were told to go when contractions are 5-7 mins apart and i live about 20 minutes from hospital.

I was in active labour for 12 hrs, however i went into hospital about 6 hours before that stage as my contractions were coming every few minutes so didn't know how dilated i was. I rang up labour ward and they told me to come in to be checked and found out i was only 2cm dilated. They said it was up to me to go back home or stay but decided to stay there. xx

My first was only 1hour 40mins from start to finish but i was induced by pessary and they believe I had a reaction to it. The contractions were close together right from the start so I knew it was going to be quick.

Once your contractions are coming regularly as someone said every 5 - 7 mins (ot 10 if you feel happier) apart give the hospital a call and explain how far you have to travel.

well my contractions started at exactly 6pm, they were 10 mins apart straight from the off, went into hospital about 10pm as they had quickly gone down to every 3 mins, by 11pm they were every 1 - 1/2 mins, this carried on until I had her at 5.58am. I know in our area, they tend not to go by how quickly the contractions are coming, but by how much pain you are in, so if you can't talk through a contraction when you are on the phone to them it is time to go in, i know this was the best way to guage my sons labour as my contractions never dipped below 6-7 mins apart.

they go on pain charlijoel? omg! i would never have gone in lol i could talk through all mine right up until 7.5 cms lol.xxx

I was in establisehed labour for about 10 hours I think. That's counting from when the contractions were about 3 min apart. But I had semi-regular, strong contractions for about 36 hours, so if you are anything like me you will have plenty of warning that something is happening.

my 1st was only 3 hours 38 mins from 1st contraction to delivery x

My labour was 19 hours in total, 6 of which were in active labour. It took me 1.5 hours to get to hosp due to bad weather.
Don't panic as stress can make labour longer. Phone the labour ward once you are having regular contractions and they should advise x

43 minutes, but labour in total was about 2 hours!

second labour was almost 16 hours cuz lo got stuck!

Hi
I was in hosp anyway with other problems and the MW did a check and said, oh, you're a cm dilated so you've started. Matthew was born by emer c-sec 54 hours later!!!! Wasn't all horrendous pain, I think the contractions started getting painful about 12-20 hours into that. My contraction timings were all over the place all the time and i progressed V V slowly. No idea when i started 'active' labour??
Good luck. I'd say perhaps have a chat with your HV or hosp where you're gonna deliver and see what they suggest.

was in labour for 20hrs wit my 1st

hi my name is Tonya age 23, i gave birth to my son 10th december 2008 i went 42 and a half weeks pregnant and i had to be induced with two tablets and the drip.My labour was 27 hours long with gas and air at the last minute. i was told at the end i needed a c-section because my son was getting stressed out but the time i got onto the c-section table my son's head was out so i pushed without any pain relief.
Dont worry go with the flow and think every push brings you closer to your baby. I was so scared but on the day i gave birth i decided to have another child in a few years time.x x

I was in labour for 8hours 40mins from my water breaking at 2:30am contractions started at 2:45am, was 3cms at 6am, 5cms at 9am and fully dilated at 10am I gave birth at 11:10am!!

It went Sooooo fast!!!!

I was induced at 9 in the morning, mild contractions started at 10.30 ish and proper ones at 1. Baby delivered at 16.56pm.

They classed my labour as 4 hours, from when the proper ones started!

i was in labour 4 6 hours and pushing 4 10 min it was very quick but was induced the day b4 but didnt do anything till the next day they gave me the second lot of pessary at 1 i was on delivery suit by 2 lol and had her at 7.42 pm 2.2.02 il never 4 get it lol

hi was induced at 9.45pm (thay broke my waters as i was 2cm) and i had samuel at 7.39am the next morning. thay said my labour was 7.39min coz at 12am that was when i was 4-5cm and was in active labour .i was pushing for 2 1/2 hr but in the end was cut 3 times and forceps 2 get him out but thay wasnt coz i was induced it was coz samuel was a big boy and he had a big head lol.(he asnt got a big head anymore) .my mw after said it wasnt a bad gong labour time as he was 1st and being induced early as well i was 38wk pg when i was induced coz he was showing up a big baby.

have a chat with u mw hun and go with the flow i now how u feel i live 30-40min away from my hos and i was worring all the time if we would get there i time im lucky my dh can drive. but in the end i was induced so i didnt have 2 worry anymore it will all be ok.

sarah & samuel 7month old