Time flew by. Did it for you?

Hunterloren

I was just wondering if anyone else noticed that time just raced by when they were in labor? I was for 20 hours, but I recall looking at the clock and being shocked every time I saw how long it had been since I last looked.

katea81

Yes. I pushed for 3 1/2 hours and even though it hurt like hell, looking back it did fly by. It's crazy the tricks your mind plays on you!

 

SeptemberBride'08

Nope. My water broke before I was effaced or dilated for a grand total of 54 hours until I got my daughter and it was soooooo long and painful. I also had 3.5 hours of pushing, Im glad I'm not alone. Reading all the 3 pushes kind of stories was making me feel a bit of the odd duck out

fish000

Stupid FTM question to follow: How can you push for 3.5 hours? How does it work? And why does it take so long? Is that normal? How often are you pushing?

Hunterloren

I pushed for about 2 hours before they called it on me. I pushed 4 times every contraction. 

mommybrynn

fish000:

Stupid FTM question to follow: How can you push for 3.5 hours? How does it work? And why does it take so long? Is that normal? How often are you pushing?

 

I pushed for 2.5 with DD-- they gave me breaks to rest because it was EXHAUSTING (like 5-10 minutes) and then I was back at it. When you are in labor, all bets are off as far as "normal" goes.  My normal could your abnormal and vice versa. 

novasouthanblond

mommybrynn:

fish000:

Stupid FTM question to follow: How can you push for 3.5 hours? How does it work? And why does it take so long? Is that normal? How often are you pushing?

 

I pushed for 2.5 with DD-- they gave me breaks to rest because it was EXHAUSTING (like 5-10 minutes) and then I was back at it. When you are in labor, all bets are off as far as "normal" goes.  My normal could your abnormal and vice versa. 

This. They only gave me 2 hours to push, let me push for an hour, then left to go help someone else who was like crowning or something. When my midwife came back, I was SO ready that I pushed even when I wasn't contracting (just constant pushing cause it hurt like hell and I wanted him OUT) that I think 8 mins later, he was out. It really depends on your body, the size of your LO and for me, how pissed I was after 24 hours and a failed epi...  

katea81

My baby was face up so he had a harder time coming out. I pushed 2x per contraction and pushing was the only thing that made me feel "better". And I use the word "better" loosely! There is an indescribably strong urge to PUSH like hell and you can't control it. I only took a break 2 or 3 times because I wanted the baby out so badly and I didn't want to stop for fear it would get sucked back up by birth canal. haha. 

mintea

I pushed for 3.5 hours. I also wondered how that was possible before actually doing it--it seems absurd to be doing it that long. Time absolutely flew... I had no sense of how long it was taking I was just totally lost in the moment. There were a few breaks in there I am sure, but for most of the time I was pushing during every contraction for two or three 10 second pushes. I had an epidural so I felt where to push and when to push but I didn't feel uncontrollable need to push.

HappyToBe2012

It definately doesn't seem like 16 hours (first contraction to baby) when I look back at it.  Though pushing for 2.5 hours definately felt like it!  I had visitors for a decent part of the day, which I think helped pass the time.  And I took several naps.

92405bride

fish000:

Stupid FTM question to follow: How can you push for 3.5 hours? How does it work? And why does it take so long? Is that normal? How often are you pushing?

I pushed for nearly 3 hours with my daughter, she was sunny side up. From the other moms I know, this isn't that abnormal at all for first timers. Depends on the situation, but I pushed for the entirety of each contraction and rested in between (practically passed out because I'd been awake for 24 hours at that point). I kept asking why it was taking so long and my midwife just kept saying that it was normal and it takes longer for first timers sometimes - but really the reason was that she was face up - I'm sure it would have been at least half that long if she was facing the right direction.

For the record, she was not sunny side up when I got to the hospital, managed to spin around in the hour between when I was checked and when I started pushing. Fun! 

Oh and to answer the original question - it sure did still seem like a long time to me (the pushing part - the rest went fairly quickly)