Shoe size and time/ease of labor

AmyRI

Long story short - I ended up switching practices at 34 weeks (2 weeks ago). I now receive care from a pair of midwives. I met the first at my 34 week appointment and met the other yesterday for the first time.

We had a much longer conversation than I'm used to with my OB, and we got to talking about labor times. She asked my shoe size - 8.5 - and was happy that it was an 8 or higher. She said most women with size 8+ shoes also have a larger pelvis, which helps baby move through faster. (she did say it was just her experience - not any sort of scientific knowledge. But it did make me curious.)

Just wondering if anyone has heard this before, or if you're a STM, what is your shoe size and how long was your labor?

(My first labor was just under 8 hours, with an 8.5-9 size shoe)

ridesbuttons

There is a damn anecdote for everything, isn't there.  This is a funny old wives tale.

My personal anecdote is that I have size 6 feet and my last labour was 2.5 hours total.  My mom also had a 2ish hour labour with the same size feet.

So, there you go.

angelacez

Ha ha.  I have never heard that.  My first labor was 9 hours and my feet were smaller then than now(they've gotten bigger with each baby), but my second was 24+, and third was 3 hours.  I don't really believe in something like that.  I think it has to do with comfort factors, baby and mom's positions more than anything else.  My feet are now a 7, but I started off around a 5.5 to 6.

AmyRI

ridesbuttons:

There is a damn anecdote for everything, isn't there.  This is a funny old wives tale.

My personal anecdote is that I have size 6 feet and my last labour was 2.5 hours total.  My mom also had a 2ish hour labour with the same size feet.

So, there you go.

Hah. I was trying not to roll my eyes when she said it. I am a very scientifically and statistically oriented person so the comment bothered me a little. It would have been a shame if you had seen her and she told you to prepare for a 2-day labor!

annabelle.27

I dont believe it, but to answer your question, my shoe size is an 8.5 or 9. My first labour was 16 hours, which included three hours of pushing and an eventual csection. My vbac baby was two hours from first contraction to birth.

barnwife

Pre-pregnancy I was a 8.5 or 9 shoe size. While pregnant with J. my feet got huge (not swollen, just bigger). They were so big I couldn't find women's shoes in any store near me that fit. Labor with him was about 23 hours from first contraction until birth. Maybe 5 hours were really bad first stage followed by 3 hours of pushing.

My feet have gone back to a size 9. A.'s labor and delivery was about 10 hours from first contraction to birth. That was only 2 hours of really serious needing to concentrate contractions and 15 minutes of pushing.

KrisM86

Ha, I've never heard this before.

That being said, I'm a size 7 and had a 29 hour, very difficult labor with my DD. 

oliversmommy32912

Haha wow. Now I've heard everything.

I'm a size 8.5-9 and 4.5 hours of labor.  I do have big hips though lol.

My grandmother had a 5 hour labor, a 4 hour labor, and a 1 hour labor and she is a size 6. I think it has more to do with genetics.

sschwege

No never heard this!  My shoe size is 9 and my labor was 17.5 hours.

wifeofadam

Haha.  I'm a size 9-9.5 and only one out of three of my labors has been short.  #1 took 17 hours, with 2.5 hours of pushing.  #2 took 7 hours with only 10ish minutes of pushing.  #3 took 20 hours with 45 minutes of pushing.  #1 and #3 were posterior.

Nechie122

ridesbuttons:

There is a damn anecdote for everything, isn't there.nbsp; This is a funny old wives tale.
My personal anecdote is that I have size 6 feet and my last labour was 2.5 hours total.nbsp; My mom also had a 2ish hour labour with the same size feet.
So, there you go.

Yeah, I don't buy it either. Size 5 here with a nine hour labor. But I consider that pretty quick for a FTM. And I only pushed for about 10 minutes, maybe even less.

Temp76535187505890

Size 7. First labor 5.5 hours from water breaking or 4.5 hours from first contraction with less than 5 pushing. Second was 4.5 hours from water breaking or 3.5 from first contraction with about 5 minutes pushing.

aintmeamanatee

I'm a 7.5 and my labor was 6 hours start to finish, I was in the hospital for 1 hour. It's a cute thought, but I agree that it is an old wives tale.

RMama2012

This would have been a nice reward for my size 11 feet!  My labor was 24 hours of "real" contractions and about 40 including those I could handle easily (ie painful but could walk and talk).  

tokenhoser

My shoe sizes are 9 and 7 (my feet don't match).

My labour was about 14 hours, but only the last 5 were hard.

I've never really heard such a thing, but perhaps my big foot saved the day.

bandwife

Well, I'm an 11.5 and my first was about 17 hours. Also, had a 2nd degree tear and pretty painful pubic bone injury from it.

I think my pelvis is plenty big to birth whatever size baby I have but my shoe size has nothing to do with it.

I don't put any stock in that OWT. 

 

*LrCg*

I've never heard of that but I have heard that the size of your shoe determines the size of a baby you can birth (but neither me nor my midwife believe that either).  My shoe size is a 6 and my first birth was less than 4 hours.  And although my babies have never been over 6 lbs I feel very confident I could handle a much larger baby. 

superned

Shoe size = 7

Both labors spontaneous and med-free.

First labor = 15 hours

Second labor = 78 minutes

meltoine

Size 11.  23 hours. Would have been a lot longer without the Pit. Old wives tale for sure. 

Dman85

Depending on brands 7.5 or 8.....My labor was 25 hours long

cwm11985

Size 8.5, 22 hour labor...so... not true, sorry.

Hyaline

Never heard that...but I have size 9.5-10 feet, had a long labor, and a narrow pelvis (though it didn't impact the birth at all).  I wouldn't be surprised if the foot size and pelvis size correlation is true on average, though I'm not sure that there's a correlation between pelvis size and ease/length of labor once you rule out women whose pelvises are truly too small.

PansyPants

I don't believe it but I love these silly things!

I have a non-pregnant shoe size of 8-8.5 and last pregnancy I was wearing a 9.5 at the end because of all the swelling. I had a 17 hour labor and 2 of those hours were pushing.