Question for stm+

ChristyML

I had my son 6 months ago. I had been wanting to have a natural birth, but after a few hours in the hospital, the anethsiologist came in and pretty much coerced me into getting an epidural. During my pregnancy, I had no support for a natural birth, other than my husband. One of my aunts even told me that I was too weak to handle a natural birth (she herself didn't have one). I set out to prove her wrong and I didn't. I am dealing with PPD with some of it coming from the fact that I was coerced and such. 

My question though is how long were your labors? I was in labor for at least 24 hours, but when I got my epidural, it stalled my labor. Thankfully, I was still able to have a vaginal delivery. The reason why I ask is because I want to have a natural birth next time, but I feel as though if it's not "long enough" that it won't really be very empowering, kwim? 

TIA. 

LaurelBee

My heart goes out to you. I'm sorry you didn't have the birth you were hoping for! 

My 1st was 4hrs. My 2nd was 37 mins. Yeah... I still feel very empowered over Dd's birth, even though things went so fast. It was extremely intense and I was

AmyRI

My first labor was less than 8 hours, second was 5, and both were relatively fast. It had 0 impact on the feelings I have about them. In a lot of ways, short labors are harder. Everyone dilates to a 10, but in short labors it is super intense, both physic

beckyandmiles

I feel for you, especially dealing with PPD feeling disappointed in the birthing experience. I hope you realize that a lot of women experience this you're not alone! You ARE strong enough to birth naturally, don't listen to naysayers like your aunt. See

kdv77

My full labor was 20 hours. Active labor was about 13 hours. 

SarahinMD

I was 10 hours with DD1, I guess maybe will be less with this one. But who knows. I suspect a lot of the empowerment feeling comes with the strength of the experience, not the length. With DD1, we labored at home until we really had to leave for the hospi

annabelle.27

I had a medfree labour with my first, 16 hours of labour including 3 hours of pushing and then a csection. I had a medfree vbac with a short two hour labour, most of which was pushing. The two hour labour was by far the hardest thing I have ever done. Be

barnwife

Well, with J. from first contraction to birth was about 24 hours. Active labor was more like 10 hours. With A., from first contraction to birth was 10 hours. Active labor was 2 hours. The first 8 were NBD. The last 2 were...intense.

Both were med-f

aetg

ChristyML:

 The reason why I ask is because I want to have a natural birth next time, but I

MitoRachel

Between myself, my mother, and my sister we have had 7 natural births ranging from 1-8 hrs. We have all not really had early labor. The shortest labors were pretty much all transition whereas the longer labors had active labor and longer pushing. People w

nosoup4u

aetg:

ChristyML:</stro

LaurelBee

NoSoup- you should make a badge that says I went natural for the street cred.

But seriously, I agree. Dh says I "killed it" when he talks about my birth with Dd. Funny Bc I was totally out of control, crawling on my hands and knees, wishing that

ChristyML

nosoup4u:

aetg:</stron

ChristyML

Also, Thank you to everyone who replied. I'm sorry if I offended any of you with my "short labor = easy labor" spiel. I wasn't thinking that "short labor = intense labor only faster".

sschwege

My first was 17.5 hours from the point where I could no longer sleep to having DD in my arms.  DS was 5hr10min (2.5 hours of 'real' contractions, before that it felt like Braxton Hicks).  As others have said the faster your labor generally the m

nosoup4u

OP, I hope I didn't hurt your feelings! My rant was about this magical ideal that the world of natural birthers can have sometimes, and it drives me nuts. I've ranted about it on here before :.

ChristyML

nosoup4u:

OP, I hope I didn't hurt your feelings! My rant was about this magical ideal that the world of natural birthers can

CLLDLL

The birth of my first son was pretty similar to your story.  I was "scared" into getting an epi by my ILs and even my nurse.  It stalled my labor and I ended up with Pitocin and a 23 hour labor. 

My second son's birth couldn't hav

luvmyducks

Mine was 16hrs. I'm not sure about the empowered feeling. I was just happy my baby was here and healthy. I do feel good about how I handled labor overall but just not sure empowered is the right word.

maelli3

My first birth was 58 hours and my second was 31 hours. Both were unmedicated. I would say that the 31 hour birth took a LOT more work than the 58. Yes, the 58 took longer but the 31 was just... harder. Length of labor has nothing to do with how empowered