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dilation question

mrs-rogersmrs-rogers
in Birth Stories
Is there a general rule of thumb to how long it takes to dilate? Like if your at 4cm, is it approx. one cm an hour? I was told that but dont know  how true it is
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Re: dilation question

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    lara&aaronlara&aaron
    They like to see progress of 1 cm per hour. However, everyone is different, some go faster, especially if it is not your first baby. Typically if you are in active labor with regular contractions then your cervix should be changing consistently.
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    Lance&BeccaLance&Becca
    I heard from an L&D nurse that once you are in active labor they typically expect about 1 cm per hour. In the absence of dilation they look for other clues to make sure you're in labor (water breaking, contractions intensifying, etc.) With my first, my cervix was stubborn at 2 cm for about 15 hours despite incredibly intense and frequent contractions. Then, it dilated to 10 cm within 5 hours.
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    annabelle.27annabelle.27 member

    I personally don't think that's true. My friend is a L+D nurse but she's always the first one to tell me that doctors try to medicalize things too much. Some people are in labour for 24 or even 48 hours.

    I was 4 cms at noon and 10 cms by 9 pm. So that was nine hours to dilate 6 more centimeters. I think that's completely reasonable. I laboured naturally and problem-free.

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