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July 2011 Moms
What is labor? And a possible weird Q
I was wondering...what is considered labor? In terms of the length of it. I know it can last for hours. But I didn't know how it was measured, a certain amount of dilation, when water breaks, when you are in active labor, when pushing begins, something else?....or maybe this is matter of opinion?
I'm not really concerned with how long I will be in labor, because I guess I'll just do what I have to do. I just don't want to have respond to the question, "how long were you in labor?" with..."Uh..."
Oh and another labor Q, ...can you be "good" at it? Good at giving at giving birth? this seems something hard to measure. Maybe some women are better at it than others? I was thinking given the exact same circumstances, same baby, same doc, could one woman be better at it than another? This is also just something I've been curious about, I'm not looking to be a Champion laborer or anything.
This discussion has been closed.
Re: What is labor? And a possible weird Q
You can be in 'early labor' for weeks and sometimes not realize it. A lot of people will clairify, "I was in active labor for 14 hours and pushed for 1 1/2!" Active labor is timeable contractions, that are opening your cervix. (at least this is my understanding)
As far as your other question, because I have no experience myself, I'll refer to my animals. I raise dairy goats, so in order for my ladies to produce milk, they have to breed and give birth every year. Yes, some are better than others. Just this year I had 3 different goats give birth to triplets. 1 goat was in active labor for 6 hours before birthing 3 within an hour, the 2nd was only in labor for 4 hours and birthed them all within 30 minutes, the 3rd, was in labor for 14 hours. (Yes, I spent the night out in the barn with her while I, myself, was 18 weeks pregnant, and it was snowing out. ugh!) She took forever, cried, never cleaned her babies and just laied there while I took care of them. She wanted nothing to do with them until 3 days later.
So, yes, I think some people 'labor' better than others, pushing will come naturally to some while others have to learn how. How your body is shaped would have impact on your abilities too, as well as genitics. If I have a goat that has a hard labor, 9 times out of 10 her kids will too.
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That's so weird that she wanted nothing to do with the goats for 3 days. Our goats. Our goats typically will ignore their young if they know it won't survive. No matter how much you try to help intervene.
Most hospitals and Dr's consider you in active labor when you are dilated to 4 cm. I considered my labor to start when I felt the contractions.
I don't think anyone is better at it than anyone else. I also don't think there is such a thing as the exact same circumstances because no one will ever deliver the same baby in the same body on the same day, etc. Sure, some people handle the pain better than others but it's impossible to compare one person's pain to another so you really will never know if they actually did handle it as well, ya know?
I think a lot of it had to do with her udder, her teats got so hot and swollen it was very painful for her to nurse them, so until the swelling went down (she wasn't engorged with milk, just heat/fluid) she wanted nothing to do with them. So, that, plus a sucky labor for her made her not want her kids. She did eventually accept them and was an awesome mom. All the kids are happy and healthy too.