Typically, how long does labor last for your first baby?

ericamanuela · March 2012

This is my first baby. I'm curious, how long were you moms in labor for during your first child? I've had friends from 9 minutes to 52 hours. Which by the way, I don't see how the 9 minutes is possible, I have a feeling she's not being truthful because my doctor and I have never heard of this. Has anyone else heard of a 9 minute labor for their first child? If 9 minutes is possible that is one scary thought!

emasters · March 2012

Maybe she was pushing for nine minutes. Clearly you're in labor and your cervix doesn't open to 10 cm that fast. She should get her facts straight!

I would guess that it depends on too many factors, so there probably isn't an average, but who knows!

dreambig527 · March 2012

Maybe she only pushed for 9 minutes?

I'm a FTM so I don't know how long labor will last, but I do know that it's different for everyone and every pregnancy.

November3Love · March 2012

I'm a FTM, so this isn't me personally, but the women in my family have gone from about 18 hours-32 hours. I have a feeling my labor will not go for less than 15'ish. Not sure why I think that, but I do. I am planning on trying to labor as much as possible at home because I know once I get to the hospital, it's getting poked & prodded & whatnot. Also, it's only ice chips from there on out. I don't know how much strength I'll have after being in pain, after not eating, & perhaps not even sleeping for hours & hours... then to push out my son. Lord, I'm getting exhausted thinking about it!!!

As for the 9 minutes... whew! Maybe she just meant the actual pushing part?

LittleApple · March 2012

Contractions started at 4 am, baby was out at 2:47 pm. I pushed for an hour.

JulySpark05 · March 2012

Contractions started at 8pm, DD was born at 3:50am. I pushed for 2 hours.

ericamanuela · March 2012

I'm not too sure. She said she was at the hospital for something completely different, her water broke (she was 8 weeks early) and had her baby 9 minutes later. I don't know....sounds very odd to me.

My biggest concern is that I want to make it to the hospital on time! My doctor told me that being a first time mom that he wouldn't expect me to have a labor shorter than 2 hours. I hope he's right.

gracie__r · March 2012

I was in labor about 12-13 hours. Woke up about 2:00am, and it was probably 5:00am before I thought, "hmmm, maybe I should be timing these contractions?
We went to the hospital about 10:00am, and ODD was born around 2:30pm. I pushed for an hour to get her out, but it seemed like that part went REALLY fast. Waiting to push was the hard part.

Halle76 · March 2012

With my first, contractions started at 6pm but didn't bother me.nI actually had to call my sister to ask if that's what I was feeling. I let them go for a long time an headed to the hospital about 4am but still no pain really. I was set up and on a monitior by 6am and got an epidural at 9am. I started pushing about 1030 and he was born 10 min. later. My doctor said I had the easiest labor she had ever seen.

LouRN09 · March 2012

It will truly vary with each person and contributing factors (i.e. an epidural typically slows you down). With DS, I was in labor for 18 hours and pushed for 1 1/2 hrs.

hterry85 · March 2012

I was induced, but from the time the real contractions started (I kept having BH all day still) to the time she was born was just under 6 hours. I pushed for maybe 30 min?

khagan9368 · March 2012

There's definitely no "typical"

For me, I happen to have a ridiculous pain threshold and sat at home for HOURS!

By the time I admitted this was it and took the 20 minute ride to the hospital I was 10centimeters and it was time to push. My plan was NEVER for a med free birth but that's exactly what I had. I will say my recovery was super quick so that was a plus

whatyoudotome · March 2012

My water broke and contractions started 3 hours later. 9 hours after contractions started I pushed for 30 minutes and DD was bron. I have fingers crossed this one goes as smoothly!

adrianLO · March 2012

I was induced. They started to Pitocin at at 4pm and DS was born at 8:30am. I pushed for 3 hours.

pnf112208 · March 2012

Had my first "whoa i'm pretty sure that was a real contraction" around 11 pm. Labored at home until 11 am. Headed to the hospital, and got the drugs upon check-in (12 hours of back labor had me in agony). Started pushing around 9pm. Baby was born at 12:01am. So total of 25-ish hours.

apartyof4 · March 2012

It varies, but for me contractions started at 4:30 AM (monday) and DD was born at 3:04 AM (tuesday). Pushed for an hour.

superned · March 2012

I was in labor with real contractions for about 15 hours (started at 4am, DD was born at 7:20pm, I pushed for 50 minutes). I believe that's about average, but there is a wide range of what's typical.

taltal725 · March 2012

In labor for 8 hours, pushed for 10 minutes.

SallySunrise · March 2012

My water broke at 5:20am. Didn't feel any contractions before that, but it's likely I was having some small ones at least and just didn't notice as I was sleeping. After water broke, the "real" ones started. Ben was born at 5:02pm, so 12hrs labor. Pushed hard for 2 hours to get him out, and another 30 min or so after that for the placenta. Most women don't have to push much for that part.

alice2Bcheshire · March 2012

I was in labor with DS for about 9 hours, start to finish. Contractions started around 1 am, and I was able to sleep between them for the first 4 hours or so. I got to the hospital around 6:30 am, water broke at 8:30, I started pushing around 9:45, and DS was born at 10:25 am. I went med-free, so I was grateful for the quick labor.

Jodi2008 · March 2012

I was in labor for 15 hours including 4 hours of pushing. There is no way to predict how long your labor will be. I feel lucky it progessed as well as it did, and didn't drag on for 24+ hours.

judahsmommy1 · March 2012

With my son my first contraction was at about 10 on Friday night. They were pretty mild but definitely disturbed my sleep that night. Real contractions started about 5:30 Saturday morning. Judah was born a bit before 8am Sunday morning. I pushed four times and he was out. My labor with him was likely so long because his head was not in the right position. It was tilted slightly to the side. I got stuck at 4 cm from about 3:30 in the afternoon Saturday to sometime after 5am Sunday morning. (that was the last cervical check I had done before I was complete. By 7 am I was feeling strong pressure and had other signs that I was complete. It was obvious that my son was going to come quickly so I had to wait on pushing and they scrambled to get things ready.

lily225 · March 2012

I always thought the average for a first time mom was around 20 hours (2 hours for every cm). I could be remembering wrong and different sources probably have different numbers as well.

Mine was 12.5 hours which I was really happy about and thought was on the shorter side for a first time labor. My best friend was in labor with her first for 72 hours. She's pg with her second now and is praying dearly for a much shorter labor this time around.

I have a friend who just had her first baby last week and hers was 5 or 6 hours?

Clearly, everyone is different, but I think the average is around 20.

jesslinnn · March 2012

I was in early labor (time-able contractions) from about 9am until it finally picked up around 11pm. Labored at home until 3:30am when it started getting really uncomfortable. (I wanted to stay home longer but I was gbs+ so I wanted to make sure I go my IV in time) Was 4-5cm dilated when I got there but then it took another 13 hours before I got to 10. Pushed for 40 mins and DS was born at 5:40pm. So counting early labor it was about 32-33 hours.

CariannelovesTim · March 2012

Contractions started w/ Ds shortly after my water broke around 9 am and he was out by quarter to 6 pm I only pushed 45 minutes.

SGC29 · March 2012

Everyone is different. My first labor was 36+ hours.

NewlyWeds13 · March 2012

from when my water broke to when I was a 10 and ready to push it was 5 hours. Pushing was 3 hours 45 minutes. For me... with a sunny side up baby that was crowed and stuck on my pubic bone for over 3 hours, pushing was the worst part.

I was able to get him out with a vacumn or forceps, but it was awful. that is the part i am most worried about wiht #2. pushing.. urgh

mrsjenni · March 2012

This depends on a lot, but from my experience it was 7 hours from Pitocin to birth with DS.

I was induced at 38w due to pre-e. I was 3cm and 80% to start. Labor lasted about 6.5 hours and I only pushed for 30 minutes. DS was 9.5lbs born 2 weeks early so he was a bit of a monster baby

#2 was much shorter. Induced again but at 39w. 6cm and 100% to start (um, for 3 weeks!!) and labor lasted 4 hours and ONE PUSH!!

Sign me up for that with #3, thankyouverymuch!

pixieprincss · March 2012

My labor was exceptionally long--63 hours from consistent contractions to delivery. 3.5h of that was pushing. Baby was OP and then OT during labor, so that leads to unpredicable things. I think in Bradley classes we learned that the average for a FTM is 16 or 18 hours (can't remember for sure).

byrne15 · March 2012

I was in labor for 16 hours.

I went to the hospital after about 7-8 hours and was 5cm dilated.

mchupie · March 2012

I don't think there is really a "typical" duration. I had to be induced due to a slow leak. Pitocin was started at 4 PM and DD was born at 8:30 AM the next day, after 4.5 hours of pushing.

LaylaPartDeux · March 2012

I had contractions off & on for three days prior to DS's birth--they'd start up, get very painful & get closer together, but nothing close enough to warrant a trip to the hospital. That part sucked.

But after all that, I was only "officially" in labor for just under 11 1/2 hours (2 1/2 hours pushing)--labor started at midnight & DS was born 11:22am.

bakerchick81 · March 2012

With my first son I was in labor for 12 hours. With my second I was only in labor for 2 hours. Everyone is different and every baby is different but yeah I think for the first it takes awhile.

dmfan897 · March 2012

DD1 labor was 12 hours from first contraction to having her out [2 hours of pushing].

DD2 labor was almost 19 hours from my water breaking to having her out [18 minutes of pushing].

can't wait to see how this one unfolds!

FutureMrsLemon · March 2012

We learned in our Bradley course with our son that an "average" first time mom labors for 12-18 hours. When I heard the 18 hours part I about passed out. I thought that it couldnt get any worse than 18 hours. HA! Wrong!

I labored with my son starting Friday morning at 12am when my water broke until Saturday afternoon at 1:35pm. All in all it was 37 hours long with one hour of pushing. I could never have imagined it would last that long. I am praying for an 18 hour labor this time around (-:

Every mom is different. Dont stress about the length of your labor because you have no idea what it will turn out like. And nothing you do will change it anyway.

AC830 · March 2012

My birth experience was definitely not typical. I had my first contraction at 6:18 am, water broke around 7ish and my son was born at 9:26 am. I was only in the hospital for about 20 minutes before he was born so I probably pushed about 10 minutes.

If you are trying to make plans based on averages just remember that there are averages for a reason. Some go much longer, but others go much shorter. I never thought I would have been one of the ones to have a short labor.

They say that your second is faster and that terrifies me because my hospital is 30 minutes away, no traffic and I will have to drop my son off somewhere or have someone come watch him.

judahsmommy1 · March 2012

I wanted to add that, at least for me, time moves differently while you're in labor. I remember asking what time it was, thinking for sure that it was 10 in the morning, it was 4 in the afternoon. So the really long labor didn't feel as long as it actually was... at least not to me. The biggest problem with my long labor was that my body wore out. I just became very very tired. I know that other times that I've been in pain every minute feels like an hour. It wasn't that way at all while I was in labor. Everything seemed to go so fast. Other women probably have different experiences, but that's how it was for me.

Want a personalized experience?

Typically, how long does labor last for your first baby?

Re: Typically, how long does labor last for your first baby?

Choose Another Board

Search Boards