Pregnancy & Childbirth

» Angela England - I had a "long" labor although it was actually average

My first labor was about 16 hours total. I woke up in early labor in the early morning hours but went back to bed. When I woke up again about 7am I called the midwife to let her know labor had begun but not to rush. She arrived about 10:30am or so.

I actually had an urge to push somewhere around 1 or 2 (crazy how we lose sense of time during labor isn't it?) but it was discovered that becuase I had a retroverted uterus, the pressure on my cervix was uneven and not cause dilation properly. I just wasn't progressing.

I don't think Pitocin would have done much for me in my situation becuase it wasn't an issue of no contractions - it was an issue of my uterus and the baby being in a poor position.

In my case the midwive reached inside and lined the the baby's head up with my cervix properly for a couple contractions to make sure everything was lined up the way it should be. At that point things began progressing much more quickly, especially for a first time mother.

While 16 hours is actually exactly average for a first time labor I went from a 5 1/2 cm at 2pm to holding my baby by 9:35pm after only 25 minutes of pushing. Once we got everything in a good position things progressed much more quickly.

I think sometimes longer labors are required to help the baby get in a good position. Pitocin won't fix a baby's malposition and indeed, can actually CAUSE problems later (ie distocia) by forcing a baby down the birth canal who isn't quite ready to go. *laughing* Once my little guy got all lined out we made much better progress.

Angela

P.S. My second labor was only 2 1/2 hours so obviously there wasn't any recurrance of those issues. Just goes to show each labor can be vastly different, but still "normal".

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» Brenda Lane - I had a "long" labor although it was actually average

In response to I had a "long" labor although it was actually average posted by AngEngland:

I have definitely seen "your labor" pattern many times in my practice as a doula Angela. Your body is perfectly made to do what it needs to do. Pitocin only solves one dilemma - contractions. It does not help to rotate babies!

Brenda

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