# How long did you stay at home whilst in labour?



## Coco14

I live barely 10 minutes from the hospital and would like to stay at home as long as possible. I know every labour is different but I was just wondering how long some of you were able to be at home.

Thanks! :)


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## Odd Socks

First time I was in hospital 10 1/2 hours after labour started & gave birth 12 hours later. 

2nd time I laboured "at home" (we went to the big shopping centre to keep busy!) until I got to hospital 7 1/2 hours after labour had started & I gave birth 40 minutes after getting there. 

xx


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## shinona

Contractions started on the Friday early in the morning but were irregular and then tailed off. We went out for the day and they were irregular but painful throughout the day. They became regular about 8pm after mucous plug went. I laboured at home through the night and went to hospital at 7am to be told I hadn't even started to dilate. Home by 10am and back to the hospital at 2pm when I was 6cm.

x


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## lauren28

Contractions started at 1.30am on Tuesday morning. I stayed at home all of Tuesday having contractions, got to the hospital at 9.30pm on Tuesday and Leah was born at 4.30am on Wednesday.

I definately preferred being at home.


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## george83

i stayed at home until my contractions were 2 mins apart. but i had quite a short labour for a first baby and when we phoned the labour ward they said i could come in but i'd get sent home again because my contractions had only really kiceked in 2 hours beforehand. i got to the hospital and had my baby 40 minutes later, trust your instincts.


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## Coco14

Sounds like good going Oddsocks!

Wow George, I've heard a few stories where the hospital say stay at home longer and the family ignore it and go in anyway to have their baby soon after! So yeah I will trust my instincts! Thanks.


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## Hunbun

I was in labour for over 19hrs in total. 

I managed to stay home 12 hours into the labour. When I got to the hospital they took me straight into the labour suite.


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## lizardbreath

with Jaymee I had went into labour at noon and we ventured to the hospital at 8 she was born at 1:50 am
with Katherine i went into labour at 10 got to the hospital at 1:10 she was born at 1:36 so I did all my labouring at home with Kat


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## goddess25

First time I stayed at home for awhile and eventually my husband was pushing me into the car telling me we were going to the hospital while I was telling him I wanted to stay at home.. good thing really as when I arrived I was 9.5cm dilated so almost ready to push. About 10m after arrival waters broke and then I started pushing. First labour was only 12 hours from start to birth and this was after 4hrs of pushing so pretty fast if LO wasn't stuck.

Second time I was told by my MW that I would probably go quite fast so to get to the hospital as soon as I felt my contractions getting stronger regardless of timing. Got there at 4.5cm dilated and LO was born an hour later.


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## happygal

With my first the contractions started at 10pm on Saturday, my waters went at 1am Sunday morning and i stayed at home until 5pm Sunday, i got to the hospital and was 7cm x


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## tmr1234

With DS2 i got my 1st pains at 10:30pm and they got bad fast went to hospaital at 3am was 3 cm 10 min later was 6 cm and got took down to labor ward. I gave birth at 6:30 am after pushing for 2 odd hrs to find baby couldn't get through due to a lip on cervix she moved that and he was out with in 10 min.


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## Coco14

Wow Happygal and Goddess, that's news I'd like to hear when arriving at hospital!


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## sequeena

3 days. I was 3cm when I was admitted (slow labour) but I was tired and in pain from contracting for 3 days. I progressed very quickly after that though :)


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## lynnikins

till about an hour after he was born then went to hospital to have him weighed and measured lol


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## MommyLoo

I had my first contraction at 3pm on a wednesday and didnt get to the hospital until 11pm Thursday night..... I kinda just knew that i wasnt ready to go but by 1030pm i was ready although when i got there i was only 3cm and they would have sent me home if the labour ward was busy but fortunatly it was quiet so i stayed.. didnt have baba untill 12:08pm on the friday so a pretty long labour. xx


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## Crumbsx

I ended up giving birth at home because I didn't have time to go to the hospital :haha:

Had what I thought was wind (but was labour pains) all night, but just went to sleep.

Woke up at 6 and my waters had broke. Wasn't worried so went back to sleep lol. Kept feeling the urge to push but thought I needed a big poo (I was so in denial lol) then woke up to bloody waters too.

When I finally woke up again, I really needed to go to the toilet. Got to the bathroom, felt her head, two pushes later out she came, the cord broke and the placenta was delivered within minutes. Got a second degree tear.

Due to no real contractions or pain, I didn't realise how soon I was going to give birth. You never know, everyones different.


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## RoxyRoo

I had a planned homebirth, but if I was going into hospital I would have gone in after an hour and a half of labour.

My contractions started at 2am and were on top of eachother from the start, it was very intense. By 3.30am I was throwing up, I think this was transition, my DH phoned the midwife at this point. But this is definitely when I'd have gone to hospital.

My MW arrived 2 hours later and my DD was born within 30 mins!

I'm certain that the hospital would have told me to stay at home after just 90 minutes of labour but my labour was only 4 hours from start to finish. Always trust your instincts :)


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## Sovereign

I stayed at home for about sixteen hours x


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## aymz1983

my first i went in after contracting for about 12 hours, but i was due to be induced anyway which is why i went in as planned (was 3cm when i got there so didnt need inducing but got to stay) and had him 21 hours after that - my 2nd i denied i was in labour for about 8 hours, then when i admitted that yes, i was contracting, i stayed at home another 6, so a total of 14 hours before i went to hospital, and was 5cm i think....had her 5.5 hours later


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## Blah11

A tiny bit different as I had a homebirth but I phoned the midwife 3 hours before he was born and when she arrived and checked me i was 8cm.


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## Coco14

Lynn I gather that wasn't planned!

Aw Mommyloo, that is long!

Wow crumbs! That's amazing!

Blah that's fast moving!


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## kaths101

yeah def go with how you feel and your instincts..

2.00 am had my first contraction in bed
3.00 am got out of bed
5.00 am had a really sharp contraction and decided to ring delivery suite contractions were every 6 minutes - they said to stay home and have a bath but I couldnt take the pain any longer and we were 45 minutes away from hospital so didnt want to leave it too late. 
7am arrived at hospital 
9.50am Had baby!!

So was really quick for me (first baby) and glad I went when I did!!


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## Kim T

With DS1 i stayed home for 6 hours before going and then spent 11 hours in the hospital before he was born (terrible experience). I then didn't get to leave to come home for 19 hours!
With DS2 i stayed home for 14.5 hours before going to the hospital and then he was born 30mins after arriving. I got to leave to come home 3.5 hours later!

:flower:


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## MiissMuffet

about 17 hours x


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## emilyjade

with my first i was at home until the very last minute, i was blue lighted to the hospital and just made it in time, if we drove he would of been born in the car! With LO i was induced so was there before! I wouldnt stay home as long next time for the fact of my labours are really quick and id be scared of OH having to deliver baby!


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## 30mummyof1

With my 1st i was in labour for about 5 hours before getting to the hospital where i was 5cm and ds1 was born about 9 hours later, he was stuck though and needed some help in the end so about 3hours of that was pushing!
with my 2nd -my 1st contraction was about 9.30am, got to the hospital about 1.30pm and he was born at 3.18 so much quicker!


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## mrsbw

Had my first 4 weeks ago - hospital 20 mins away so thought I'd go in soonish but coped so well at home that didn't really happen. 
Contractions became regular and more painful 9pm Xmas Day and by 11pm were 5 mins apart, stayed at home another 6 hrs until got to hosp at 5am when contractions were 3 mins and I was 8cm dilated. Hadn't even taken paracetamol, everyone was shocked! 
Had baby 5 hours later. Couldn't believe how quick and easy it was really. Nothing to be scared of from my experience although I know everyone is different.
All the best x


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## Coco14

Great news mrsbw! Glad it went well for you, hope I'm as lucky!


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## tinkerbelle93

I stayed way too long, and the baby came less than an hour after arriving at hospital. xx


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## elvira

We kept being told not to come in to hosp despite contractions starting 2 mins apart from the outset. Spent 9 hours at home in and out of bath feeling like a wimp with a low pain threshold. Got to hosp by ambulance after waters went to be told I was fully dilated. Delivered an hour later.


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## krismarie621

I never got to labour at home - my water broke while I was at work (I wasn't due to start mat leave for another month - I was only 36 weeks along), and because of that, I had to rush to the hospital. My contractions started about 30 minutes after my water broke and LO was born 10 hours, 48 minutes after it broke.


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## xx~Lor~xx

I phoned the midwives to let them know I was in labour and told them the timings of my contractions, and then did as they said really! I coped quite well with my labours in the beginning, and only actually went in when I was starting to struggle.


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## oread

I should have stayed home much longer than I did! 
Starting on Friday I "knew" labor would be starting soon, I was having a lot of back pain and could just tell. All Saturday was the same, but at least I managed to fall asleep that night. I woke up at 4am in enough pain that I couldn't sleep, and started timing my contractions (though they were just in my back). By 8am I was pretty worked up since I was having really painful back spasms lasting 45s-1min every 3 minutes so I was kinda freaked out. We went to the hospital but I was only 2cm! They probably would have sent me home but I was already 41 weeks so that was basically a free ticket in. My daughter was born at 7:30 that night, though I was medicated (which I think I could have avoided had I stayed home longer) and that probably slowed things down a bit. I highly recommend staying home as long as possible!


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## calliebaby

2 hours maybe??? I woke up with some mild contractions, went to the doctor as I had a check up that day. She checked me and I was 3cm and 80% effaced. She sent me to the hospital and 4 .5 hours later, my little man was born. :thumbup:


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## Coco14

Wow calliebaby! :)

Thanks oread. Although none of this matters now as it looks like I'll be going in to be induced on Monday :(


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## MonstHer

I slow labored for two days, then on the third day i stayed home. Went in finally when the contractions were about two minutes apart. I was 6 cms. :)
Good thing I came in when I did because i was gbs positive.
Gave birth 6 hours after I got there.


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## Coco14

Good going monstHer!


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## xxEMZxx

With my first I had too go straight in as my waters went first to be checked but was sent home, I then spent about 3/4 hours at home and went back in when contractions were every 3/4 minutes. I was only 3cm but they let me stay. With my second I got to hospital and was already 7cm after only having really painful contractions that were every 3-5 mins for about an hour before and about an hour and a half of dull contractions before that (which I had been having on and off for days anyways). I gave birth 39 mins after arriving at hospital! xx


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## emyandpotato

Until I was fully dilated. I didn't know this of course, I had been in labour for 3 days though and I was like enough is enough, I'm getting an epidural for the rest! Of course I didn't end up with an epidural and it happened to be very good timing!


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## rosie5637

i did 34hrs at home and 7hrs at the birth centre


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## Jesca

Hiya,

I'm the same as you, I live 5 - 10 mins from the hospital and the thought of being stuck in there for hours bored stiff terrifies me so I spoke to my midwife who advised that it's fine and perfectly safe to stay at home until 2nd stage labour and I'm feeling the urge to push, that way hopefully I will be in and have given birth within an hour or two :)

Good Luck!! xo xo


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## Kirstiedenman

I think it all depends of your pain threshold and how quickly you progress. I was only home for about an 1hr from having been checked at the hospital when my waters broke to when we had to leave but my labor was only 3 hours all up so I guess it just depends on how you are feelng but by my experience dont listen to the midife if you feel like you need to go in and they dont think you do just go they told me not to go in and if i had of listened i would have had my baby in the car. but at home is alot more comfortable than the hospial you just have alot more freedom to move around.


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## Coco14

Only just got home after a horrendous delivery! Went into labour Sunday morn at 3am and baby girl Indigo was born Tuesday at 11.14 by emergency C-section. Look out for my birth story coming when I get a chance!!


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## ohbananas

I was induced, laboured in the hospital for a day, then came home, I knew it was time to go back in when I couldnt control my body. Like I was shaking, uncontrollably and thats when I knew to go back in.


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## luz

My labor started atb3:30 am and I wennt to the hospital around 4 pm dilated to a 5. Had my baby at 10:01 pm. :)


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## fairy1984

first contractions 5am wentg from 20 mins apart to 3 mins apart by 8am so went into hospital then. however bubba wasnt born until 3am the next day as she was back to back so messed up my contraction intervals

next time i will wait as long as possible before going in (and assume i'm not having another back to back baby FX)


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## seaweed eater

Just wanted to bump this thread since it's fascinating to read all the stories! :yipee:


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## Button#

My waters went at 3.30am and I started having strong regular contractions straight away so phoned the hospital. They told me to give it an hour then phone back, when I did they told me to come in and I was 8cm dilated by the time I got to the hospital at 5am.


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## 1985princess

i was in the hospital 1 min before my princess arrived but i did have a 40 min drive and it wasnt by choice. my contractions was 8 minates apart when i left home but they told me stay at homes till they got to 3 minates.


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