# how dilated can you be before active labour starts?



## RedString

does active labour always start at 4 or 5 cm dilated?

https://www.mothering.com/community...ithout-being-in-active-labor-other-dilation-s

apparently not.

the post that freaks me out the most is the one where the doctor drove the woman to hospital himself because she was walking around at full dilation, :wacko:


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## chattyB

It really depends on the woman - some woman have regular contractions from the start and are still only 1-2cm hours later. "Active labour" is usually classed as regular contractions, 5 mins apart, lasting 40 secs or more with dilation of 3cm or more and progressing.

With my first, I had the odd period type pain and a small "show", this went on for around 1hr, I walked to the shops, had 1 almighty contraction and decided to go to the midwife (thinking maybe this was labour starting). She gave me a VE and told me to get to the hospital as I was 7cm. I made it there with 20 minutes to spare before baby made an appearance. My contractions, or lack of, didn't materialise so although I was in "active labour", I had no way of knowing. My notes state my labour was 30 minutes (the time between MWs examination and pushing) with a 5 minute 2nd stage and a 4 minute 3rd stage. I can only remember having 2 strong contractions, the rest were mild irregular period pains, then 2 contractions while pushing.


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## nzblondie

Wow ChattyB, that was fast!! 

I was 2cms dilated for about 1.5 weeks, and 3 cms for a few days before I actually went into 'labour'. Had no pain or twinges etc at all, then I suddenly one day had my show, contractions were 2 mins apart straight away, 30mins later started throwing up, 4cms dilated when I got to hospital, 30mins later I was 10cms dilated and baby arrived after about 20mins of pushing!! 

So yeah, everyone is different! Most people would know when they are in active labour though as it's quite intense! :kiss:


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## emz_x

chattyB, I would love a labour like yours! As someone previously mentioned, I heard you only have to be 3cm dilated for it to be classed as active labour. Even if you don't realise when you're past 3cm, I still think it counts as active labour.


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## proudmumgoth

my labour with my son was odd !!! went for a walk and then watched world cup opening thing and stood up to get hubby a beer and all kicked off out went my waters and almost had little one in the car .... never new a thing lol


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## xCookieDough

*I thought it was around 4cm? lol, I was fully dilated 10cm when I got dropped off at the hospital, I was pushing (well trying not to) in the car sitting upright with my seatbelt on... the most uncomfortable position EVER, then I got outside the hospital went on all fours, started to take off my trousers and pushing lmaoooo oh how I chuckle now, but sooo was not funny at the time. I really want to do it again talk about adrenaline rush lol
___XO*


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## moomin_troll

i got to 2cm before i was induced with my first.
active labour is offical at 5 cm dilated and the pain gets its worst around 8cm dilated (transition)
at 10cm dilated not every woman gets the urge to push straight away, i had two urges to push and then nothing...i had a rubbish mw so i pushed anyway and later found out its common for this to happen and women should rest while they can before the finaly pushing stage.

this happens different for everyone tho


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## Rmar

I just went through this yesterday (student midwife) and going by the book that we learn from it is 3cm+ for first time and 5cm+ for subsequent. But there was emphasis placed on the fact that this is just by the book and can change with each women. Generally active labour is referring to one that isn't going to fade away like prelabour can do. So a second time mother could be 4cm and then have the contractions fade and dialation to go backwards and it be counted as prelabour but that would be rare for a first time mother.

And then there is other factors like the person assessing the dialation as 2 people can get 2 different things (biggest factor) and then genetic factors and the fact that 10cm isn't always the most dialtion a women can birth at, just the most common (also another reason for not feeling the urge to push while being 'fully dialted').


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## RedString

so would it count as active labour if you werent having contractions though? Thats more what I was getting at; people going up to 7, 8 cm without actually being in active, painful labour. blows my mind, :wacko:


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## a_missy

i went into hospital after about 5 hours of contractions, they got more and more painful (or seemed to) 3 every 10 minutes but when i arrived at hospital and was examined i was only 3cm dillated still :wacko: so really i wasn't even in active labour at that point but the midwives said they couldn't send me home because my contractions were so strong. 

i was in hospital about 8 hrs (regular, strong contractions 3 every 10 minutes) until my waters finally broke. i remember them telling me i was 6 cms dillated and i could not believe it. i was devastated it was taking so long! it took at least another 15 hrs until i was fully dillated and ready to push. all in all it was well over 24hrs in labour and i'd been 2 cm dillated for about a week before due date, i never imagined it would be so drawn out when it came to it. you just cant tell how its going to go for you. for some people its a few hours and for some its a whole bloody day HA


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## Rhio92

After reading through this, I wonder if there was a perfectly normal natural reason why I didn't get an urge to push. Because the MW checked me, and immediately got me pushing as i was 10cm, and I ended up getting a ventouse delivery because I wasn't gettung the urge... Seriously thinking about requesting a copy of my notes...


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## lozzy21

I was 9cm before i got any sort of contractions and even then they id call them tightening rather than contractions.


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## lozzy21

Rhio92 said:


> After reading through this, I wonder if there was a perfectly normal natural reason why I didn't get an urge to push. Because the MW checked me, and immediately got me pushing as i was 10cm, and I ended up getting a ventouse delivery because I wasn't gettung the urge... Seriously thinking about requesting a copy of my notes...

You can be 10cm and babys head can still be a little high so you dont get the urge to push untill it comes down some more.


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## moomin_troll

Rhio92 said:


> After reading through this, I wonder if there was a perfectly normal natural reason why I didn't get an urge to push. Because the MW checked me, and immediately got me pushing as i was 10cm, and I ended up getting a ventouse delivery because I wasn't gettung the urge... Seriously thinking about requesting a copy of my notes...

alot of women get to 10cm and arent ready to push for ages, and it really isnt anything to worry about unless the baby is distressed. 
my doula knows women who were 10cm and didnt get a urge to push for an hour so they had time to rest before the pushing started (my doula thinks its the bodies natural way to give us a break)

i think i mentioned it earlier in this thread i got to 10cm and wanted to push twice...then nothing. my mw was terrible and walked off so i was just pushing when ever and by the time zane got down my body wasnt ready for him to come out yet so i was cut


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## 4bubbas

When I was pregnant with my third baby I felt a lot of pressure and discomfort and needed to do number 2s one early morning constantly. I wasn't sure if it was the start of labour or not, though with my pregnancies before that it was...I didn't have any pains just a lit of pressure down there and I didn't feel right. That started about 3:30am and my son was born at 5:09am..I didn't have any pain whatsoever, I only went to the hospital because my other labours were 
fast and didn't want another unplanned home birth..well I got to the hospital (was driven) and was just expecting be to told to go home, I waited for the midwife for half an hour before I was actually seen..still no pain, just felt weird..I was talking to my sister-in-law having a normal conversation..the midwife came in and asked me a bunch of questions and she didn't really think/believe I was in labour (I wasn't sure either). She said she would check if I was dilating anyway as I was full term. She checked me out and said "you're 10 cm now I think you can start pushing whenever you're ready." I wasnt expecting that at all. It was a great relief not having any pain ( had pain with past labours)..5 minutes later my son was born (2 pushes).. I can't believe I dialted to 10 cm without having any pain. That was 5 years ago. I'm now expecting baby number 4 in 4 weeks and I'm really hoping i get the same deal again lol. Even past labours I had pain but very fast labours. I even birthed my second baby at home because I didn't know I was in labour til it was too late. My waters broke, I had about 10 minutes of very painful contractions and shreds out. No time to even think.


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## Dolly84

Aw my labour was documented at 1hr 18mins. My waters went at 6am and all day all I felt was period pain, nothing to take my breath away. Got to midnight and my mum said I should go to the hospital as I was contracting every 2 mins(she panics a lot) got checked at hospital and I was 3cm, I needed to be 4cm to be admitted so we drove home and even stopped for a pizza on the way, got to 3am and all if a sudden my contractions were coming one after the other, we drove to hospital again and they checked me and said I was a good 7-8cm so in 3hrs I had gone from 3-8cm. They just had enough time to fill the birth pool and 3 pushes and lo flew out. If we're lucky enough to get pregnant again I would definatly love another labour like that ;-)


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## teal

My contractions were frequent and less than five minutes apart from the beginning. My labour was less than 7 hours. 4cm to birth was less than 4 hours. 

As a previous poster I didn't have an urge to push at 10cm but baby was in distress so it was emergency forceps. It was a mid cavity which would suggest head still had to come down.


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## MummyToAmberx

3-4cm has been classed as active labour in hospitals ive given birth in.


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## noon_child

a_missy said:


> i never imagined it would be so drawn out when it came to it. you just cant tell how its going to go for you. for some people its a few hours and for some its a whole bloody day HA

I'd have loved just a 24hr labour!! (I think around a day is quite common in 1st pregnancies). I was 94hrs in labour - of course LOADS of that was classes as "not in labour" because I wasn't v.dilated, but after the first 4hrs the contractions were strong enough to keep me awake (and down on all fours) and all lasted over 50 seconds.

Not trying to make a competition out of it, just mean that it can feel bl**dy active even if a doctor/midwife says it isn't!


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## patch2006uk

I've never officially been in active labour! 

My discharge notes for this baby say 0mins first stage, 12 mins second stage, even though it was a 38 hour induction. My second was 0mins first stage, 8mins second stage. I don't labour normally, it seems I efface slowly and get to 3cm with irregular, not painful contractions, then my cervix pings to 10cm and I start pushing! It's clearly a flawed measurement!


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## sept2010

I also labour abnormally. I hve strong contractions. Transition type pains. Literally unbearable. They progress from period pains to that yet i dont dilate. Then i get to 10 really quick.
I think hospitals should assess each woman individually as opposed to using numbers to say when a woman is in labour. Having this sort of labour meant i was havin horrible pain and im not really one for exaggeraing pain. And wasnt allowed pain relief as i wasnt dilated enough to be on delivery suite. So i was stuck on labour/antenatal ward with other women calmly sat on der beds and me in absolute agony. I ended up with tachycardia and baby in distress and i believe it was due to stress and anxiety about the pain i was having and thinking they are not gonna give me anything for it and it was only gettin worse!


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## dairymomma

With DS, my contractions were regular every 5-7 minutes and lasting 60-90 secs for 4 hours when we went in. I was told I was a 1cm but in 'active labor' since my contractions were so strong and regular and they admitted me. Once I was admitted, I started progressing about 1cm every 1-2 hours and had DS 19 hours after my first contraction.

With DD, I had my first contraction and then irregular contractions for 13 hours. We went in an hour later because they had gotten stronger, were every 5-6 minutes, and I couldn't stand through them anymore. I was at a 3cm and the monitors wouldn't pick up my contractions so I was like, "Oh crap, they're going to send me home." The nurses said No, we're keeping you because we can see you are contracting (I was hunching up when one would hit and couldn't talk very well through them). DD was born 5 hours later. They said I was in active, established labor at admission even if the contractions weren't being picked up because an hour later, I had made regular progress (went from 3cm to 4cm).


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## wamommy

With #2 I had NO early labor, and pain started at 9cm like a TRAIN.

#3 I had totally manageable contractions 10 minutes apart and went to the hospital where they said I was already 7 cm! I think it's different for every woman, honestly. 

I know that this time the first tiny twinge I feel I'm heading straight to the hospital. :haha:


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## Dolly84

I laboured all day after my waters went at home, went to hospital at midnight as mum thought my contractions were getting closer together and was told I was 3cm. We went back home as I could breath through them. Got to 3am and we went back as they were more painful and was told I was a 7-8cm an ds was born at 5am, so I went from 3cm-ds born in 5 hours. And this was my first labour, didn't think it would happen so quick, but every body's different. I havnt a clue when to class my labour as active?


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## JenStar1976

6-7cm for me. x


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## x Helen x

pfffft I hate all of these silly hospital rules!! The hospital I had my daughter at considers active labour to be 4cm, they usually will not admit you or give you pain relief before this point. I went in with regular (and bloody painful) contractions only to be told I was 1cm!! They wouldn't officially admit me and refused me gas and air, luckily another midwife took pity on me when she witnessed me being sick all over the floor and let me go into the bath (birthing pool) for a while to ease the pain. Fast forward one hour and midwives are telling me I need to get out of the pool now and either go home or go to the antenatal ward as I "wasn't in labour" (yeah.... right) and low and behold about 30 seconds after that I told the midwives I was pushing. They said not to be ridiculous and stop it... I said "I can't". lol! about a minute later my daughter popped out! Much to the surprise of the midwives! I was very much an "I told you so" moment. 

So basically the rule book is a load of tosh. You know yourself better than anyone and if you feel like things are happening then be sure to stand your ground! I went from 1cm to birth in the space of about an hour.


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## emicakess

I get so confused because I was told 5 days ago I am 4 1/2 cm and 80% effaced, and I had a sweep done. Now 5 days later I am just crampy every day and have a few irregular painful contractions but nothing I would consider labor. Most of the day I feel fine. I guess I am in early labor. I dont even understand how to time contractions because its just cramping. I am a FTM too


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## Tigermom

wamommy said:


> *With #2 I had NO early labor, and pain started at 9cm like a TRAIN.
> *
> #3 I had totally manageable contractions 10 minutes apart and went to the hospital where they said I was already 7 cm! I think it's different for every woman, honestly.
> 
> I know that this time the first tiny twinge I feel I'm heading straight to the hospital. :haha:

This was right out of my story! Regular BH the day before, but they didn't hurt one bit. Nothing, then 9cm BAM! I was bent over in agony.


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## Perplexed

Ohhh!! I think as another poster said I also only had the urge to push a little bit at the beginning when I first reached 10cm...but then nothing for like an hour. No urge or anything...and I remember the OB telling my mom that we are just waiting for baby's head to come down a bit. They actually left me alone for a while and came back later. 

For me active labor was 3cm...that's when regular contractions started. I was in for induction anyway but they offer gas and air even before that point. I thought active labor was 4cm but it didn't seem to matter when my contractions were regular.


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