Does labour shorten, the more children you have?

[sophieee18]

I had a speedy labour with DS, just 3 hours 18 minutes from the first contraction to holding him. Everyone keeps saying 'be careful, they get quicker the more you have'. Is this an old wives tale or is it actually true???
I'm worried that I'll barely make it into hospital lol.

 

[summer rain]

It varies. While in general it's true things like the position baby is in can affect things. My youngest labour was very long overall because his position wasn't great but my two before him were approx 3 hours and 1 hour 45 minutes respectively. My eldest was 6 hours established labour xx

 

[LoraLoo]

First was a long labour, slow labour for 2 days and active labour for 12 hours

Second was around 2.5 hours

3,4 and 5 all around the 1.5 hour mark

I think first labours are often longer x

 

[Gemie]

First was 4 hour induction second was natural 4:20 mins

 

[x-kirsty-x]

Interesting thread my 1st was only 1hr 30 mins established labour I'm hoping for a repeat again this time round!! Xx

 

[chicka.chicka]

I've had 9 and they have all been different. With my very first I was in established labor for literally 3 days, then they gave me Pitocin to get the show on the road. I was in 19 hours of hard/transition labor after that, but there were a lot of factors that made the labor drag out longer than was really necessary. The next two were induced with epidurals and went about 6 hours each from start of Pitocin to delivery. The next two were natural home births that were about 6 and 7 hours from obvious labor contractions to delivery. The next one was induced with castor oil about 13 or 14 hours, delivered at home. The next one was induced with breaking my waters and lasted 13 or 14 hours, also delivered at home. With #8 I had a lot of prodromal labor. By the time I went into real labor, my uterus was so tired it couldn't do its job. I had strong contractions for 5 hours with absolutely no progress. So I ended up transferring to the hospital for Pitocin and epidural. After the Pit was started it was another 8 hours or so before he was finally born. With #9 I got into a good labor pattern for about 3 hours and we thought for sure she would be born within a couple of hours. Then the labor stopped completely and then I started bleeding, so we went to the hospital for Pit and epidural to just get her here. She was born 6 or so hours later.

So my experiences have been all over the place. There's no way to know if your second (or tenth) labor will be any faster or slower than the previous one(s).