"I was in labour for 3 days"...I keep on hearing people say this, is it true?

[Librastar2828]

Active labour from 4cm+ is considered "labour" mine was 19hours on paper from around midday Tuesday to 7am Wednesday morning.

I was contracting from the Sunday night though around 10pm right up until he was born. I don't care what anyone says they were labour pains, they were painful, at times unbareble and around 5-8mins apart lasting 50secs so I couldn't even sleep. I went to hospital twice before being sent home only being 2cm and was admitted at 3cm even though not active labour for a further 12hrs!

Not al are like this though some are easy and quicker but some like mine are long and painful and I needed my oh there throughout..

Yes you can be dilating for days/weeks and not notice but I think as soon as your hit with pain that's labour and in my case it lasted 3days!

 

[teal]

First contraction/waters breaking to birth - 6.5 hours
4cm to birth - 3.5 hours.

 

[tamithomas]

The longest personally I know as in people in my life so far is 42 hours. It can happen but it's not as common as people make it seem.

 

[BettyBoop152]

My "active" labour on paper was 43 hours and 1 hour pushing.. I had been stuck at 6cms for what seemed like forever.. no sleep no food and begging for a c section.. (was told no.. not entirely sure why)
From what I understand most hospitals try to let you go naturally as long as neither mum or baby are distressed.. IMO all births are different but to take it that llong it's ridiculous! Btw if I counted from first contraction it would have been 4 days lol.. I got sent home twice too xxx

 

[My_First]

Okay so tell me, I was always only 1cm, I have having quick, fast, doubling up contractions, couldn't eat or sleep, and was on an induction drip for a day and a half with contractions coming every few mins lasting over a min never let up, still remained at 1cm, ended in a section FTP. So are all of you saying at no stage I was actually in labour?

 

[BettyBoop152]

I believe hospitals do say unless you are 4cm and contracting for a minute each time etc its not active labor.. but like OP said some woman never get to that point and need assistance.. so yes I'd say you were in labor hun xx

 

[lozzy21]

My waters broke at 2pm on sunday and i was 2-3cm and she was born on on tuesday night.

However im strage. From sunday till 3pm on tuesday i had killer back ache. Got to hospital at 3pm on tuesday because she had passed meconium, had about 3 big contractions to be told i was 9cm.

So you can be in labour and not having contractions.

Saying your not in labour untill your 4cm is rubbish! That is the hospitals talking! How do you get to 4cm if your not in labour?

 

[socitycourty]

i was in labor, in the hospital for 2 days. my water had broken at home on friday night so they kept me, she wasn;t born till sunday. then had to stay till the next friday as we both had issues after, i had an emcs due to infection and she had severe jaundice

 

[Mrs Bee]

From the time my waters broke to my emergency c section it was 33hrs 15 minutes... However my waters broke on the 7th April in the evening... I laboured at home until 4 pm Monday 8th in the afternoon... I was admitted to hospital because my waters had gone too long and i was only 2cm so they needed to start the antibiotics and the drugs to get the contractions going... I was transferred to another hospital due to complications with my baby stressing... I arrived there at midnight... They let me go to 6am to see if I could progress any further but it was doubtful and a scan showed she was coming in on a bad angle and would get stuck... I was only 7cm so they prepped me for the c section and by 8.45 my baby girl was here!!!

It was such a Traumatic birth for me and the first hospital I was at was really awful... Labour for me was as described... It hurt! What I wasn't prepared for was fearing my baby wouldn't make it... That was the scary part! When everything was going wrong I swore my girl would be our one and only because I couldn't go through that again but now she's here I'd do it all again in a heart beat...

Sorry such a long post but don't be scared.... Your labour cold be quick and easy or horrible... All that matters is that precious baby at the end... All the best to you xxx

 

[The Alchemist]

My mom was in prelabor for days while pregnant with me. Active labor started on the 4th day.

 

[hanfromman]

Unless your waters have gone then generally the hospitals only get really interested in you when your contractions are 4-5 mins apart and lasting around 50 seconds to a minute, or when you've been examined and are 4cm, although these often coincide! Well that's how it was where I am anyway
I was told to ring the on call midwife when my contractions get to 7 mins apart. When I did this she told me that they needed to get a bit closer together and more importantly, last longer.
My contractions started about 24 hours before they were 4-5 mins apart, and my midwife said that was quick for a first birth, so yeah you can be in labour for 3 days easily, but not active labour which is 4cm dilated onwards. Once I got to 4cm, my son was born about 10 hours later, and again I've been told this was quite quick so it can last much longer than that! I seem to remember the midwife at the hospital telling me that they expect half a centimetre an hour, so when I was 4cm I really should have had another 12 hours ahead, then a couple of hours pushing!
Labour can be looooong, and you will usually have a good day or so of warning - either your waters will go or your contractions will start. If your waters go your husband might need to be available a bit quicker, but if just contractions, probably nothing much will happen for a good few hours

 

[Anderson8]

From my waters breaking(4cm) to emcs I was 44hours

 

[magic93]

I was in labour less than four hours... 3 hours 7mins from first contraction to baby out...
I was induced so I was given pitocin, but even still I had no signs of labour at all before I went into the hospital, and this was my first labor... But EVERY labor varies, it is very possible to be in labour for 3 days... I cant imagine tho

 

[mrsholmes]

I was in slow labour from Friday to Monday irregular co reactions but painful. I was checked 2pm on the Monday and I was 2cm it took me until Wednesday 4pm to get to 4cm with regular contractions and I had Scott at 11.45 on the Wednesday night , do I say yes!!!

 

[d_b]

Yes it happens but I don't think it's super common. And for the majority of women who it happens to, the early stages are mild cramps or leaking waters. If I count from waters leaking my labour was 9 hours but I didn't feel anything at all for the first 4 or 5 hours then started getting regular contractions about 2 minutes apart lasting 45 seconds. So I count the start of my contractions as the start of labour. They didn't really change much so I feel like it was active labour the whole time which was probably 4 hours. I wasnt checked til i was fully dilated, so I have no idea when 4cm hit but I am guessing it was like 5 minutes in, lol.

My good friend had about 36 hours from waters leaking but she wasn't in a lot of pain until about 12 hours in. The contractions were still 10 minutes apart at that point so she had a long break in between.

 

[Radiance]

My sister was in labor for 3 1/2 days before she needed a c-sections. She had contractions non-stop, ranging from 2-5 minutes.

 

[SIEGAL]

Not always a long labor! I was in labor less than 12 hours. And the first few hours I was at home trying to go back to sleep - pain started waking me up at maybe 4 am. Thinking they were Braxton hicks as they were irregular.
Anyway - I assumed what you did that birth takes days as all you hear is to stay at home.
Well that's what I did and I'm lucky I had an OB appt that morning or my baby would have been born in the car. I was 6 cm when I went to my appt. By the time they wheeled me across the hospital and I got undressed in bed I was 9 cm. I got the epidural at 10 cm which slowed down my labor so I slept 2 hours and baby was born before 3 pm.

So don't forget - fast labors can happen so be prepared

 

[tag74]

I was one of those who was in labor 3 days. I was sent to the hospital on Tuesday am because my blood pressure was high. The began pitocin and induced my labor. Thursday around 5 pm I wasn't making good progress so they "threatened" a C section that I didn't want. She came 3 hours later. It wasn't the most pleasant experience but 3 days of labor is because I was induced.

 

[sequeena]

I started contracting at 39+6 and gave birth at 40+3. I was in pain for days but the contractions only ramped up at 40+2

ETA: I had a back to back labour which may have something to do with why I was in labour for so long.

 

[amelia26]

I was induced and it was 3 days from starting to induction to emcs. I was having contractions 3 minutes apart already when I went in but they weren't strong. I had two days of strong contractions 2-3 minutes apart but didn't dilate so it didn't count as active labour. I think it's a bit different with induction though. The drugs made me contract but not dilate (only got to 3cm)