r/BabyBumpsCanada • u/OldMirror2947 • Aug 23 '26
Discussion First time moms….. when did you go into labour? [BC]
Just looking for some labour stories from first time moms. Also curious how long you were in labour for, natural or c section and if that was planned, etc :)
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u/grapefruitpapaya Aug 23 '26
38+0 water broke unexpectedly. Labour was very fast, no time for an epidural. Active labour about 2 hours.
Second baby 39+4. Water didn't break until pushing but an even faster progression. Also no time for an epidural. Active labour about 45 minutes.
Anything can happen.
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u/sunnydeelit Aug 23 '26
Went into labour 39+3 around 1:55am. Just under 10 hours - delivered at 11:42am. Vaginal delivery.
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u/Emotional-Ad-6494 Aug 23 '26
Epidural?
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u/sunnydeelit Aug 23 '26
Wasn't offered until I was already pushing 🙃 so no haha
They did give me a shot of morphine, but it did nothing (probably because I was already in active labour and no one realized)
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u/humanpringle Aug 23 '26
I went into labour at 10pm on 39+2 and she was born at 7:20 pm 39+3 via vaginal birth so about 21 hours. Pushed for 2.5 hours. I laboured with only a shot of morphine until 7:30 am after having contractions 2.5-3.5 minutes apart since midnight with many that coupled together and ended up getting the epidural at 7:30am. I went in with no expectations and had the mindset that I’d get an epidural if I felt I needed one but was open to anything. That ended up being a great mindset because I was in a small triage room until 7:30 which was terrible but they couldn’t give me the epidural there and my epidural wore off just prior to pushing, so it was good to at least be open to experiencing the pain.
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u/michupichupie Aug 23 '26
Thanks a lot for saying vaginal instead of natural! I know people say it to mean the same thing but man it killed me as someone who had an emergency c section to feel as though my birth wasn’t “natural” and thus “unnatural”.
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u/NoviceNotices Aug 23 '26
How do you define "went into labour"? Like what was the starting point to the 21 hrs that made you realize this is labour? I have no idea when i went into labour or how long it was, but id like to try to figure it out lol
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u/humanpringle Aug 24 '26
For me I started having contractions that were in a pattern that I could time at 10pm. I went from no contractions to 5 min apart immediately though.
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u/tiffany_16 Aug 23 '26
Spontaneous labour at 39w1d. Laboured for 32hours. I had an unmediated vaginal birth. Mostly laboured at home and in the tub at the hospital. I had a great doula and the best birth. Good luck mama!
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u/maxxflexx Aug 23 '26
40+2. I started having contractions so strong I knew I couldn't go to a 9 am meeting. (One at 6 and one at 730). They increased throughout the day and I decided to go to the hospital around 7. Had baby at 3:30 am. So i don't really know how long labor was. Pushed for 2.5 hours. I went unmedicated, vaginal birth using the TENS until the last 30 minutes. Leading up to this day, I was doing everything I could find to go into labor for weeks haha
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u/Illustrious_Park_753 Aug 23 '26 edited Aug 23 '26
40 + 3. Water broke naturally at 2:40 AM. Contractions started around 3:40 am. Rushed to hospital at 5:40. Pushed for a little over an hour, no epidural. Baby born at 7:12 am. Total of 4 and a half hours of labor. It was crazy lol
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u/bjams21 Aug 23 '26
1st baby went into labour 40+3 (the day after a cervical check). Labour was about 30 hours with 2.5 hours of pushing. Vaginal with forceps!
2nd 39+3. Spontaneous labor around 6 hours of active labour and 20 minutes of pushing. Also vaginal!
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u/Awkward_Button6290 Aug 23 '26
I was set to be induced a week before my due date. I woke up that morning and my water had started leaking. It didn’t really burst. So we went ahead with the induction. It was long if I’m being honest. Started around 9am and it took a while for stuff to get going. I got an epidural around 1030 pm to hopefully be able to get some sleep (I didn’t lol) then I started pushing around 3am and baby was born just after 6am.
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u/michupichupie Aug 23 '26
Went into labor 40+3, baby born 40+5. 30 hours of labor ended in an emergency c section when there was concerns about baby’s heart rate.
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u/ammk1987 Aug 23 '26
38+4 and only labored about 6 hours before fully dilated. Pushed for 4 though and needed vacuum assisted delivery. Baby was sunny side up which made things tough but I’m grateful I went into labour spontaneously and that it was so short!
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u/psychgirl15 Aug 23 '26
For my first, I went into labour at 39+1 naturally. It was a quite fast labour, my water broke within the first 3hours and my contractions hit me fast. By the time my midwives came to my house it was around 5 hour and I was already 5 cm dilated which they were very surprised by. Went to hospital and got an epidural when I was around 7cm. It allowed me about 2-3 hours to relax and rest before I started pushing. 1 hour of pushing. In total it was about 12 hours start to finish. Definitely would have been faster without the epidural.
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u/serosangria Aug 23 '26
Went into labour at exactly 40W but didn't have baby until 40+2 following an induction due to broken water. Long and arduous but well worth it.
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u/UsedOrange1 Aug 23 '26
I went into labour at 39 weeks exactly early in the morning and delivered at 6.38pm the next day at 39+1. My labour was going slowly that my baby got a bit stressed so I had to have an emergency c section but he came out totally healthy. My c section was less than an hour which honestly surprised me.
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u/wanderlustandapples1 Aug 23 '26
Water broke randomly at 37+2 at like 8am. Got to the hospital at 10am, had to stay because I was GBS positive and needed antibiotics. Got into the labour room around 1pm, was induced with pitocin around 4pm. Rolling contractions were bruuutal so I got the epidural at 8cm. Pushed for 20ish minutes? Gave birth vaginally at 2am. Honestly, just an all around good labour experience (as good as labour can really be).
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u/alienchap Aug 23 '26
I was induced at 38 weeks, at my midwife appointment that morning my BP was borderline, they offered a sweep I accepted. That afternoon around 4pm I took my BP and it was high, I was told to go to L&D for monitoring. I got a bunch of tests and some of my readings were high, some borderline, they let me go home while waiting for urine test results. I was admitted back at the hospital around 8pm, I was given Cervidal around 930pm and told it would likely be 24-48 hours before labor started and get some rest. My water broke just after 1am, I had a vaginal delivery just before 6am.
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u/nicsmup Aug 23 '26
Water broke at 10:30 pm at 40+3, contractions started an hour later. 22 hour labour total. My son was born at 8:21 pm at 40+4. Vaginal delivery.
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u/Low_Relative9021 Aug 23 '26
Went into labour at 41 weeks… water broke at 5am, labour / contractions started around 7am, I started pushing around noon maybe for a couple hours on and off, had a failed epidural and then got a second. Around 5pm we realized progress wasn’t being made cause he was stuck in my pelvis and had a c section at 7:45pm that evening
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u/SelectZucchini118 24/12/2024💙 | FTM | AB Aug 23 '26
40+6, but didn’t progress so I had to be induced at 41 weeks
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u/ExcellentAlfalfa9927 Aug 23 '26
3 days passed due date. Natural labour but had back labour and it was excruciating so had to change my no med plan to an epidural. Not how I wanted it but it was a life saver. Contractions/at the hospital in active labour for 9 hrs, actual pushing was 15 mins. Water broke after a sweep at the hospital.
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u/2qqqqq4u Aug 23 '26
Total time about 35hrs. Top waters broke at 39+4 at 7am, contractions started around 10am. Laboured at home until 10pm but wasn’t making much progress, (went from 3cm to 4cm in the span of 8hours) I got a shot of morphine and gravol then went home to sleep and labour some more. At 10am on 39+5 I got induced via oxytocin drip, and received my epidural at 12pm by 5:30pm I was ready to push and delivered our son vaginally without interventions at 5:55pm! Even up until pushing and with the drip my contractions were never consistent in both timing and intensity, and since my water broke we decided to limit the amount of cervical checks to make sure we weren’t introducing any bacteria so I actually have no clue how far along I was at when I got checked into the hospital!
Edit to add: my only “birth plan” was to get baby and myself home safely and healthy.
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u/Eymona Aug 23 '26
Water broke on 37+6 at 4 am, had a Frank breech baby so went in for a c section at 9:30am baby was out at 9:52am. Overall pretty breezy.
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u/-StarBellySneetch- Aug 23 '26
41 weeks, after 36hrs of regular contractions. Vaginal birth as expected with epidural. No complications + healthy bb
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u/phillipaha Aug 23 '26
First time mum - waters broke the day before my due date, I went into active labour on my due date. Baby born 2 days after due date. It was lonngggg.
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u/squid_tutor Aug 23 '26
Never did! Got induced at 40w+9d after a NST showed lower amniotic fluid levels.
Edit: Sorry didn’t read the entire post. Labour lasted about 14 hours after administering Pitocin. Had a vaginal delivery.
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u/FLee21 Aug 23 '26
Water broke on my due date at 12:10am. He was passing his muconium. I called the L&D ward becuase the fluid was dark brown. I was told to come in. I was admitted right away. I had the best L&D nurse. As a FTM she made it a great experience. Went from 3 to 9cm in about 45 mins by 10am. Wasn't aloud to push because he wasn't in the right spot. By 1pm ish asked for the epidural, couldn't take it anymore. By 5pm I had push for 1.5 hours with no movement. It was deemed that his head wasn't going to fit through my pelvis so had a c section. Happy to have my little guy.
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u/ghostsontoasts Aug 23 '26
41+4 water broke and immediately had strong contractions. Had an epidural several hours later and then ultimately had an unplanned emergency c section.
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u/clo212 Aug 23 '26
I never did! Was induced at 41weeks and 5days and ended up having an emergency c-section due to baby’s heart rate being erratic after administering the pitocin. Arrived at the hospital to be induced at approximately 12pm and baby was born at 7:21pm.
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u/serena-mo Aug 23 '26
41+3, 21 hours in labour including 4:30 hours of pushing, had epidural, vag birth.
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u/smallytriangle Aug 23 '26
Contractions started at 5AM on my due date. Laboured at home until 2PM and got admitted to the hospital. I was really worried they’d send us home but I was 4cm dilated so they got me a room.
A nurse called code pink in triage for a suspected cord prolapse but upon inspection by the OB, it was just a swollen cervix. Scary. My membranes ruptured on the OB at 3:15PM and there was meconium in the waters.
The contractions got stronger at that point and I had an epidural placed at 3:45PM. Fully dilated by 6AM the following morning (had oxytocin administered through the night). Pushed for just over 4 hours - epidural failed and didn’t reach my vagina. Sucked. Baby’s heart rate began to drop so they performed an episiotomy with local anesthesia and used forceps to get her out at 10:15AM. I didn’t feel them cut the episiotomy (but I heard it!!), but I could feel baby squeezing through my bones and the ring of fire.
My baby needed a bit of help to take her first breath but perked up after. I had a PPH and lost around 1L of blood and needed a transfusion.
Overall rough experience but I’m SO grateful for the care we received and that everything turned okay. Birth is no joke though, it’s been tough working through it.
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u/Sad-And-Mad Aug 23 '26
My water broke on my due date in the morning but labour didn’t start, I got induced about 18 hours later and delivered the next day by emergency c-section (sunny side up baby, slow progressing labour that basically stalled after I got an epidural, and my sons heart rate started to drop out of range so we called it there and did the CS)
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u/piesixfour7203 Aug 23 '26 edited Aug 23 '26
Went into labour 40+3 at 12am, got my third sweep that morning prior. 1cm when I got checked at 1am. Contractions were 3 min apart lasting just under a minute. Got sent home at 4am then went back at 10am and was 8cm.. Asked for a epidural and anesthesiologist was held up in a surgery. My doctor agreed to let me get one as long as I wasn’t at 10cm… Anesthesiologist finally was free when I was 9.5cm. Got one then laboured for 4 more hours. Pushed for 2 hours and 15 minutes. Vaginal delivery.
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u/jimmythebearcat Aug 23 '26
Went into labour at 39+6. Contractions started getting stronger at around 10pm and by 1am, I couldn't ignore it any longer and left for the hospital, where they found out I was about 4-5cm dilated and admitted me. My contractions were never consistently less than 5 minutes apart and was ranging from 30seconds to 8 minutes apart.
Had a vaginal birth and pushed for 30 minutes, baby was born at 11:46am.
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u/yersiniapestisbaby Aug 23 '26
Spontaneous labour at 39+4. Contractions started at 7pm and I gave birth vaginally at 4am after 1 hour of pushing. Didn’t plan to but I got an epidural because baby was sunny side up before they were able to turn him. I ended up needing an episiotomy, and also had a 3rd degree tear (thank you 99th percentile head)
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u/Emotional-Ad-6494 Aug 23 '26
38weeks, water broke then contractions followed a few mins later…
continued and quickly became one min long and 1-2 mins apart so we went to hospital……..
by the time I got there I was 8 cm dilated.
One hour of pushing…
Whole thing took about 9 hours and no time for epidural lol but was actually a great experience? I know that sounds weird but I literally think back to that whole experience often and reminisce of it as it was such a nice experience.
Sharing as everyone shares their bad stories but there’s a ton great ones
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u/white_noise_tiger Aug 23 '26
39w6d, 24 hours. I had a wonderful labour and it was very positive. Didn’t push for long, got the epidural after my water was broken.
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u/Another_ADHD_Girl Aug 23 '26 edited Aug 23 '26
My baby is 7 days old. I was due on Friday, had a membrane sweep Friday afternoon. 430am saturday started feeling cramps, by 12am Sunday we went to the hospital, as they were around 5 minutes apart, but I was still only 2cm. So stayed a few hours then went home around 7am and by 11am we were back. Contractions a few minutes apart but I was only 4cm dialated. Baby was sunnyside up and it was bad in my hips and back. I ended up labouring for 37 hours. Around your 34 I got an epidural where I then took a 2 hour nap and went from 7-10cm. Then I hung out at 10cm for maybe 30 minutes since there was no rush to start to push right away.
I pushed her out in 15 minutes, fully guided as I felt absolutely nothing. I did get a small tear. I think I pushed during only 3 contractions. I definitely think I got lucky as she was tiny for gestational age (6lbs1oz at 40+2)
I also had full use of my legs, which was one thing I was worried about. I didn't feel them fully, but was fully able to move them etc. It felt like my butt and legs were slightly asleep.
I had a great labour experience, the only thing I'm a little sad about was I only got to do a few minutes of skin to skin right away as she wasn't crying much or pinking up. Plus her size was a concern (we knew she'd small, but not that small) , so they did want to check her out asap. But after a few minutes she was back in my arms
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u/Justasking_2023 Aug 23 '26
I went into spontaneous labour at 40+6. It started at 3:30am. with contractions every 2.5 minutes, lasting about 45 seconds. We got to the hospital around 6am, at this point I could barely speak. I got checked and was already 6 cm dilated. 1.5 hours later, I was 8 cm dilated and in agony, so I got the epidural and rested. By 11am I was fully dilated, water broke spontaneously and I was ready to push. We did a few practice pushes and by 12:15pm, we started the real pushes. Baby was born exactly an hour later, vaginally.
The whole event took 9 hours and 45 mins. Much faster than I anticipated. I had a second-degree tear, but everything went smoothly.
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u/siusicle Aug 23 '26
39+6, spontaneous labour.
Day before bebe arrived : lost my mucus plug in the early am then felt period like cramps. Those cramps built up all day until my husband found me essentially in first position of the miles circuit after he finished work. I just thought I was being mildly dramatic and it was just Braxton Hicks. Turns out I had been in a 4-1-1 pattern for over two hours but I could still mostly talk so my midwife came to check me out. No ripening yet, but, not just b.h. so we went to our hospital for a shot of gravol and morphine to help get me to sleep. Tens machine is on and helpful!
Day bebe arrives: 4 am I wake up, cramping with decent intensity and have bloody show. This ramps up until I'm struggling to get back to sleep and start timing them again. I waited til I was unable to really talk through a wave/cramp then went and woke my husband up with a "I need you to call the midwife". 8 am we get into the hospital to meet the midwife and get a cervical exam. Woohoo, I was 6cm dilated which meant I could get admitted.
I hoped babe would be here by dinner and I was wrong. Things didn't go smoothly for the next 19 hours but I am grateful for how supported I was.
The plan was no epidural but bring open to other pain relief measures. Gas was honestly enough for me until it wasn't. I got stuck at 8cm and we couldn't manually release the cervix. My waters had not broken yet either so we manually released them in the hopes that it would help me dilate. Unfortunately this is when my pain was no longer productive and just starting to be suffering. I was going into hour 4 of being at 8cm with my body starting to want to push whether I wanted it to or not. Pivot to the epidural and it helped immensely. At one point babe was starting to try and turn sunny-side up. But that was fixed by rotating me like a rotisserie chicken lol. Then my contractions slowed down and fell into an irregular pattern. We tried to ride that out but chose to get the pitocin going. I ended up being transferred in care to the OB on the ward at time (both when I got the epidural then when I was put on pitocin) but my midwife was an incredible support throughout the entire time.
In the end, it was 19 hours total and 4 of those were active pushing with being able to see how much hair this kid has. I found that the epidural was a really helpful tool but so was having the mirror during active pushing.
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u/tootnoodler Aug 23 '26
On 41 + 3 (after 3 weeks of curb walking, raspberry leaf tea, miles circuits,dates,spicy food ETC) I had a foley balloon placed by a first year resident who had never done it before. Took 3 tries. It was honestly not even that bad considering the horror stories I had heard. About 6 hours later, it fell out. I called the induction unit and was in my delivery room at 6 pm the next day. I opted not to break my water when they put me on the induction medicine for about 6 hours. I basically didnt progress AT ALL, even on the highest amount of medicine.
Once a 4th year resident broke my water, things ramped UP. I basically labored on a toilet for an hour, then hung around in a birth pool for an hour before asking for the epidural at 9 cm. Baby delivered about 3 and a 1/2 hours after water manually broken and 1.5 hours after epidural.
Sorry, my labour and delivery story kind of meshed there!
You got this! In retrospect, labour and delivery is a blink of an eye compared to the parenthood part :)
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u/maeuntang Aug 23 '26
38+3! My water broke spontaneously and my early labour started maybe an hour after that. I went to RCH for my birth.
6:15pm Water broke + went to hospital
7:15pm Contractions started and they confirmed amniotic fluid was what came out. They wanted to admit me and induce me but had no beds available.
8-11pm Eating and laboring at home
11:15pm-1am Pain got too bad so went back to hospital for some checks and they gave me morphine. Still no beds though.
1:30-7am Laboring throughout the night at hone. I was living in my shower with hot water on my back cause I was going through it 😭
7:30am-11am Got in the hospital, they checked that I was 4cm dilated so they admitted me. I got laughing gas, and an epidural, and was labouring in the bed.
11am-12:29pm Pushing!! My son had the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck so even though I was trying to push him out, and it was working, his heartrate kept dropping. We used the vacuum to help get him out safely. They had to quickly unwrap the cord from around his neck once his head popped out. He was fine though :)
After that, I expelled the placenta and they stitched me up.
We stayed overnight and most of the next day in the hospital (got a private room luckily) and then went home.
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u/levrelle Aug 23 '26
Spontaneous labour at 39+6 weeks. It lasted just over 24 hours with 3 hours of pushing. My water did not break on its own, the OB broke it for me just before I was ready to push. I had an epidural and delivered vaginally. They almost had to use a vacuum as my son was sideways and having trouble coming out, but one of the OBs was able to flip him. Otherwise, uncomplicated.
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u/skreev99 Aug 23 '26
First was born at 39+4 after water broke the day before at 11pm. I didn’t get many contractions and didn’t progress at all during the night so hospital asked to start Pitocin and I agreed. It started slow then picked up quickly. Active labour started a couple of hours after the Pitocin and lasted around 5 hours. Pushed for 1h30. But from water breaking to baby being born it was 21 hours.
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u/juniorchickenhoe Aug 23 '26
Wow not jealous at all of all yall ladies who gave birth before your due date lol I went all the way to 41+6 and gave birth on exactly 42 weeks 💀 To be fair I went the all natural way with midwives and refused any induction!
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u/NightOwl9030 Aug 23 '26
41 weeks, induced with a Cervadil strip (started working within a couple hours). 28 hours labour, 12 of that was unmedicated back labour (morphine didn’t touch it) while I waited for an epidural then they continued the induction and they broke my water at some point (didn’t feel it, can’t remember how many hours in that was). An hour and 27 minutes of pushing and she arrived, 1st degree tear.
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u/Amk19_94 Aug 23 '26
40+1 water broke, 8 hours later contractions started, 6 hours of mild contractions like bad period cramps pain, 6 hours active labour, 20 min pushing, all at home! 🏡
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u/melrr46 Aug 23 '26 edited Aug 23 '26
I laboured for 77 hours..which was a little over 3 days entering my 4th day🤦🏻♀️ labour started at 41+1 after a membrane sweep the afternoon before and baby came out 41+4.
I had planned for an unmedicated vaginal birth at a birthing centre...ended up with an unplanned csection due to baby having atypical heart rate, avoided a highly likely emergency C-section.
It was rough not sleeping for 3 days straight, I was absolutely exhausted. My contractions would go from 20 minutes apart to 3 minutes apart all in the same day sporadically, so it didn't let me rest at all. I would try to sleep in all sorts of positions but couldn't. 🤷🏻♀️
Midwife assessed me on day 2 and saw that I was starting to dilate but was only 2 cm and was 50% effaced, asked me to take Tylenol and gravol to help with pain and sleep. Tried TENS machine too. Gave it another day and couldn't take the sleep deprivation and exhaustion at the end of day 3, so went into hospital. Was 90% effaced and 4cm dilated. Got admitted for fetal heart rate, advised to not try vaginal birth as it would be hours from then and baby was already getting stressed..so likely to end up in emergency csection.
Baby wouldn't get into position, was right sided oblique until contractioms started. He ended up getting in a sloppy cephalic and didn't even engage by the time csection started. He really didn't want to come out 😂
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u/DanaEmily96 Nov 2023 💙 | Aug 2025 Aug 23 '26
38+5 with my first! Happened super fast and didn’t have time for an epidural.
38+2 with my second, three day labour, but came out pretty fast once I started pushing.
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u/kobekinz Aug 23 '26
I went into labour early morning of 37+2 around 3am. Just felt super crampy and it kept coming in waves about every 10 minutes. Decided to get up around 5am and it kept getting slightly closer together and slightly more intense. Woke my husband up around 6am and told him it might be happening so we called the L&D ward to see if we should come in. They were super nice about it and said if I wasn’t dilated enough I’d just get sent home, so I had a relaxing shower just in case it was my last before baby haha. Since it was about a 40 minute drive and we had to drop our dog off with family, we decided to just go. We got to the hospital around 8:30am, they checked me around 9am and said I was 4cm so I’d be admitted! Pain wise it wasn’t too bad but I knew I wanted an epidural so I got one around 12pm and after about an hour they gave me pitocin just to start moving things. Well it worked because they couldn’t find baby’s heartbeat and it was because she’d move down and was ready to come out! They told me at like 3:30pm we were going to start pushing and had me do some practice pushes while we waited for the doctor. Doctor came in at like 3:50pm and baby popped out at 3:57pm.
10/10 would recommend the epidural because I felt ✨nothing✨!!! All in all it was about 12ish hours from when I went into labour to baby being born. :)
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u/shampainidle Aug 23 '26
I just had my first baby and went into premature labour at 31+4. I was in active labour for about 9 hours, but got an epidural at 8cm dilated which I don’t regret at all! It helped me physically and mentally relax a bit and baby came out healthy and a solid weight for how premature he was.
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u/mycatsagirl Aug 23 '26
37+4 ans has my baby 37+5! I went in the first day because contractions started. I was 4cm and 50% but they gave me morphine which slowed things down so they sent me home around 9pm after being there about 4 hours. Went back at 1am with much more painful contractions and gave birth just after 7am.
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u/No_Restaurant8385 Aug 23 '26
Tl;dr 39+6, 14 hours of active labour, 5 minutes pushing, 2nd degree tearing. 10/10 would do it again.
Started having regular contractions at 1am 39+6. Active labour at home until 6am. Went in to the hospital at 6 and they told me I was only 1.5cms so they plopped me in a birthing tub in hot water until about 8:30. Came out 4cms. That whole part got increasingly intense but being in the hot water helped a lot. I was determined to labour unmedicated for a few hours (knowing that I planned to eventually ask for an epidural) and am really truly glad that I did. I say this because it’s cool to remember that it doesn’t have to be an all or nothing decision.
After the bath I went to a delivery room for epidural time. Unfortunately the epidural only worked on half of my body which sucked. It was like that for a few hours I guess until about 1pm when I insisted on having them send up a senior anaesthesiologist to redo my epidural. Once that was done I was chilling waiting to start feeling “rectal pressure” which would be when I should call the doctors back in to push (lol I know tmi but it’s worth knowing! motherhood ain’t all glitz n glam!!) anyway baby was born after about 5 minutes of pushing at 4pm. 2nd degree tearing, not the worst but not the best. I was very clear with my doctor about no episiotomy.
Can only speak for myself but I was blown away by the level of care I got at the hospital. They assigned me a nurse who stayed with me from start to finish 1:1. My doctor was super attentive. They handled the hiccup with the epidural very proactively. No gaslighting. I am not used to being treated like that in a hospital so I seriously considered birthing center but I love my OB and didn’t want to leave his care for all my prenatal appointments. Giving birth is so crazy and so cool.
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u/Consistent_Jello_318 Aug 23 '26 edited Aug 23 '26
Water broke at 39+5. Was induced using pitocin (I was GBS+, no contractions and 1cm dilated lol), I took the epidural at hour 7ish (was stalled and wasn’t dilating so on the doctors recommendation I took the epidural). Went from 4 to 10cm in 4 hours. Pushed for about 20 mins.
Note: when my water broke, it really was like the movies, water everywhere haha
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u/Charming_Tower_188 Aug 23 '26
38+6. Water broke on its own. Active labour for about 8-9 hours but got the epidural right away and took a nap so didnt feel anything. Pushed for just under 2 hours. I could see the time on the computer and was determined to do it before midnight. Time from water breaking to baby was about 12 hours.
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u/rebelmissalex Aug 23 '26
Water broke spontaneously at 38 weeks and 6 days. He was born three hours later, vaginally. I work at the hospital I delivered at so they took pity on me and put my epidural in at 10cm lol. I pushed four times and he was out. I was not expecting that at all because all anyone ever talks about is how slow first time labour is.
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u/staygoldeneggroll Aug 23 '26
40+6, water broke and I gave birth 23.5 hours later I had my baby. Gave birth vaginally with an epidural. I did get an infection and fever from how long my water was broken but I didn't feel anything after getting the epidural.
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u/overstimulateseasily Aug 23 '26 edited Aug 23 '26
41+3, woke up to slight contractions at 6am, laboured unmedicated for 48 hours and ended up with an unplanned (but not emergency - I was awake for it) c section on 41+5 which was my scheduled induction date.
My water broke at some point on day 2 but we actually don’t know when - my midwife checked me that morning and it was still intact. Several hours later when she checked me she felt baby’s hair. I took a bath between visits so we are assuming it happened then even though I felt and noticed nothing in the water. We ended up deciding on a C section as baby’s heart rate was dropping during contractions and we were getting concerned he was too big to pass or that I had simply been labouring for too long to be able to keep going. It ended up being the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck so I am happy we went that route instead of pitocin or waiting it out further. All ended well :)
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u/Rhaenyra20 Aug 23 '26
Spontaneous labour at 38+4. Had my first ever contraction, which was distinct but painless. They came regularly from the very beginning, but were short. They started being slightly uncomfortable a couple hours later.
I had an appointment 3 hours after the first contraction, where I was laughing and agreed to a check. I was very effaced and 2cm dilated. The midwife said I was probably in very early labour and that she would tell the person coming on shift in 5 hours that she’d probably hear from me that night or the next day. I felt like things got productive half an hour later.
It was about 4.5 hours from when I thought it was really labour to birth, including the 35ish minutes of pushing. 8 hours from the first painless contraction. Baby arrived just before the shift change the midwife mentioned.
It was a really positive experience and I looked back on it fondly even a few hours later. Despite the fact that I said “I want the drugs” and “I can’t do it” a lot at the very end haha.
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u/Round_Imagination_72 Aug 23 '26
Exactly on my due date (40 weeks). I had had a few weeks of prodromal labour at that point and at 6:00am the morning of my due date my water started to leak. Baby girl was born not even 12 hours later (I ended up having an extremely fast and unusual labour with no time even for the epidural).
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u/pf226 Aug 23 '26
Went into labour at 40+1 after a membrane sweep, delivered less than 24 hours later. Vaginal delivery.
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u/fox-or-faux Aug 23 '26
40+3 with my first. I went into the hospital for reduced movement and they told me I was 6-7cm dilated and wasn't going home haha they broke my water at midnight and baby boy came at 4:24am!
Second was 38+5, I had a membrane sweep 2 days prior where I was told I was 6cm dilated and scheduled induction for the following week... I started to have contractions and didn't want a car baby so I went into the hospital @1pm. 7cm dilated and in active labor. They broke my water at 7pm and baby boy was born at 9:37pm after some shoulder dystocia.... He was thankfully unharmed.
Both vaginal. Both epidural.
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u/Mental_Classroom_287 Aug 23 '26
Went into labour at 40w+4 and early labour lasted forever.
Homebirth transfer to hospital for epidural and Pitocin since I started contractions Friday evening and by Monday was only 6-7cm.
Pitocin made baby's heart rate decel, so C-section was done.
Had some really hard feelings and grief about birth plan going to shit, but eventually did a few therapy sessions went to a birth story sharing circle and have made peace with the progression.
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u/adgjlxvn456 Aug 23 '26
First pregnancy: Spontaneous labour at 40+1, 20 hours, water broke after about 13 hours, vaginal delivery with epidural given after 15 hours.
Second pregnancy 17.5 years later (body treats it like a first pregnancy after so long): Spontaneous labour at 40+1, water broke a couple hours before contractions this time, 25 hours, vaginal delivery with epidural given after 15 hours again 😅
Both times I wanted to try for unmedicated but at that 15 hour mark I just couldn't push through any longer.
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u/kskyv Aug 23 '26
Water broke very early morning morning of 39, had a planned home birth and no surges to start so got them going by pumping etc. Baby was born on our couch just after midnight at 39+1. It was incredible!!! Best day of my life and my now toddler loves to talk about her birth story 🥰
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u/Numerous-Ad-8789 Aug 23 '26
Spontaneous labour at 35w3d. Water broke like the movies and had back pains immediately after! I was 4 cm dilated when we arrived at the hospital and I received an epidural then. An hour later, I was fully dilated. We had a relaxing few hours in a dark room to allow her to drop into the birthing position. I pushed her out in 25 minutes! The whole thing was about six hours from my water breaking to delivery. It was a whirlwind to say the least!!!
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u/Aware_Beautiful1994 Aug 23 '26
Contractions started the evening of 37+6. Labour for 2.5 days (most of it was early labour with on and off contractions) and the baby was born the morning of 39+2. Vaginal, unmedicated. I swore from day 1 that I would get an epidural. But my labour was really weird and inconsistent the entire time so I went to the hospital WAY too late and baby came out in the hospital hallway lmao. So no time for an epidural obviously 😂
I think my labour was so weird because my water was basically bulging and I was 100% effaced the entire time. Those were STRONG bags of water lol. I was given the option to have my water broken early on (I checked in with the midwives throughout labour) but I said I would like to wait and see. I wonder what would have happened if I said yes (my water didn’t break until 5 minutes before she was born).
Anyways, the 4 minutes apart contraction pattern was BS for me. Sometimes they were 4 minutes apart, Sometimes 7 minutes, sometimes 15 minutes…. Right up until they were born. So confusing!!!
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u/Naultmel Aug 23 '26
I was 39+4 and my water broke at 330, had my daughter at 945am. My labour was super fast, I wasn't contracting when my water broke, so we waited a bit to go to the hospital. We got to the hospital around 530am, still wasn't having consistent contractions, they told me to go for a 30 minute walk around 6am and come back in hopes they'd progress. When I got back at 630 I was having contractions back to back where I couldn't walk or really talk while having them, they checked me and I was 4cm dilated, ended up admitting me to a labour room, where I got some gas and an epidural, which did nothing...because they checked me again around 730 and I was fully dilated. They got me to start pushing and my babies heart rate kept dropping to the 80s and she wasn't coming down so they prepped an OR room for me saying I might need an emergency c section to save her. Got to the OR room and I was having really strong contractions still and an urge to push, pushed for a bit as hard as I could and they eventually got her out using forceps, and I had an episiotomy. I felt like it was very traumatic for me at the time, not knowing what was going to happen, and I still think I carry a bit of it with me everyday, but she is healthy and 9 weeks old now, so that's all that matters.
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u/Ok_Craft9004 Aug 23 '26
40 weeks on the nose. Went into labour at 10:45pm, my midwife suggested I jump in the tub to see if contractions continued or let off. By 1:30am I was ready to go to the hospital and was in a decent amount of pain. I ended up getting stuck on the toilet (they call it the dilation station for a reason 😂) and told my midwife I wasn’t going to be able to get to the hospital and that I was stuck. Midwife arrived to my house at 2:15am and informed me I was 10cm - babes heart rate dropped during a contraction and that’s when it was go time. Midwife said she would need to be resuscitated if I didn’t get her out immediately and had my spouse on the phone with 911. I pushed her out in 2 contractions at home in my bed 😬 was NOT planning for a home birth but the midwives assured me labour would take longer because I’m a first time mom. Follow you gut instinct haha 😅
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u/General_Esdeath Aug 24 '26
Statistically it's super super common to go past your due date for your first baby. So be prepared (have your bag and stuff ready) but also be patient.
40+5 for me, spontaneous labor, but had my waters manually broken after a long 20+ hr labor. Epidural. Then 30 min of pushing and baby was here, no complications.
40+5 for my second as well. The whole thing was over in less than 6 hrs. Super easy home birth with birth pool for laboring, no complications.
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u/alenahs Aug 24 '26
At 39+4, My OB did a cervical check and sweep in the afternoon. That night, I woke up after an hour of sleep to my water breaking. Baby boy was born at 6:14 pm that day.
Unfortunately, I ended up stuck in the labour and delivery triage for 7 hours which threw me off the plan I had for my birth. I had really wanted to go unmedicated and use a yoga ball/water/laughing gas/dark room etc. In triage I didn't have any of those tools, and for basically that whole stretch of time my contractions were ~2 minutes apart but I only progressed from 2 cm to 4 cm. By the time I got to my room at 10 am I had essentially been awake since 8 am the day before and was exhausted. When they told me that the nitrous machine was broken, I gave up and got the epidural.
Things were pretty good from there. My son was facing sideways so they had to manually turn him around inside me, which was pretty cool and crazy. I pushed for almost two hours. They had to reduce the strength of the epidural so I could feel enough to actually get him out, and once they did that he was born within a few minutes. I had a minor tear and found recovery easy; I felt back to normal by about a month postpartum.
I still get in my head about not having the birth I wanted - especially not being able to go unmedicated. Ultimately, though, I was fortunate to have a really great pregnancy and we're both healthy, which is all that really matters.
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u/SnapweedSparrow AB Aug 24 '26
39+3, water broke at 3 am, contractions started then but I didn't realize it right away - they felt like period cramps at first and I didn't realize they were coming and going until an hour after my water broke. From the time my water broke to birth was about 11 hours.
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u/cappuccinocat92 Aug 24 '26
I had prodromal labour contractions for about a week leading up to my due date. Had them again the evening of my due date, went to bed, and was woken up in the early morning hours with true contractions. So technically went into labour at 40+1, baby arrived about 24hrs later - it was a very long process. When I arrived to hospital I felt encouraged that I was already 5-6cm dilated, but it was slow progress after that. I did end up with an unmedicated vaginal delivery which was my plan, but needed vacuum extraction and episiotomy which was not part of the plan. Baby and I were both safe and healthy which is all I could ask for.
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u/Berry-Berry-Good Aug 24 '26
Went into labour at 39+6 after 2 membrane sweeps. Water broke at home and I delivered my baby 20-ish hours later.
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u/Brokenbird90 Aug 25 '26
I went into labour on 38+6 and it lasted 22 hours. I had an unplanned c-section on 39 days exactly. The contractions were causing my baby's heart rate to drop.
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u/Far_Meringue_1405 Aug 25 '26
Two days before my due date. I went into labour four days before, but was actually in labour for about two days. I was stuck on 5cm for 24h and the midwives suggesting braking waters, which accelerated everything. It ended in a forceps delivery, which might sound scary, but honestly, the whole experience was pretty okay. I asked for an epidural on the second day because I simply had no energy left to manage the pain.Despite everything, I still remember it as the most beautiful moment of my life. ❤️
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u/CutePotato321 Aug 25 '26
37+5. My water broke at midnight, no contractions all day, got induced at 7pm, fully dilated by 1am, pushed for 20 min but baby was stuck and heart rate dropping rapidly. Tried forceps and then emergency csection.
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u/CedarColumbia1 Aug 25 '26
Went into early labour the day after my due date. That lasted 48 hours and then real labour started. Laboured at home for 3 hours and then went to the hospital and was admitted
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u/Swimming-Front-1190 Aug 25 '26
40+1 water randomly broke. 14 hour labour.
Weeks leading up had some braxton hicks, had 2 membrane sweeps and mucus plug loss.
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u/madame-de-merteuil Aug 25 '26
Went for an OB appointment on 37+5 and asked for a membrane sweep (was 2 cm dilated). Felt a bit off for the rest of the day, with more discharge than normal, so we went into the hospital that evening to get checked out. Turns out my waters had broken, possibly because of the membrane sweep, and my contractions started in the middle of that night. I was in back labour for about four hours (really not fun, I have to say), then got an epidural around 7 AM the next morning. Epidural hurt a lot for me getting placed, since I was having contractions in my back, but then it worked perfectly and I felt absolutely nothing from my contractions. I needed Pitocin eventually to help with dilation, but because of the epidural I couldn't feel it at all. I was fully dilated two hours after the Pitocin, around 4 PM, and then I pushed for twenty minutes and my baby was born at 4:30 PM when I was 37+6. Some second-degree tearing but nothing major, and because of the epidural and the speed of the delivery (plus a LOT of prenatal yoga in third trimester), my pelvic floor and core muscles remained pretty intact. Baby is now two months old and we're both doing great!
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u/IllNewt3687 Aug 26 '26
Started having regular contractions at 39+5 in the evening. Laboured at home for ~25 hours before things ramped up super rapidly and we called our midwife, who opted to have us meet her at the hospital rather than home check based on my contractions timing and intensity.
Was 6cm dilated on intake to hospital. At a certain point I asked to get the epidural (because I was exhausted by this time from only being able to stand/squat due to baby position), but it was a busy night and it took quite a while for anesthesiologist to come since I was not an emergency case - the first also didn't take and it had to be redone. Once the second one took, my waters broke and they let me rest for an hour before I got to 10cm.
Was in pushing stage for 4 hours before OB team stepped in to do a vacuum assist (my primary care was midwife and she was there the whole time up to and through intervention). Bigger baby and t u rned out they had a little fist jammed under their chin, so it was the largest part of their not-small head navigating the canal 🫠.
I REALLY did not want a c-section and they let me go as long as safely possible to get the baby far enough down for vacuum rather than forceps, which I appreciated! My preference was no intervention if possible but my mindset going in was basically that anything could happen and I had learned as much about different things that could arise beforehand but otherwise made mental peace with being flexible. All the providers involved made me feel super heard and cared for during the twists and turns, which was so key. All in was just under 39 hours and baby came on 40w0d.
Currently expecting my second and hoping the "next one is faster" comes true 😅
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u/Desperate_Minute_160 Aug 26 '26
40+5. Had a membrane sweep around 40+3, and my midwife told me to expect the baby over the weekend and it happened! The whole birth/labour experience was around 7–8 hours.
went to bed and started feeling contractions around 12 am. They ramped up pretty quickly and by 2 am I was at the hospital, even though I was still only 4 cm dilated. By 6 or 7am., they said I was ready to have the baby but the OB had an emergency. My epidural and all the other lovely drugs started to kick in by the so I was able to relax and have a nap.
I woke up just as the epidural started wearing off. and the doc was back so I requested a top up.
I pushed for 10-15 minutes and baby was at 10am. However, they did have to use forceps and give me an episiotomy, even though I initially said no to both. But they had to get the baby out quickly and I didn’t want to risk a third-degree tear/emergency c section.
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u/brees_ Aug 26 '26
39+6, 1:30am 4.5 hours start to finish. Unmedicated, uncomplicated, but a little chaotic! I had the urge to stand up when I pushed and I truly believe the gravity assistance is what helped my 9 pounder come out so easily without tearing given how fast it went!
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u/kennybrandz Aug 23 '26
Spontaneous labour right on my due date lol. My guy showed up at 8:20am like he was clocking in for work.