Here's her advice: "Differentiate between pain and suffering. Pain can be managed, but if it becomes overwhelming, medication may prevent suffering. Each product we feature has been independently selected and reviewed by our editorial team. If you make a purchase using the links included, we may earn commission. Save Pin FB More. Pregnant woman wearing striped top in labor, holding back. Credit: Shutterstock. How much labor pain you experience depends on a variety of factors, including:.
The strength of your contractions Whether you had Pitocin , which induces labor and causes stronger contractions Your baby's size and position in your pelvis Whether the baby is faceup or facedown the ideal birth position The speed of your labor. By Terri Isidro-Cloudas. Be the first to comment! No comments yet. Close this dialog window Add a comment.
Add your comment Cancel Submit. Close this dialog window Review for. Back to story Comment on this project. As long as contractions are still relatively mild and spaced farther than five or so minutes apart, most women spend the time at home, and maintain close contact with their practitioner.
In general, contractions can be mild and somewhat irregular, coming from 5 to 30 minutes apart, lasting 30 to 45 seconds. You might see some pinkish discharge and feel a bit of abdominal discomfort. The water may break rupture of membranes in this early phase, or this may happen later in the first or second stage, either on its own or with help from your practitioner. How Long It Lasts : This first step in the journey toward childbirth lasts an average of 6 to 10 hours for a first-time mother, but can be much shorter 2 to 5 hours if you've given birth before.
Contractions : During this phase, contractions usually last between 30 and 60 seconds; they generally start 20 minutes apart and move to about 5 minutes apart.
Look for contractions that continue even if you move around, that get stronger, and that start in your back and move around to the front. What to Do : Anything that helps you relax, says Cooter. This phase is when the serious prep work for childbirth begins, and when most women begin to labor more intensely. During the active phase, contractions usually come steadily, gradually increasing in intensity and frequency, from three to five minutes apart.
Pains may be centered in the lower back, abdomen, or thighs, and they may be intense enough to make it hard for you to talk. You might also experience an increased amount of pinkish or brownish discharge, or what's sometimes called a "bloody show. How Long It Lasts : This stage of labor lasts 3 to 6 hours for a first-time mom, and 1 to 3 hours for subsequent labors. If you've taken Pitocin , a drug that induces contractions, this phase may go more quickly, but if you've had an epidural, things can slow down.
Contractions : Contractions are increasingly more intense, last for 45 to 60 seconds, and are 3 to 5 minutes apart. Other Signs: Some women feel discomfort in their back and hips and cramping in their feet and legs; this is the point when many women ask for an epidural.
However, even with pain relief, active labor can unhinge some women's tempers. What to Do : By this point in labor, you have been admitted to the hospital or ensconced at your birthing center. If you have your epidural in place, you may not be able to get out of bed, but it's still a good idea to change position every half hour or so.
If you can get out of bed, try walking up and down stairs for a few minutes at a time if hospital policy allows it or marching in place. This is also a good time to use the relaxation techniques you learned in childbirth education class and to enlist your partner for emotional support.
Your hospital may also want to monitor the baby's heartbeat with a stethoscope, a handheld Doppler device, or an electronic monitoring device. Contractions during this phase are usually intense, spaced about one to three minutes apart. Increasing fatigue, shakiness, and nausea are all common in this phase, as your body does the hard work of reaching complete dilation and effacement.
You may feel a strong urge to push or bear down, along with pressure in the rectal area and stinging in the vaginal area as the baby's head moves down toward the vaginal opening. But you should NOT push—wait until your practitioner gives you the go-ahead, which will happen when the cervix is fully dilated. How Long It Lasts : This is the shortest but most intense phase, typically lasting from 10 minutes to 2 hours. You may feel overwhelmed, and it's also normal to feel discouraged, as though labor will never end.
What to Do : Imagine you're in a place that makes you feel safe and relaxed—lying on the beach, resting against a tree, or sitting in a rocking chair in your baby's nursery. Breathe deeply and develop the scene, filling in the details. Apply market research to generate audience insights.
Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. Labor has three stages , but the active phase of the first stage is what many think of, as it is when contractions become strong and frequent.
This phase can last 4 to 8 hours. In total, all of the stages of labor—from when the baby 'drops' lightening to delivery of the placenta —can take 12 to 24 hours for first births and about 8 to 10 hours for subsequent ones. These ranges may not match up with what you've heard friends report about their experiences, however. While it's normal to wonder what the average labor time is for most women, especially as your due date approaches, it's important to remember that every labor and delivery is different, and labor time is often very unpredictable.
Furthermore, how labor time is counted can vary, which affects reports that come from researchers and healthcare providers and, therefore, reported statistics.
If it's not your first birth, you may very well find that the lower ends of these timeframes apply in your case though that's not a given.
For the purposes of statistical analysis, the lengths of the stages of labor may be reported separately or lumped together. This can help explain why you may see slight differences in labor times when reading up on the topic. The phases of stage 1 are generally defined as follows:. Some doctors and researchers consider the early labor and active phases of stage 1 one and the same.
And since early labor doesn't happen in the hospital in most cases, it is hard for its duration to always be accurately measured. This is likely why it doesn't appear in much of the data that analyzes the length of labor—and why many studies vary in how it is documented. For this reason, many hospitals record data for active labor only. Women who remain in the first stage of labor for more than 17 hours are more likely to be considered for interventions to move things along. Common options include:.
Some doctors are more conservative than others when making these determinations. Doctors will consider multiple factors—including recommended laboring time limits and whether or not the mother and baby appear to be doing well—when deciding how long to let labor continue. The length and experience of each labor are different for every woman and pregnancy.
Though the duration of one's labor can't be guaranteed, there are a variety of factors that can influence it. Some include:. What laboring mothers experience has changed over time with the advent of pain interventions, new offerings at hospitals such as baths for water births , and much more.
Labor time has changed too, mainly due to when women are choosing to have their babies and how doctors are now approaching later-stage deliveries. A study done by the NIH compared data on almost , spontaneous, singleton births from two time periods: and The review showed that the average time spent in active labor was longer for first-time moms in the more recent years than the earlier ones, when most labor patterns began to be recorded 6.
Researchers attributed this to a variety of factors, the first one being that maternal age has increased. At the time of giving birth, the mothers in the early s were, on average, about 4 years older than the women who gave birth in the s. The study researchers cited that older mothers tend to take longer to give birth than younger mothers, as noted above.
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