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How long does labor last - what does Google say?
The most important thing to remember is that most of the stats online are calculated from 'Active' labor which is once you get to 4cm dilated, or your contractions are regular and intense.
The NHS website states:
In a 1st pregnancy, the start of established labour to being fully dilated is usually 8 to 18 hours. It's often quicker (around 5 to 12 hours), in a 2nd or 3rd pregnancy.
Although even when you are fully dilated it can take up to 3 hours (or more) for baby to be born!
What this doesn't take into account is the period you may spend in labor before you are in 'active labor'. So let's take a look at that.
How long does early labor last?
Early labor or latent labor as you might hear it referred to is the stage before active labor.
Some places define this as up to 4cm dilated, others up to 6cm
You may lose your mucus plug, have a bloody show, have irregular contractions, vomit, and have diarrhea... sounds lovely right?
So how long can this last.... how long is a piece of string?
The NHS website simply states:
'You may begin to feel irregular contractions, but it can take many hours, or even days, before you're in established labour. It's usually the longest stage of labour.'
One study concluded:
In this sample of predominantly white, healthy women, the duration of the latent phase was an average of 11.8 hours in women who were having their first baby.
The average duration was 9.3 hours in women who had given birth before.
(Tiden et al 2019)
Another article suggests the 'limits' for latent labor are approximately 20 hours in first time mums and 14 hours in women who have given birth before. (Cohen 2022)
A Virtual doula's guide to early labor.
As you can see, it's impossible to know how long your early labor will last, and this is why it is important not to exhaust yourself physically or mentally during this time!
Physically, it is important you eat, drink, and rest as much as you can during this time, sleep if you can, and carry on with gentle everyday activities.
Have a few ideas of nice local activities you can do in early labor that won't exhaust you, a local cafe, a walk, a massage.
Mentally you should try not to focus too much on going into labor or chasing it! I get it, it's what you have been waiting for, but if you start the mental clock in your head now, your labor could feel like a very long slog.
If you are physically or mentally exhausted it is going to make it much more tempting to accept 'offers' to help speed things up.
As a virtual doula I always try to help my families understand how early labour can look so they are prepared to take tings slow but not put everything on hold!
What is prodromal labor?
This is very unhelpfully referred to as 'false' labor, it is the name given when 'early labor' adopts a stop-start pattern, or doesn't lead to 'active labor' within the set timeframes above.
We don't know what causes this, but here are some theories:
Your body is helping your baby get into a different position.
Anxiety or stress is preventing labor from progressing.
Other physical factors such as illness are preventing your labor from progressing.
Your body is simply getting ready for birth!
It can be very frustrating and exhausting, which is why I would encourage you to continue with your everyday life as much as you can!
If you attend a hospital with prodromal labour you will likely be assessed for a 'delay in progression' and if diagnosed they will offer to break your waters and potentially start an oxytocin drip.
However, if you are ok with continuing and the baby is well there is no reason to accept this unless you want to!
This Virtual Doula's experience with prodromal labor.
Day one (Chrismas Eve)
My second was due on the 23rd of December, on the 24th at a nativity play I started to get contractions, when I got home I realized I had lost my mucus plug and had a bloody show!
I have to admit we panicked, I was convinced my firstborn would wake up on Christmas day to her parents in hospital. We got her to bed, packed her an overnight bag, packed up her presents and I even prepped her traditional Christmas morning breakfast!
We rang my parents to let them know they may need to come pick her up.
We went to bed, but the contractions were intense and I couldn't sleep, I went downstairs to prep some postpartum meals whilst my husband slept.
I sat on the birth ball and watched some movies, and I vomited... things started to slow and I was tired so I got into bed, expecting to be woken by contractions sometime in the night.
Day two (Christmas Day)
I was disappointed to wake in the morning to find nothing had happened!
We had a lovely Christmas morning and decided to head to my parents with my daughter's overnight bag.
I had irregular contractions throughout the day, napped, and felt exhausted.
Contractions started to pick up and we decided to head home and leave my daughter with my parents, on the way home I rang the hospital who suggested we pop in for a check, which I agreed to.
In the assessment center they said that I was in early labor and to go home, they said they would see me soon!
Once at home contractions picked up again, I vomited again, but ultimatley the same thing happened and I went to bed again.
Day 3 (Boxing Day)
I called my pregnancy massage lady and asked if she would come round, she did and I had a lovely massage.
We went for a few short walks and had a day of rest (a rarity when you already have one child!).
Contractions started getting more intense and closer together, my husband went to bed.
I thought this was it, i began using my birth comb and felt I might need the TENS machine soon so I asked my husband to help me set it up.....we didnt have the right leads - ROOKY ERROR.
However, once again things slowed and we went to bed!
Day 4 27th!
We woke up, a friend found us a new TENS machine and again we just had a restful day.
Contractions started to pick up again in the evening, I put on the TENS machine, and by early evening I knew things were different, if I am honest I had decided that I wanted to go into the hospital, get checked, and chat about options anyway! I was physically and mentally exhausted and missing my daughter!
In hospital I was checked and I was 3cm dilated, they offered to break my waters and we accepted, but we had to wait for a bed on the birth centre.
We set up the bay in the assessment unit and I put on my eye mask and headphones, I labored on a birth ball.... things started progressing quickly and I was soon moved to the birth center and left to labor on my own! - I didn't need my water breaking after all..... (more on this later!).
What about fast labor - the other end of the spectrum?
Precipitous labor is defined as the birth of the baby within less than 3 hours of active labor!
This has been reported to occur in 1-3% of births.
It may sound ideal but some women find the sudden, intense, and rapid contractions with no gradual build-up to be distressing and traumatic.
With so much variation how can you possibly know how long your labor will be?
You cant!
That is why it's important to know about the variability, to ignore timeframes and contraction timers more on that here, and to listen to your body/instincts!
References
Cohen WR, Friedman EA. The latent phase of labor. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2022;XX:x.ex–x.ex.
Tilden EL, Phillippi JC, Ahlberg M, King TL, Dissanayake M, Lee CS, Snowden JM, Caughey AB. Describing latent phase duration and associated characteristics among 1281 low-risk women in spontaneous labor. Birth. 2019 Dec;46(4):592-601. doi: 10.1111/birt.12428. Epub 2019 Mar 28. PMID: 30924182; PMCID: PMC6765461.
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