Short labors not all they’re cracked up to be

If you’ve had one of those long, drawn out labors or you’re pregnant and you fear having a longer labor, I’m here to tell you that the short ones, less than 3 hours are definitely not something you should be wishing for.

A short labor like that is called a precipitous labor and it involved starting labor and delivering within 3 hours. My first labor was about 16 hours, my second about 5 and a half, and my third about 2. I can say without a doubt that the last one, was the most intense and the most difficult to manage. I always assumed that it was because the labor was short and that you don’t get a chance to get on top of the contractions and it turns out, that was exactly it.

According to this article, Precipitous Labor; Why a Short Labor Process Can Be a Tall Order, the author writes, "Dannin [the subject of the article] had indeed planned to give birth naturally without an epidural, but she was still surprised by the intensity of her experience. Once the contractions began, they did not stop, making for an extremely rigorous birth"

There are also risks involved because your body really isn’t ready to deliver quite so quickly despite progressing to 10 cm so fast. Tears are more common among women with precipitous labor because there isn’t time for the midwife to help or the doctor to prevent tears.

For me, I was glad it was my third and final child when I had the short labor. Otherwise, for any subsequent baby, I’d be terrified that I’d not get to the hospital in time and I’m not one who would like to have an unattended delivery. It’s just not my style.

~~~~

Tags: pregnancy blog, precipitous labor, fast labor