At what rate did you dilate?

Question

I've had one c-section because my first child was breeched. I will be trying for a VBAC this time around. I just found out that my mid wife cant be there for the labor.(insurance changed the policy or something like that) Any way the dr replacing her says I have to dilate 1 cm every hour or I'll have another c-section. Is this a reasonable amount of time for my body to preform such a task? THANKS

Answer 1

I would change doctors. That guy sounds to happy to slice you open. All labor and deliveries are different and if your doctor isn't willing to deal with your case on its own merits but demand that you fit into his idea of a perfect labor then he doesn't sound like such a great doctor to me.

See if your midwife can recommend somebody or perhaps there is a practice that has doctors and midwives in their system and you can work with them.

I was married to a Navy man and had different doctor's for all of my deliveries because we moved around so much. One delivery was managed by a midwife who was part of a medical group (which included doctors and midwives). I had another delivery that was managed by a midwife in a similar situation, but I had an emergency C-section because the baby was too big to deliver regularly. Then we had to switch to the doctor.

Congratulations on your baby. Best of luck to you.

Answer 2

Sound like this doctor has a golf game to get to. Every woman is different. I dilated, then undilated (forgot the term they used) for over 70 hours after my water broke. I kept leaving the hospital because they were talking C-section & I wasn't going to let them do it. I had a midwife who had 5 children of her own & back in the 70's we all wanted to do the home birth thing & avoid hospitals completely. Since the babies heartbeat was strong & steady, we stayed home, but when it hit 60 hours & I wasn't dilating, the midwife got concerned & suggested I go into the Emergency Room. Apparently my fear associated with the pain of the contractions was causing me to stop my own body from allowing this baby to be born. I seemed to be stuck at 3-4 cm & then again at 8 & kept going back to 3-4, so they administered Pitocin & the contractions went from 3-4 to 10 in an hour. If I could have opened the window & jumped, I would have. It was a horrible experience & I could have had the baby at home if I had taken some classes & attended other births. Unfortunately, I did this later & learned that many of my friends who had previously had C-sections were now looking for doctors,midwives, & nurse-midwives to assist them with a natural home birth. They found a female doctor who agreed & these women had successful healthy babies without a C-section, but they said it was painful due to the scar-tissue from their first births. If you can find a doctor who understands, then you should be able to pull off a natural birth, but since you have already had one C-section, be prepared if you must have a second. Good Luck!

Answer 3

I was at 4 cm when I got to the hospital - about 2 hours after labor first started. Then it took me 14 hours to get to 10cm. I think the epidural slowed it down a lot. After an hour of pushing on and off, I ended up having a Cesarean b/c her heart rate was dropping fast.
If I have a second one, I'm going to try for a VBAC too. You might want to check around and see if your insurance will cover a birthing center or place that encourages the natural process.

Answer 4

Well when I was 32 weeks pregnant I was 2cm dilated..so I was put on bed rest and when I reached 38 weeks I was 4cm dilated. I went into labor 3 days before my due date..my water broke sometime in the very early morning. I didn't wake up till 5am..and didn't start getting contractions for about 45 minutes after that. I got to the hospital at 7am and my son was born at 147pm. So if you say I was in labor from 5am-2pm then that's 9 hours..and I was already 4cm dilated before labor started so it took me 9 hours to go 6cm...So who knows...everyone is different and so is every delivary. If youre first was because of breech then it wasn't something like you didn't dilate so for the Dr to tell you that you need to dilate 1cm an hour seems kind of far fetched. But I donno..I'm not a Dr. Best of luck to ya!

Answer 5

I've never heard of a time line like that before!! Personally, I've always waited at home as long as I could before going to the hospital, so I don't know what "rate" I dialated at. By the time I'd get there, I was nearing transition, and the hospital wsa willing to break my water, which sent things into high gear!! (My 4th child, I went from 7cm to complete in 3 minutes!!) But, before I left for the hospital, I'd been having labor pains for at least 12 hours or so, starting at 20 minutes or so apart. That to me isn't 1cm per hour....

Dr's get more money for c-section too, I've seen way to much of the doing more procedures for the money around our military facility choices too. And you are in the hospital longer, so there's more of a charge there too.

I'd see if there is another dr you can go to!! Voice your opinion, and see just how long you are comfortable putting off going to the hospital, keep the dr out of the loop as long as you can, but be sure that you have knowledgable support at home as well.

Answer 6

I was 3 cm dilated when I got to the hospital. They broke my water at 8:30 p.m. and I started contracting hard, but was tensing up and not letting my body do what it was supposed to do. From 8:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m., I dilated only 2 cm. I got my epidural at 11:30 p.m., and from then to 12:45 a.m., I dilated the other 5 cm. Pushed for 30 mins and he was out.