Did You Deliver MUCH Faster W/ Your 3Rd Child?

Everyone's different - my mom delivered #2 very quickly, before the midwife could even get scrubbed in. My dad caught my sister. I was #3 and was a much longer labor. Baby #5 came at 42 weeks, but was quick once he finally decided to come.

My first one took forever, my second one the dr asked if I could try to hold her in. I am not going to have a 3rd but Im scared if I did she would just fall out

There's no way to tell. For some women it's true but for many, it's not. Your OB has no way to predict what she's telling you.

Personally I would not be induced. Just have a friend on standby. So if you go into labor, call husband MIL and have friend drive you. Whether this is first or tenth you cannot to depend on someone an hour away. It always works out. If you have neighbors you will not have a problem. Docs in the past would never induce for convenience I.e. other kids and Childcare. Just would never do it. I dilated in my third month and was on bed rest for three out of four pregnancies and I always made it to hospital. Actually it never concerned me. We are 25 min away.m first two no husband. nYC cop. First born during Bicentennial Celebration in 1976. No days off for any reason. Second one born during Blackout of 1977. He did not know baby was born for 36 hours. For those on the east coast you would understand why. Finally came the day we were coming home. It was 104 degrees out, he had not slept in 24 hours, so I drove home from hospital!!!!!! So you see, it always works out. He did make the other two.

My total labor was about 1 1/2 hours. I delivered my 3rd 12 minutes after getting into my hospital room. When I went in the room my doc said I was 7cm. Within a couple of minutes my baby was born so it progressed really fast. Only 2 pushes and she was out. Although I say I pushed it was more like she flew out of me. It was totally beyond my control. The nurse yelled at me saying it was not time to push and when my husband looked down he saw our babies eyes:) and told the nurse that she was here! What an awesome delivery!!! Wishing you luck for a safe and fast delivery.

For what is worth...I am not a fan of induction and would not choose to be induced due to the convenience of scheduling.

Rather than be induced, do you have neighbors nearby who could drive you to the hospital and watch your other children if you need to leave quickly? If so, your husband could meet you at the hospital. If the baby is coming very fast, you could even call 911 for the ride and have a neighbor watch your L. ones at home.

When I had my 4th, my mom lived an hour away and I wasn't able to wait that long to leave for the hospital. Thankfully, my neighbor had offered to come over anytime of the day and night to watch my children and we called her at 5 am to do that.

For me, each of my 4 came a L. faster, from 4 1/2 hours to just an hour and a half for the 4th. I can't imagine inducing for the convenience, and missing all the fun and excitement of letting the baby come when he/she is ready.

Well, with me, #2 was the fastest..... I woke up during the night in labor.... contractions were about 6 minutes apart at that point..... (I didn't realize I was in labor when I went to bed... I thought I just had a backache...) when we got to the hospital, I was already about 7 cm! Less than an hour between checking in at the hospital and delivery......

#3 took the longest, and they had to use pitocin to really get my labor started properly..... after they ruptured the membranes (which usually got things going stronger for me), the labor essentially stopped! Pitocin worked pretty well for me, though.... probably just a couple of hours after they started the pitocin, my daughter was born... (that was the longest we had been in the labor room... maybe 8 hours total?)

Each child is different....... (I have 4...)

With my 3rd, I started contractions a 11PM, husband came home at midnight, delivered before 1 AM. I barely made it to the hospital, the doctor didn't. She was delivered by a nurse.

2nd,3rd,4th all under 1 hour made it just in time to hop in bed and push

Yes but IMO it's not the kind of thing that warrants induction. Have some cab fare ready and a local neighbor or friend lined up who can come over in a pinch if you need to leave before your MIL arrives. If your husband isn't home when you go into labor and the contractions are close, call a cab. My husband was 2 hours away with my second so I called a taxi and we met at the hospital.

With my 3rd, I woke up at 4:30 AM with contractions 10 minute apart. After a half hour I figured they weren't going away so I got up, folded some laundry, made the other kids their lunches and packed up their bags for the day. At 5:30 I called my mom, at 6:00 I woke up my husband, at 6:30 my mom arrived and we were on our way. With traffic we got to the hospital at around 8:30 and by the time I was examined I was fully dilated. They still gave me an epidural because I lied and said I didn't feel like pushing so that slowed things down. Anyway...when it was time to push it took three minutes (literally, a commercial break between the Today show and Regis and Kelly) - 5.5 hours from start to finish vs 9 hours for my second and 22 for my first.

Your prior delivery history is not fast and women walk around for weeks and weeks partly dialated. You never know what will happen, but if I were you, I would plan on waiting and have a back up plan in case things start to move very quickly and you need to get to the hospital within an hour of contractions starting, but those kinds of deliveries are few and far between even for those of us who have been to this rodeo a few times already.

My first was 9 hours, 2nd was 3 hours, 3rd was 5 hrs, 4th was 1.5 hours, and 5th was about 3 hours.
Each time, I was 3 cm dilated for at least 3 weeks. Each time, I went at or after my due date. I was only induced once (#2), and hated it.
I would urge you to have a back up plan like so many others have suggested, rather than an induction. There is no medical reason for the induction, and your OB just can't predict a fast or slow delivery. Your risk of C-Section increases tremendously when you mess with nature's timetable, and to me, it's not worth a risk of major abdominal surgery for childcare issues or convenience.
I know its hard to wait! My 5th was 5 days late,and the plan was to go naturally for the first time ever, so I was already a mess, just waiting to see if I could handle the whole thing. But I knew my chances of a successful drugfree delivery were next to nil if I got induced, so I hung in there. Good luck!

Mine was faster, kind of. I went into labor with all of my kids around the same time --around 3 or 4 in the morning. With my first, I then had a 30 hour labor. With my second, I had lots of false labor leading up to labor, and then I had him roughly 12 hours after I lost my mucus plug. With my last? I lost my mucus plug two weeks before I went into labor, and then I started losing it again the two nights before my daughter was delivered. She dropped about 3 days before this, and after starting to lose my plug on a wed night, the next day minor contractions started around 3 in the afternoon when I finally lost the rest of the plug. I had contractions every 10 minutes or so until the next morning, when I went into actual labor. My midwife counted labor as a total of 5 hours --she counts from when contractions are 4 or 5 minutes apart.

Since you tend to go into labor at night, chances are your hubby will be home. Also, it is highly doubtful your labor will be less than 2 hours. I have a few friends that had super short labors like that, but they knew early in the day that they were going into labor. Pre-labor usually happens for most of us, and it is rarely super quick. I highly recommend letting your body determine when it is time, if at all possible. You should have enough warnings that the time is coming (diarrhea? contractions? burst of energy and excitement....I knew my baby was coming by the projects I decided to do on that last day. I was clearly "clearing my plate" and tiding up loose ends. I also called a friend and she said "you sound like you are going into labor"...there is an energy/excitement present in most pre-labor moms).

I did! I was in "early labor" with my third for a month with real contractions, but no pattern to them. I'd been to the hospital several times with contractions starting at 32 weeks. They stopped them when I was 32 weeks, but quit trying to stop them after 35 weeks.

The night I went into labor, I'd had my membranes stripped for the second time at my 38 week appointment which was at 3:00 pm. Upon exam, they found that I was 3 cm dilated. After the appointment, I drove to my mom's to pick up my other kids. She took one look at me and said tonight's the night. I knew it too as I just felt different. I was having the same contractions that I'd been having for a month throughout the evening, but still without a pattern. They felt different, but I didn't want to go to the hospital unless I was sure it was really time. I decided to go to bed, then woke up at around midnight with a strong contraction. I looked at the clock and waited, another came 5 minutes later, then another....After about 30 minutes, they started coming every 2 mins. I woke my husband and we called my mom and the OB. The OB told us to hurry up and get there. It took my mom 30 minutes to get to our house, and by the time she did, I thought I was going to have the baby in the car. I felt so much pressure during the 20 minute trip to the hospital. When we got to the room, I was already 8 cm dilated. They told me as soon as the water broke, the baby would come! I just made it!

It was so different than with my first two. With each of them, my water broke at home, and we went to the hospital. With my oldest, I wasn't dilated at all so they gave me pitocin. It was 14 hours from the time the water broke to delivery. With my second, I was dilated to 3cm when I got there and progressed on my own after the epidural. It was 7 hours from the time the water broke to delivery.

The third one really threw me for a loop! If I ever have another one, I will know to not wait it out at home for as long as I did. I should have known that feeling different after having the membranes stripped was a pretty good sign that those first strong contractions that woke me up, were the real deal.

Good luck to you!

There's just no way to know. My first took several hours and with my second I never made it to the hospital, we had to call 911 :-(
My third was quicker than the first, but not as fast as the second thank God!
Personally with your travel time from work, and distance of hospital and MIL I would go for an induction. Of course this is coming from a woman who delivered a child on her living room floor with NO pain meds into the hands of a young EMT who looked like he was going to faint. So take this advice with a large grain of salt ;-)
p.s. my emergency delivery was scary but we were both fine and healthy!

I was induced at 38 weeks with my 3rd (not dilated at all) for purely scheduling purposes. I wanted my mom there and she lives out of state and I had to have childcare for my first two, plus my stepson. It was a HUGE mistake! I was in labor for a total of almost 24 hours and then I hemorrhaged after I delivered due to my uterus being overstimulated. He was NOT ready to be born. However, I was also induced with my 4th, just 5 days before my due date (she's a July 1st baby and I didn't want to be in the hospital during a holiday). I was 1cm dilated and it went perfectly! I was only in labor for 5 hours and I pushed twice and she slid on out. I would certainly think about being induced if I were you- sounds like you're ready, and it sure would stink to deliver a baby on the side of the road, trying to get to the hospital! Good luck!

nope, sorry! #1, 2, & 3 ended up all being induced.

#1 & 2 were epidurals. #3 all natural.

#1 & 3 were vaginal, with #2 a c-section.

#1....30 minute drive. #2....20 minute drive. #3....whole other city! Almost a 2 hour drive which totally sucked, but all went well & he was our only baby to come home upon my release. :)

If this is your third I would not chance it with your husband and mother in law having an our commute to get there. Not with having two kids at home. They might be the ones delivering the baby is you arn't carful. And depending on how old they are that could be BAD!!!!!

With my first, he was born about 15 hours after my water broke, with 4 hours of pushing. My second was so much faster!!! My contractions were practically painless. I'd stretch a bit and they would stop. They weren't regular with timing or anything. I hesitated to even call them contractions. I called the doctor and she said to head to the hospital just in case, but that she'd probably be sending me home. (I was not at all dialated or effaced the day before at my regular appointment, and what I was describing to her was more like Braxton-Hicks.)
We had a 20 minute ride to the hospital. We walked in without our bag, becuase I was still feeling good. My water broke in the elevator. They were wheeling me to delivery on a gourney before my gown was even on all the way. The nurses and on-call doc had to ask my husband my name before saying, "B. Push!" By the time my real doctor showed up, I was holding the baby and being stitched up. When we called my Mom (who was staying with my oldest) to tell her we had the baby, she thought we were just calling to say that they were going to keep us overnight. She laughed when my husband said we had the baby, and didn't believe it till she heard crying in the background.
I would hate the idea of being induced too, but I wouldn't have had an hour and a half to wait to deliver. If you had to pull over on the way to the hospital and meet an ambulance, could you do it? I mean are there ambulance companies and safe places to pull over en route? Just a thought. Good luck!