Family Forum / Pregnancy / Pregnancy / March 2006

#1 I went into labour at 1am, then she was born at 7am the next day.
#2 I went into labour at 6:30am and she was born at 7pm. Much easier.
Seriously though, I suspect that one reason is that if we're moving around
we don't notice early labour so much, so don't realise we're in labour.
Debbie

which is precisely what I have done, number 1 was an induction, we started
pitocin in the early evening and he was born at 10.16, number 2 labour
started after lunch and she was out in time for tea.

Anne

DS1 - went in to the hospital early morning (I'd guess around 6am or so) Had
a shot of morphine, slept a little in the late morning, he was born via
emergency c-section at 4:48pm.
DS2 - went in to the hospital late night (I'd guess around 11pm or so) Had a
shot of morphine, slept all night until they woke me up around 9am, found
out I was doing fine, called my mom at about 1030am, she came to the
hospital around 1130 - when she took her lunch break, and so did my aunt,
went from 4-10cm between 11 and noon, DS was born (vbac) at 12:14pm, my mom
and aunt both went back to work in time for their regular 1 hour lunch
breaks ;)
DD - went in to the hospital in the morning (at about 8am) admitted in after
being on monitors and all that by 1015am, DD was born (vbac again) at
2:46pm, but I was fighting pushing urges at 210, since DH decided he was
going to go home quickly and come back by 230.  I was able to barely fight
urges for those 20ish minutes for him to get back.  Yes, I did give him a
piece of my mind ;)

So, all my babies were afternoon or early evening babies.  Wasn't too bad.
I would rather afternoon or evening over first thing in the morning, but
then again, I really can't say for sure!

I don't know about godforsaken, but short of that your post is pretty
accurate.  I think that is one of the travesties of hospital birth
scheduling.  Since doctors and hospital staff like to work weekdays,
they do everything they can to avoid scheduling births on nights and
weekends.  Since babies like to come when babies like to come (or
looking at it another way, mammas like to birth when mammas like to
birth, this leads to a lot of unwarranted interventions when hospitals
try to force birhting into their schedules.  I personally think that
mammas bodies are better suited to birthing at night.

Larry

    Oxytocin levels are higher then, so if you allow things
to run their natural course, labor will often start then.  But,
as usual, no guarantees.  For me:

#1 - Woke up at 7am having contractions, went rapidly to very
     active labor, but didn't actually give birth until 4am
     almost 2 days later.

#2 - Membranes ruptured at midnight, baby arrived at 2:40am.

#3 - Labor started shortly after I woke up, baby arrived just
     before 2pm.  It seemed very odd to deliver in daylight ;-)

Best wishes,
Ericka

Not me.  I've heard that it's to do with oxytocin levels or something
but my babies don't do that.  My first was SROM at 11am and born at
4pm, the second was AROM at 9am and born at 2.30pm, my third was SROM
at 4 am and then spontaneous labour starting at 4am the next morning
with the birth at around 8am, my fourth was spontaneous labour starting
at 4.45am (although I wasn't sure until 7.30am that it was true labour)
and was born at 9.30am.

And FWIW, both the daytime labours were boys, both the early morning
labours were girls.

I quite liked the good night's sleep, missing breakfast and having the
baby before morning tea time :p

Cheryl

Hmm . . . now I prefer being in labor overnight and giving birth in the
morning.  In the night I'm sleepy, and for me that sort of takes the
edge off, makes it all seem a little unreal.

I've been in labor overnight for four out of five pregnancies.

Leslie

Mine were both born in the evening.  Hunter was around 9:30pm and Luke was
around 8pm or so.  Hunter was spontaneous, Luke was induced.

Hunter - water broke 11pm, went to hospital 7am, born 9:30pm.
Luke - began induction 7am, AROM at noon, born 8pm.

DS's water broke at 3:00 am, but didn't have him until about 14 hours
later, just in time for dinner.

Both of my labors were very similar time-wise. Too bad I won't have
another one to see what would happen ;-)

#1 - contractions started in the morning (around 10), she was born the
next day at 3:20 pm

#2 - had contractions for a few days, serious ones started in the
afternoon, he was born the next daj at 3:02 pm

--

Tanja

Mommy to Tamara (27 Dec 1998) and
Stefan (19 May 2003)

Cause it's so nice to have a baby in the dark!  Less chance of pesky
visitors too soon after the birth, too :)

Jo

Most animals will give birth during the night. They are vulnerable to
predators when in labour so better to do it under the cover of
darkness.
Of course, that's not so relevant for humans, but if you're having a
hospital birth you're less likely to get stuck in traffic, if you're at
home you're less likely to disturb other members of the household (I'm
thinking of siblings).

My labour started in the evening, I laboured during the night and gave
birth mid morning.

Mary Ann

Or better yet have the kid in the morning. :)

With #4 I had a full nights sleep, woke at 6 am and was in labor.  I had him
before the morning was done at 10:40am!  Now THAT was weird (and very
nice!).  I felt like I wasn't done, and I had more to do.  :)  I was done,
though, and felt quite energized.

With #1 I went into labor at 5 am and had her around 8 pm.  My second labor
started at 2 am and I had her at 3 pm.  My third was my doozy all-nighter
and started at 8 pm and went until 10:30 am the next morning.  I was so
knocked out from my all night labor!  I cried when the sun came up.

Me too.

With my first, I started labor on a Saturday night around 9 p.m., went
to the hospital about 10 p.m. on Sunday, and had my daughter at about 5
a.m. Monday.   It took me weeks to recover from the exhaustion.

With my second, I started labor at 3 a.m. and had the baby at 5 p.m.,
which meant that essentially my sleep was not disturbed.  I felt better
the next day than I did two weeks after my daughter was born.

Clisby