Is labor hereditary?

[Anonymous]

I know this has been touched on a few times in the forums, so forgive me for being repetitive, but in your experience is there a link between your mother's/sisters' labors and your own? I had thought that sort of thing was mainly anecdotal, and when I asked my OB about it she said that there is no link. But today I noticed that the Mayo Clinic pregnancy book specifically states that if your mother or sisters have had fast labors, that your chances of a fast labor are increased. Thoughts?

[Anonymous]

Anecdotally, I would say no. My mother had really fast labors (3 hrs twice). My sister had really long labors (24 hrs and 30 hrs, one ending in a c-section and one ending in a vacuum extraction and almost a c-section.) I had a middle of the road labor, pretty easy but 15 hours. We are all about the same size and shape and our babies were all about the same size and shape.

[Anonymous]

My mom had a fast labor with my older brother (12 hours) and a faster one with me (4 hours.) My labor with my first was fast (8 hours) and my second was 1 hour start to finish. My body is built very much like hers and so I think that has a lot to do with it. I believe it to be true....

[Anonymous]

How soon are you due?

[Anonymous]

My mom had a long first labor and didn't have any contractions until the real deal. I had tons of BH contractions for a week or so before I delivered and had a short labor once things actually got started. I don't have any sisters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How soon are you due?

OP here, I'm due in just a couple of weeks with my first, so obviously this is on my mind a lot My mom and sister have had relatively quick labors, no more than 8 hours start to finish.

[Anonymous]

I would say no for labor, but I bet there's a link for delivery based on pelvic bone structure. My grandmother always said that we have "great birthing hips". While my and my sisters labors (contractions leading up to full dilation) has been different and even my own two births (one was 16 hours to full dilation the other was 8 hours) once we started pushing it was super fast - for me two contractions and 5 pushes was my "long" delivery. My sisters and mom were similar.

This is a completely uneducated guess, so please no flames.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would say no for labor, but I bet there's a link for delivery based on pelvic bone structure. My grandmother always said that we have "great birthing hips". While my and my sisters labors (contractions leading up to full dilation) has been different and even my own two births (one was 16 hours to full dilation the other was 8 hours) once we started pushing it was super fast - for me two contractions and 5 pushes was my "long" delivery. My sisters and mom were similar.

This is a completely uneducated guess, so please no flames.

Ha, supposedly the women in my family also have great "birthing hips"!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would say no for labor, but I bet there's a link for delivery based on pelvic bone structure. My grandmother always said that we have "great birthing hips". While my and my sisters labors (contractions leading up to full dilation) has been different and even my own two births (one was 16 hours to full dilation the other was 8 hours) once we started pushing it was super fast - for me two contractions and 5 pushes was my "long" delivery. My sisters and mom were similar.

This is a completely uneducated guess, so please no flames.

That could be. My mom easily delivered two babies vaginally, and I pushed out an asynclitic baby (tilted head), which often end up c-sections. I do laugh when she complains about her "long" 18 hour labor with me--mine was 48 hours with my daughter! So, fetal positioning aside, genes could have something to do with it. They usually do.

[Anonymous]

My mother's and my first labors were very similar - the length and the pattern (water breaking without any contractions/dilation, pitocin after a few hours to get things going etc). Deliveries were very different though, my mother was able to push me out in a few minutes once she was fully dilated, I pushed for almost three hours before being wheeled off to the OR for failure to descend.

[Anonymous]

I had the exact same labor (number of hours of labor and pushing) as my mom right down to the mal positioning of the baby.
I think on some level my mom was happy that I knew what she went through for me.
I'd heard about the horrible labor my whole life, and was petrified of giving birth because of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had the exact same labor (number of hours of labor and pushing) as my mom right down to the mal positioning of the baby.
I think on some level my mom was happy that I knew what she went through for me.
I'd heard about the horrible labor my whole life, and was petrified of giving birth because of it.

So was it horrible, or was your mom just being dramatic

[Anonymous]

My mother and I both had huge babies, had our water break first before contractions started, slow progression, pitocin, never got fully dilated, c-section.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had the exact same labor (number of hours of labor and pushing) as my mom right down to the mal positioning of the baby.
I think on some level my mom was happy that I knew what she went through for me.
I'd heard about the horrible labor my whole life, and was petrified of giving birth because of it.

So was it horrible, or was your mom just being dramatic

The actual labor wasn't that horrible, but the 4 hours of pushing, multiple vacuum attempts, forceps and resulting injuries were.

I lived, and I had a healthy baby, everything else (mostly) healed, and I'd do it again. Thank goodness for the epidural though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had the exact same labor (number of hours of labor and pushing) as my mom right down to the mal positioning of the baby.
I think on some level my mom was happy that I knew what she went through for me.
I'd heard about the horrible labor my whole life, and was petrified of giving birth because of it.

So was it horrible, or was your mom just being dramatic

The actual labor wasn't that horrible, but the 4 hours of pushing, multiple vacuum attempts, forceps and resulting injuries were.

I lived, and I had a healthy baby, everything else (mostly) healed, and I'd do it again. Thank goodness for the epidural though.

Stories like yours are why I'm so nervous going into this, and why I'm grasping at the hope that my labor is likely to be quick and uneventful, like my mom's!