The Labor That Wouldn't End

All labors seem long when you're the one in labor. Still, some are unquestionably longer than others. Consider the average active labor  -- which should last 6 to 12 hours for first-time moms, 3 to 6 hours for veterans  -- and then consider the experience of Jenny Montgomery, of Saint Charles, IL, who was in active labor for 22 hours with her second baby, and then had to wait another 7 hours before he was ready to be pushed out.

"I went into active labor at nine o'clock on a Monday night, and had only progressed one centimeter to five centimeters  -- halfway there  -- by Tuesday evening," remembers Montgomery. She went into the hospital the next morning, where she was found to be completely dilated  -- at 10 centimeters  -- within a half-hour of arriving.

And then, she says...nothing happened. So she and her husband, David, and the doctor simply waited for her to feel the urge to push. Meanwhile, she had painful contractions every few minutes for the next 7 hours. Finally, by early afternoon, she felt the urge to push, and after 45 minutes  -- the only way in which her labor was average  -- delivered a healthy, and impressively large, 9-pound, 15-ounce boy.

Despite her long labor, Montgomery is very happy with her second birth experience, and philosophical about why her children seem to want to stick around in her womb (her first child was three weeks late, had to be induced, and still took his time arriving). "I loved the whole process, believe it or not," she says. "I didn't tear, I knew I was progressing even though nothing was happening, and I'd love to do it again."

---