Just curious, is there an official time? Does it vary by OB? Depend on how the baby is doing?
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I think it varies on the specific situation and/or doctor. For example, for some it could be the dilation (failure to progress) stopped progressing and for some it can be the baby's exiting stopped progressing (failure to descend). I think sometimes they are blanket referred to as failure to progress even though they're a little different.
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With LO1 I had "failure to progress." I was induced and I barely dilated at all. And most of that came from the foley bulb. They didn't decide based on a specific amount of time. A lot happened, but essentially after several hours they used an internal monitor on my uterus to make sure that my contractions were actually strong enough to cause dilation. They were strong enough, but it still wasn't happening so they suggested we move to a c-section because they didn't think anything was going to change. This was at 10pm after 20 hours of being stalled at 4cm.
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@Mrs. Goose: thank you for the explanation!
@ShootingStar: I stalled similarly but since it wasn't an induction I chose to go home and labored in my bathtub overnight and at home the next day. I did eventually deliver vaginally but I always wondered what the "cut off" is/would have been in the hospital. Fwiw I wouldn't do that again, with older kids at home especially. I was very young and acting on bad advice from a nurse and a little nervous to "complain."
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Agree that it depends. Officially I was "failure to progress" after starting an induction 18 hrs earlier. I'd been stalled out for about 5-6 hours when the call was made, but more important my LO was not tolerating labor well anymore, and I was actually swelling closed again (I dilated to 8, and by the time I got my c-section I'd swollen back to 7...)
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I was like @Mae:. They had pitocin up full blast, I had been in labor about 30 hours and I was stuck at 7 cm for the last five hours of that. Who knows when the actual moment was that I was determined to be a failure to progress, but certainly when DS started to have signs of not tolerating labor well anymore, they called it and I had a c-section shortly thereafter.
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@Mae: @Amorini: sounds like maybe not tolerating labor anymore is the cutoff? Even when I stalled for awhile with my first we were monitored a little while and both doing fine outside of the obvious pain for me. Must be really scary to be told your baby isn't tolerating labor well.
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@2littlepumpkins: that was my understanding. I swelled from 8 to 7 in about 2 hours but they didn't stop me then. They gave me another 3+ hours of changing positions and continuing to try to move kiddo. It definitely seemed like they were willing to wait it out a bit with me, right until LO's heart rate got scary and then it was... nope we're doing this now.
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@Mae: wow, did you know you went from 8 to 7? I wonder if that's typical. Guess it can't be that uncommon if they kept going? I don't know but that's pretty crazy! I hope you were proud of yourself! I'd have freaked!
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@2littlepumpkins: I did know. They said it was because of LO's position. She was sunny side up and her head was tilted so rather than pushing on my cervix with the crown of her head, she was only pushing on the top part of it with her temple. They said the uneven pressure was not enough to dilate me further, but was enough to irritate my cervix enough to swell. That's why they spent a few hours having me move positions trying to get her to move so she could help me dilate.. but to no avail. When they took her out via c-section it took 2 surgeons to un-wedge her from where she was stuck (basically in the corner of my pelvic bone) and she had a dent/bruise on her head from it!
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I was advised I stopped progressing a few times (I went through 4 sets of 12 hour shift employees) but ultimately ended up with a vaginal delivery 44 hours after after checking in for an emergency induction. A C section was mentioned several times- but never that DD was in distress. I've had a few medical professionals express surprise that I was allowed to go that long with pretty bad pre eclampsia.
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