Those who have had two (or more) kids...

baby #1 10lbs, 13 hours active labour with 2 hrs pushing, E c-sect after all that.

baby #2  8lb 6oz, 10 hours active labour with 5mins pushing, easiest birth!!

baby #3 7lbs 4oz, 17 hours active labour with just under 4 hours pushing as he turned his head in the birth canal and the MW had to manual turn it back which took bloody forever (I tried to kick her in the head while this was happening lol) Once turned he came out in 2 pushes. Poor boy also had the cord around his neck twice so I guess it was sort of a buggy type situation too. His was a harder birth than the others.

DS1 was 7lb exactly, 3hr 56 min from start to finish (1 hour pushing)

DS2 was 8lb 7oz, 2 hours start to finish (9 minutes of pushing)

DS2 was the way easier labour and birth and the complete opposite of DS1. DS2 had a larger head than his big brother and though they were both super fast I enjoyed the 2nd one much better (maybe because I was at home).

SarahMM-They say that the average first labour is 18-24 hours long. When I got to hospital with DS1 they were going to transfer me off the delivery suite because they insisted I wasn't actually in labour....then my waters kindly broke and I had to stay put. LOL

Active labour is classed as contractions that get longer, stronger and more frequent. This stage can take, on average, of 4-8 hours for first time babies, this is when you have to get from 4cm to 10 cm. When I had DS1 and my waters broke I was already at 6! The other thing you will probably notice is an inability to talk through your contractions. This was pretty instantaneous for me both times and I can tell you that I would pick an 8ish hour labour over my quick ones anyday.

How long you push for varies from woman to woman and labour to labour. I guess it depends on how motivated you are. LOL With DS1 I had NO idea what I was doing so it took an hour, probably at least 15 minutes longer than it needed to because as soon as I got to the "ring of fire" I stopped pushing. I had to be threatened with an episiotomy to keep me motivated as I didn't want one. DS2 took all of 9 minutes and as he was a water birth I didn't even realise he had crowned until dp mentioned something about alot of hair and the midwife said it was bubs. LOL

Just go in with an open mind, visualise everything going well and it should. I think that the fear that alot of women these days seem to have about giving birth impedes the natural process. I never feared giving birth and I trusted in my body's ability to know what it was doing.