Worried sick - is this normal/usual?

My brother's wife is in hospital having a baby. She has been in labour since Friday night and that was when her waters broke.

My brother telephoned the hospital about taking her in, and was told not to do so until the contractions were closer together. She was admitted to hospital yesterday morning, and they were told she would be put on a drip to "move things along".

However, she has not been put on this drip, and her contractions have slowed again. They are apparently now planning to put her on the drip, over 24 hours after she was admitted, and they have said it's better for her to have the baby naturally. However, she's been in labour for over 50 hours and is exhausted.

My mother is panicking and saying they should be doing a caesarean by now. I'm worried because I thought once the waters had broken, the child needed to be delivered within a certain amount of time (although I have no practical experience as I am childless so I could be wrong). We are scared to death of something happening to the baby and we are worried for my sister in law as it's been so long now.

Is this normal to be in labour for this long? Should the hospital be more concerned than they are by this point?

Advice and opinions from those of you who've given birth would be welcome please.

i was in labour 3 days with daughter no 3, but it was very start-stop, which is probably what is happening here. Often people think that the pain that is associated with labour is the level that you get just before you go into second stage ('pushing'), whereas it can sometimes be quite mild in the early stages, bit more 'uncomfortable' rather than 'pain'.

I'm sure the hospital know what they are doing, I wouldn't worry, you'll soon have a little nephew/niece!

My waters broke with my daughter and I left it several hours before I made my way to the hospital,only to be told I should have gone straight away when my waters broke.

My contractions kept stopping and starting and it was a pain,they were going to leave me another 24 hours before putting me on a drip,thankfully I had her 18 hours later.

With My son baby no 3,I was in labour for two days having mild contractions (I even went shopping)then woke on the 3rd day to very strong contractions,was admitted to hospital that morning,by mid afternooon nothing was happening so they broke my waters an hour later he arrived.
All 3 of mine have all been different labours,with pain varying.
I wouldn't worry to much, the staff usually know what they are doing and do keep monitoring mum and baby and if baby is showing signs of distress then they will do an emergency c-section.

Thanks for the replies, they have settled my mind a little. I'll ring my mother and see if your information helps her to calm down.

The baby has finally been born by caesarean. It's a boy weighing seven pounds eight. Mother and baby are both fine.

Thanks for the reassurances folks, they really helped.

Congratulations

Pleased to hear Mum and baby are ok

Pleased all is well now.

I started labour at 22:00 on the Thursday night and my daughter was born at 14:10 on the following Monday......

Congratulations to the new parents and all the family, and welcome to the world baby boy!

Congratulations to them both. Hope mum manages to get some good, uninterrupted sleep to get over the marathon. Exhausting, but well worth it, I'm sure

Congratulations Auntie Bek!
Any names yet?