No urge to push?

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I never got the urge to push at all with Dc1 and was just wondering if it was likely to be the same for Dc2? Any experiences?

I had an epidural with dc1 so had to be told when to push. With Dc2 I had no epidural but absolutely no urge to push at all.

The midwife asked me if I felt ready to start pushing and I just had no idea at all. Very odd!

I had no urge with DC1 either. They told me I could push when I felt the urge but it never came! I just got bored of waiting so lied and said I felt the urge. pushed for an hour and he was there. With DC2 I did feel the urge though and he came much quicker. In fact they told me not to push after his head was delivered and my body pushed him out voluntarily - amazing!

For some women when they reach full dillation the contractions can tail off for up to several hours. This is actually fine and normal so long as the baby is not in distress and is the bodies way of allowing you to rest and conserve energy. Hospitals don't seem to allow for this and will call it 'labour stalling' and get you hooked up to drugs to ramp up your contractions again.

I've heard it been called the 'rest and be thankful stage'. Maybe your contractions would have started up with an urge to push if you had been given more time?

It could be your babies position. I have noticed with malpositioned babies (myself included) women often have a reduced urge to push.
Some useful info
www.spinningbabies.com/techniques/during-labor/labor-progress
and
www.birthsource.com/scripts/article.asp?articleid=458
www.gentlebirth.org/archives/pushing.html
Selina

Thebreastmilksonme that's really interesting as my contractions definately tailed off too. I don't remember mentioning that to the MW's though. I just thought I'd better start pushing. I ended up pushing for 4hrs. Ds was 'there' for ages. I had an episiotomy in the end and one push and he flew out. MW said my tough as old boots fanjo was probably due to lots of horse riding.

Selinadoula The MW did say as Ds came out "Oh, I think he was back to back" so that would make sense too. I have a scan at 37wks to check my placenta has moved so will be interesting to see what position baby is in.

Lots of mums will get the Ferguson reflex, a bit like downwards vomiting where your body just shoves baby out of it's own accord, with not a lot of concious effort needed! This is usually kicked off by pressure on a patch of nerves near the cervix, so if baby is in a funny position, not pressing on this patch properly, it may not kick off. Sometimes midwives can get it to start by pressing on it during a VE.

I get the impression you're less likely to experience it the first time you give birth, suppose there might be various reasons for that. I like this article about pushing for first-time mums.

There's a nice ARMs article about the rest and be thankful stage.

I rested and was thankful for 2hrs. Well, contractions were still continuing apace but no urge. DD started showing signs of mild distress. So I pushed for 4hrs. Nope. Nothing doing. Still no urge and no baby.

She was ridiculously malpositioned. I assume that was the problem. Obstetric consultant said it might or not happen next time too. So that's helpful.

no urge to push with ds. got to 10 cm then nothing for an hour or so. pushed for 45 min. don't think he was in an incorrect position.

with dd1 i could not stop myself pushing! even before i got to 10cm.

oddly i think i prefered ds's birth as i felt more in control iyswim.

smilehomebirth - what you posted is really interesting. Gave birth to DC1 last week and had the whole "wanting to vomit the baby out of my undercarriage" feeling. Unfortunately, and the to utter shock of everyone in the room, it turned out that I was only 5cm dilated at the time . So didn't get very far.... And then when I was fully dilated, I had no urge to push at all. Ended up being told when to push by MW and 2.5 hours later out she came...

cardamomginger did you just get on and let your body do what it wanted or were you told you had to stop the pushing cos of not being 10cm? Another interesting article on the 10cm rule here.

breastmilksonme that describes what happened to me. I was fulled dilated, but had no urge whatsoever to push, my contractions stalled and drugs were given to get things going again. I still had no urge to push, did so only because I decided I wanted to regain control and get my baby out! I have 'issues' from the birth and thought my body had done it all wrong and let me down. You have really put my mind at ease by mentioning that and I will read up on it, thank you

My body had been in that "vomiting the baby out" stage with rising pain levels for 3 hours in the birthing pool and I was becoming increasingly distressed. Wanted to go for pethidine, but everyone was convinced I was nearly there so they checked to see, not wanting me to have it if DD was about to make an appearance. This was when we found out I was only 5 cm. I was in so much pain and distress that my body couldn't get on with anything. Pethidine didn't touch it so went for epidural. Got to 10 cm pretty quickly after that and managed to get a much needed rest for the pushing. Not exactly the birthing experience I'd been expecting - had been planning the whole hypnobirthing, active birth, visualisation thing . But I think the epidural saved me and given that this was my first DC the fact that I avoided induction, episiotomy, forceps, ventouse, etc I'm trying to look at this as a success. Still feeling pretty shocked and crap about it though.

I had no urge to push. I remember politely asking the midwife if she'd mind just checking I'd reached 10cm so I didn't try pushing too early!!

When I had DS2 they never even examined me to see how far dialated I was. Not once.

I had the urge to push before I was fully dilated. I later spoke to an independent midwife about dd's birth and she explained that it was likely to be dd moving from posterior to a position for birth and her head pressing on nerves which caused the urge.

This was a huge relief for me because I'd always worried that my body had done something wrong and that I was capable of giving birth without assistance.

I had an epidural at 6cm, contractions slowed down, was put on syntocin which pushed dd down into my pelvis faster than she was ready for. DD got stuck so I ended up with a forceps delivery.

I wonder now if someone had told me that my labour was progressing normally would I have still opted for the epidural?

Great links smile

Thanks Hulla, I collect 'em .

Cardamomginger - I'd definitely mark that as a success, good use of epidural (they're not always the work of the devil ), with not so much as an episiotomy is great. Maybe sometimes the nerves get pressed upon too early for some reason? Or do you think you were getting trapped in a pain-tension spiral which the epidural broke out from?

Thanks, smilehomebirth . Had a huge dread of epidurals - but they can be our friends!! Was still mobile throughout and had brilliant MW who encouraged me to stand and kneel, even with continuous monitoring, as I needed to. No idea whether things got pressed on too early. But definitely feel that I was trapped in a pain-tension spiral and the epidural rescued me from it.

I didnt get the urge at all. was at 10cm, had the break in contractions but not for long. Was then told that if I didnt get her out they would use the forceps and they did put the ventouse on. The sight of those horrible metal things made me push her out in 5 pushs, even the doc said he didnt pull just guided her head. They also took the g&a off me

Smilehomebirth I just wanted to say thanks for those fantastic links about the 10cm rule and pushing. In my first labour I had a home water birth and I wanted to start pushing between 5 and 8 cm. I stopped myself from doing so as the midwife said I was not fully dilated and I believed and so did the midwife that I should not begin to push until fully dilated.

I felt I was going against my body and it made the labour longer and I found it harder to cope with the pain. When I finally did start pushing this was a relief. I don't think I would have needed the gas and air as well if I had gone ahead and started pushing when I had felt the urge initially and I think my dd would have been born much sooner.

This time I am pregnant it has been a worry to me how I would handle labour this time around not knowing when exactly to push etc if I did not have a midwife examine me and tell me I was fully dilated etc. However, after reading the article you linked I feel so relieved and this makes intuitive sense to me.

Thanks so much as I am already feeling much more confident about birthing this time! I will do some more research but I will listen to my body and push when I feel ready and not wait to have an external exam to tell me when to push etc

I had my baby 9 days ago, similar to Hulla baby moved back to back during labour/pre-labour so I wanted to push for hours and hours and was not 'allowed' only G&A got me through it, then when it was time to push the contractions had gone off, I couldn't tell when they were peaking. A full bladder also did not help and I couldn't empty it so this was done for me (!) I still really felt like I couldn't push her out (first baby) after two hours the forcepts were threatened (literally Dr was about to be called in and I was in the stirrups) with all my might I pushed her out at the last moment, no assisted delievery yay!

The postition I gave birth in has been explained puts pressure on your body in sucha a way that for some women can help if the contractions/urge has gone off. So midwife said although it is a last resort and doesn't have gravity in its favour it can work (I was sat up not lying on my back, with knees around my ears!)

Having SPD this position was the absolute worse thing I could do and I'm sore sore sore and seeing physio tomorrow but still so glad to avoid assisted deliver. 2nd stage was 2 hours 5 mins, they were only going to let me go 2 hours without assessment/intervention.

Hi everyone... I do remember having absolutely no control over doing some spontaneous pushes whilst in the 2nd stage of labour, way before being fully dilated. Midwives said it was fine and to just carry on.

Upon final examination, being told I was fully dilated and it was time to push there was absolutely NO urge whatsoever!

So I just used my own energy and pushed her out, it took just 30 mins.