Why on OBEM are the ladies in labour always in bed???

[YesIveNameChanged]

I've been watching OBEM (21 weeks pregnant with DC2, not sure why i'm torturing myself lol) and almost all the women seem to spend their labour in bed and end up pushing lay on their back! WHY????

I know labour is different for everyone and i also know OBEM only gives a small snapshot of labour but every bit of information i've ever been given about being in labour and birth has advocated staying active and moving around and not giving birth on your back. With DS1 i was induced and was confined to the bed on my back and it was awful, I'm just really suprised that the midwives in OBEM never seem to suggest that the ladies get out of bed and move about a bit, especiallly when labour is stalling.

Not a massively important thread, but was just checking the "rules" for labour hadn't changed

I've seen women giving birth on all fours, some on their side, one using a birthing ball to lean on, several in water, and a couple squatting as well. Granted, I do watch way too much of it, though :o

I think a lot of it is down to editing. The women very probably have had the 'whatever position feels best for you' chat from the MW, but they can't show everything. They can also only show those who agree to be shown, and at the end of the day the amount giving birth on their backs must be representative of the amount of women who actually choose to do it that way. I've had all of mine on my back, once I'm on it you couldn't move me for love nor money. I'm currently insisting I not be allowed to lay down for this one unless it's necessary, but if it ends up that way, so be it :o

I don't think it's a "rule" but it does seem to be what happens - I'm not entirely sure why.

I remember my antenatal teacher saying that the beds are convertible, you know, and the first thing your birth partner should do is go over and make the bed into a chair position. Because when you get into hospital everything you've learned gives way to cultural conditioning and immediately your obedient reaction is not to meddle with the equipment (changing the bed) and to get onto the bed to lie down, or gingerly sit on the edge of it (but still as a bed). You're allowed to change the bed and you don't have to lie down! You can use it as a support, I found putting the head board up really steep helped with being on all fours, or standing next to the bed, raising it as high as it will go and using it as a support.

They tend to need you to lie down for examinations so don't forget and stay there and if towards the end you become too exhausted to stand or kneel any more, ask to be laid on your left side, because it's easier.

I was upright and pacing alot with DD1 and ended up giving birth laying on my side as that was most comfortable at the time. No way could I push whilst standing or being on my knees, due to having jelly legs!

DD2 I was induced and therefore on a monitor. I could pace the floor a tiny bit but in the end the most comfortable place was again laying on my side.

I think no matter what your best intentions are, until that time arrives you can't make any decisions.

so people who end up on their backs didn't consider other positions now?

next we'll be told that if we'ld read more and been more positive our births would have definitely followed X formula

but I agree that the editors don't get to choose from all the births that happened that day, they only get to show births where people agreed to be filmed. I haven't been on a hypnobirthing course myself but from what I understand, less people, noise, activity and equipment in the room is advised, so hypnobirthers WILL be under represented but its not some media conspiracy

sarry yes. I was manhandled onto the bed.

Horrible experience. At that point I was being told I was being hysterical, that I wasn't in labour and if I thought that was bad, wait until I got real contractions. Then they injected me with a pain killer without consent. Baby arrived less than 20 minutes later. But the monitor said I wasn't in labour, and what could I know about my own body?

Sorry I didn't word that very well at all! That's obviously not what I meant Lacking, I was just going by my own experience of having a really unsupportive mw and not feeling able to stand up for myself. Some women are not told that they can change position and don't ask or are already unable to move.

What didn't help me was that I was "discouraged" from going into hospital and was already pushing and fucking terrified when I arrived. It was really not a nice experience at all.

Crunchy I wonder if we had the same mw!

yes fuckbadger that does not sound good, but equally my MW didn't support my need to be on my back in bed

midwives should support the individual's needs, but then I do find that many who claim to advocate that they turn out to only mean "if the woman is intelligent enough to want to be on her knees/standing/in the pool" IYKWIM

its wrong to automatically assume that all women on their backs are either there because of a shite MW
or else they're their because they were too stupid to learn anything about labour antenatally

I wanted to be on my feet. It was one of the 3 things I had in my very limited birth plan - but I couldn't do it. Crawling around the bed on my hands and knees was my limit, I had to be wheelchaired to the loo (about 6 times in ~2h) after I went up to labour ward (observation room only, I wasn't progressed enough to go into a delivery suite as they were very busy). Anyway - as things continued, I ended up lying on my left side - too painful on my back - and pretty much gave birth like that. Got DH to go for a MW when I felt the baby "move down" and when she came back, she yelled "There's the head!" panic stations, one MW took one foot, DH took the other and I was moved onto my back for the final push to get DS out. Then back onto my left side again as soon as possible.

I think that it is easier for them to deal with everything if you're on your back, but if it's not working for you, then you should be allowed to change position.

i got asked to lie down to be examined and forgot to get back up. :(

i still wonder if that's why dc2 had to be helped out with forceps. i had laboured upright till i got there (my waters broke at home before i got a chance to lie down!) and was actually almost fully dilated when she eventually got in between contractions. my contractions were very intense and i kind of zoned out though.

i hid under my pillow and grunted a lot. i think the very nice MW and DH both suggested i get up, but only got as far as my side.

it all went a bit wrong after a monitor was clipped to his scalp which showed he was a bit distressed, then a doctor took bloody ages to try and get blood from his scalp for pH when my contractions were a minute or so apart and i had the urge to push. it was excruciatingly uncomfortable having him rummage about! forceps were eventually produced for the last push or 2 and an episiotomy done.

i still wonder if i could have done 'better' if I'd got back upright, i know it's daft. :(

i was in consultant led bit cos it was a VBAC btw.

Lacking, I've asked for my first post to be deleted. I wasn't calling anyone stupid and I'm really that it came across that way. Sorry!

It's interesting what you say about needing to be on your back, for me the pain was a thousand times worse when I laid down. I wonder if its because of slight differences in anatomy or position of the baby that make certain positions unbearable for some women. Totally get your point about mws needing to treat all women as individuals and respect and support every woman's choices whatever they are.

I think I probably need to speak to someone about dc1's birth, the position thing was just another choice that was taken away from me. I don't think they even thought of me as a person and it still upsets me so much even after 3 years and another baby.

Hope no one thinks i was criticising their choice to be on their back, it was just very noticeable to me because i've watched several episodes back to back (series 3 in leeds) and i really wanted to see some more examples of ladies coping well (but obviously doesn't make as good tv)

Also noticed that they never seem to use ventouse, its always straight to forceps, does anyone have any idea why this is? Has there been an increase in the use of forceps in the past few years rather than ventouse, or again is it perhaps editing to make it more dramatic?

I was in my back. I had no choice as I wasn't well and was on antibiotics as well as good drugs/ and gas and air.

How awful for you crunchy, that doesn't sound like a good experience at all. I still don't understand why I hear so often of women going 'the baby is coming!!' and the MW's going 'ah, don't be silly now'. And 10 minutes later baby arrives.

(mind you, I felt ready to push about 8 hours before baby arrived. I kept shouting 'I need to do a poooooooo!!'.)

They do seem to use the forceps a lot; I thought they were being used less and less nowadays but it doesn't seem so from OBEM! I have a horror of them and seeing the MWs straining to pull a baby out with forceps is just awful.

I was on my side through all of the contractions lying down, there is no way I coul have moved and the gas and air wouldn't have moved with me ;). I did move onto my knees and hung onto the upright bed to give birth as instinctively it felt right that way and it only took 14 mins of pushing.

It doesn't matter what anyone else does just tune into your own body and do what feels right to you as it will be the best way, everyone is different.

most of them are on monitors which give the best readings when you are still on the bed. Many have epidurals. With the bed as the central focus in the room it can be hard not to use it, especially when tired. Personally in both labours I found sitting on my bum to be really uncomfortable, on a chair, bed, in the car, even on a ball in the end. I was pacing, standing rocking, or kneeling over a ball/chair/pool edge until I was put on monitors.

I guess a lot of it's down to the editing - the show's only an hour long, so we probably don't get to see that much of the labour. I was surprised by the high number of forceps births shown though.

With DS, I gave birth on my back, because I had a fetal heart-rate monitor strapped on by that point, and had to be on the bed for that to work. And because things got quite dramatic once the midwife checked the heartbeat, any edited half-hour highlight of DS's birth would probably show me on my back for most of it.

Whereas in reality, for all but the last half hour of labour, I was pacing around the room.

^its wrong to automatically assume that all women on their backs are either there because of a shite MW
or else they're their because they were too stupid to learn anything about labour antenatally ^

I couldn't agree with this statement anymore! I knew all about active labour, in fact I had an active labour, my midwife was very supportive and let me do what I wanted, but in the end, I felt most comfortable lying on my back. I trusted my body and did as it told me, and it was telling me to lie down! I would hate to think that I was judged as ignorant, or my midwife (who was lovely) was judged as not doing her job well enough. It would be as bad to force women into different positions as it would be to force them to lie down.

wantanorange I could have written that post! I had an active labour until the end where standing was just sheer agony. I think it was the weight of DD beginning to push her way out.

I asked to get on the bed and the relief was instant and I stayed sitting bolt up right on the bed.

because they have no interest in doing what is best for the women they are caring for, otherwise they would be encouraging exactly the behaviour you mention!! it's so distressing to watch, except for the odd waterbirth :) (I don't watch it any more)

Why would a midwife have "no interest in doing what's best for the woman they're caring for"?
What a ridiculous statement!!

I must be extremely lucky with the midwives I've come across in my 3 pregnancies then, never have I met one that had "no interest" in the care that was best for me! If a women feels giving birth on her back is the best position for her the what business is it of anyone else's? Both my DCs were born with me on my back (after trying other positions) first labour was only 3 hours and secon labour was all of 1 hour 30 mins! So lying on my back didn't slow my labours or cause any complications, it was the best position for me, I had zero pain relief and this was how I managed my contractions. My midwives have encouraged me to do what feels natural and follow my body, which has twice resulted in two natural and enjoyable births for me, my partner and a happy and healthy baby at the end of it.

My thoughts entirely - watched the bbc midwives prog last night and was surprised the lady labouring back to back was not encouraged onto all fours to help the baby turn. Lying on your back in labour is so counter intuitive! And more painful imo