Needing to push before fully dilated

[BabyHaribo]

Has this happened to anyone?

I had huge urge to push at about 5/6cm literally couldn't stop it. MW was insistent that I mustn't push and so suggested an epi. This was wonderful relief but contractions stopped and I ended up with ventouse delivery.

Just wondering if anyone else has any experience of this or why it happens? I've always wondered if my body knew best and if left to push I would have just dilated very quickly.

I had the same. I couldn't stop pushing and was only 5cm dialated. My baby was back to back and MW said this put pressure on my cervix which in turn was forcing me to push.

After epidural my body relaxed and baby turned himself the right was around.

Did you have pain in your lower back? If so yours may have also been a back to back labour.

I had this with my first, she was also a back to back baby. I was told its common if baby is back to back, to feel the urge to push to early.

Yep Back to back here too and constant urge to push

Yes DS was back to back.

Pregnant with dc2 so just thinking how I want this labour to be different.

Its really interesting but I've delivered 4 back to back babies. But felt no urge to push. At all!

Yup, back to back too here. Wanted to push from about 4cm I think.

I did - also about seven/eight cm. Apparently, my method of 'pushing' at that point involving making low sounds (there's no dignity) made me 'push' only to my chest - I wasn't really pushing properly. My midwife said I should just do what my body wanted to.
When it came to really pushing, my midwife made me shut up and get on with it. I did end up with some tearing and stitches, but nothing awful and I feel like my labour was well-managed.

Malpositioned baby will give you that early pushing urge.

Drs state that pushing on an undulated cervix if its your first baby will cause the cervix to swell up. I'm not convinced by this. However I don't think you can dilate quicker with early pushing so in likelihood you'd be looking at a good few hours of pushing and be worn out.

I got pushing urges from 8cm for all three labours. On the second, I just went for it and I got the swollen cervix situation, so I was told to not push for about an hour until it had gone down. That was very difficult (ie impossible) and not pleasant.
The other times were ok, but as said above meant I felt like I had been pushing for a long time.

I pushed for 6 sodding hours. Not sure how dilated I was as midwife didn't check.

When my mucous plug shot out and waters broke I've never been so relived.

Upshot is I have a haemaroid (sic, too tired to look up correct spelling) the size of France now.

Both natural deliveries I got the pushing urge - was examined and told I was 0-0.5cm dilated and to stop being silly - I pushed regardless (couldn't stop myself!) DC1 popped out 21mins later and DC2 was 7mins after a senior midwife said I was 0cm

Back to back baby and an early urge to push here too, though the junior doctor yelling "don't push, you'll tear your cervix!" did put me off a bit!

She then claimed that it was ok as she'd "pushed the cervix back with her finger"

Epidural and episiostomy got her our in the end

I was induced with DS which brought on strong contractions in the very early stages of labour. I had the urge to push at 5cm dilated and apparently it was causing DS to become distressed. When the midwife said I might have another 4 or 5 hours to go, I opted for an epidural as there was no way I could resist the pushing urge. I didn't have any trouble pushing on demand when the time came though. I'm pretty sure that in my case the early pushing urge was due to being induced.

I had much the same as 2tired2bewitty, without the epidural... Eventually it went away (helped by two attempts to push my cervix over baby's head ).
My second labour was lovely, though. Manageable contractions, got to hospital at 7cm (too late for epidural - bugger!), delivered 1hr 40mins later.
The risk of pushing too early (I couldn't actually not push) is the tearing of your cervix, but it also swells too, delaying dilation even more, so a vicious circle.

And bummymummy's post has just reminded me I had tough membranes with both so had to have them broken. That might have made a difference too.

Same here, 4cm and was pushing, had no control over it. Was aiming for a home birth but was transferred to hospital to have an epidural to stop me pushing. It worked but then everything took so long and ended up with a ventouse delivery the next day. Back to back and stargazing baby. Pest! I will be scrubbing floors and banning myself from the sofa from 35 weeks to try and avoid another back to back and shit labour.

Enid - sounds identical to my labour.

I might spend the next pregnancy crawling around on all 4s to avoid going through that again.

I believe that by going along with whatever your body is saying to do in labour, you can't go far wrong. If that urge to push is so strong, I would think that it's likely that a bit of pushing is what baby needs to help it into a better birthing position, and shouldn't be worried about.

I had that at 9cm. She was back to back and gave me pethadine so I could get some sleep. Woke up feeling like I needed a poo. Midwife checked me and was 9cm. Was trying not to push and then the midwife let me.

you might like to read this
midwifethinking.com/2011/01/22/the-anterior-cervical-lip-how-to-ruin-a-perfectly-good-birth/
I pushed from "5cm" , baby arrived about half an hour later.
Pushing is a reflex, don't let anyone tell you not to unless there's cord prolapse etc

I'm glad CarefullyAirbrushedPotato posted that link, or I would have had to go search for it for you. I pushed early with both of mine, neither back to back. My body just started pushing early. First time round I was mostly left to it by the midwife as she realised I had no control over it. She tutted a bit but that was it. I had a fairly minor tear that I think was probably more down to me being on my back rather than pushing early.

Second time round the midwife was not happy at all and gave me the line about tearing badly. She was all set to transfer me to the labour ward (I was in a midwife led unit) when she saw the head appearing. I hated that midwife. She scared the life out of me but could not give me any suggestions for how not to push. And I did not tear at all that time, so her dire warnings of surgical repair were nonsense.

Were I to have a third I would refuse all vaginal exams and listen to my body. I don't think pushing early has to be a bad thing, as that article outlines, as long as you are listening to your body and not pushing because someone else tells you or when you don't really need to.

I had back to back labour with DD2 and urge to push from around 8cm. However, when I say urge, I somehow found out that pushing a bit provided amazing pain relief (no idea why and MWs didn't seem to believe me but may be something to do with the fact DD was back to back?). They kept telling me not to push because I would wear myself out. I felt the opposite - that pain was manageable if I pushed against the contraction a little, but unbearable if I didn't. So I 'secretly' pushed for quite a long time and did end up with intervention right at the end, but did the whole thing on g and a thanks to my 'secret' method of pain relief!

All three of mine were back to back and I had premature pushing urges mw told me to concentrate on gas and air and pant and give gentle pushes which worked all three were born naturally with no stitches.

I had a precipitous labour with DC1 which stalled due to the ambulance transfer (I was under the 37 week cut off for homebirth by six hours)

When I got to the hospital, I was checked and told I was at full dilation and needed to push. I had no urge to push at all, but presumed the midwife (bank staff, not the lovely community ones) knew best.

I spent an hour pushing, forcing myself. The midwife kept yelling at me that I wasn't pushing hard enough. Eventually she checked and spotted a cervical lip, moved it out the way, and DC1 came out shortly after.

Pushing against that cervical lip was almost certainly what caused my incompetent cervix with subsequent pregnancies and were it not for a complete fluke, I would not have DC2 now, and I wouldn't have DC3 either if I hadn't advocated for a transabdominal cerclage to fix the damage as I felt sure a TVC wouldn't be enough (I was right, according to my surgeon)

Midwives I spoke to post birth all agreed I should NOT have been told to push. My body had quite rightfully stopped to get some energy back for the pushing stage after going from 0-9.5cm in under an hour, I wasn't fully dilated, and shouldn't have been forcing it like that.

Sadly I never got the chance at another natural birth as my cervix was too ruined to dilate again. I wish I knew then what I know now about labour and pushing. That the body knows best, not an incompetent midwife who doesn't give a toss about you and just wants the birth over and done with. I've seen so many wonderful midwives since, I had such rotten luck that evening that I happened to get one of the crappest ones.