pushing before cervix is fully dialated

[fultime]

I pushed when my midwife told me I had 'hours to go' yet because I could not stand the pain any longer and my baby girl was born within minutes and almost shot off the end of the bed as they wasn't prepared and didn't realise I was pushing anyway. It didnt do me any harm or the baby thank god, but I do wonder if they sometimes stop you pushing when you should be how do they know that you mustn't push, why shouldn't we listen to what our bodies are telling us, and mine was saying push push. What damage can it do pushing before fully dialated does anyone know?

Hi bubblepop, there is what is know as a "rest and be thankful stage' with many women's labours, this is when things kind of go off the boil a bit when you are nearly ready to push, your body is giving you, and itself a rest after all the hard work already done before the active second stage. Due to hospital protocols and time scales it is often not observed and you are encouraged to push when you have no urge, or even worse sporadic contractions, which mkes things very difficult for the mum as you need the expulsive contractions to help your pushing effort.

I pushed too soon with ds, I wasn't fully dialated and I ended up with 6 tears! I used more gas and air with my stitches than I did for the birth and the room looked like someone had been masacred! The midwife had actually left the room because they were short staffed, so no one told me not to! OUCH! Won't be doing that again!