Pushing stage - is it normal for the baby to keep going sort of in and out?

[Pomegranateporridge]

I don't mean once the head has been delivered but just before that

It felt to me like I'd push and feel the baby go down the birth canal and then it would be sucked back up and it felt like it was all for nothing! But I suppose it must have been two steps forwards one step back otherwise the baby would never have delivered

Nobody else seems to mention this, is it just me?!

Very normal from my experience of 4 births. And I'm sure I was told about it before the births so must be a 'thing' and not just you (and me!)!

Yes our antenatal teacher told us about “2 steps forward, 1 step back”, (and now I’ve done it twice) it’s definitely a thing!

Thank you! I just googled it (why didn't I do that first?) but suppose I just wanted some solidarity

For some reason I found most of labour and transition ok but really struggled at the pushing stage. I found that bit so discouraging! We were very lucky it turned out to be straightforwards though

Yes! I found it so frustrating, I knew my son was so close to being here and just wanted him to hurry up! The other thing I wasn't expecting was to feel him move while just his head was out waiting for the next contraction, definitely hadn't been told about that haha

Yes. Both mine got stuck at this point and I needed a ventouse. Pushing stage was longer than official established labour for both DC!

I was pushing for two hours and fifteen minutes because of this, the doctor had to come in after an hour and a half because nothing was visible still but luckily I managed to do a massive push which got her head down far enough otherwise it would have been the theatre for us!