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Childbirth

Share experiences and get support around labour, birth and recovery.

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Original poster

anyone STAND and deliver?

39 replies

vannah · 03/10/2007 21:13

Due to have baby no.2 in 2 months time, first birth was awful - v v slow, cervix did not want to dilate. Epidural put a definate stop to any dilating that had taken place!

I vividly recall asking the midwives and the registrar whether things would be speeded up if I was more mobile...(isnt that ALL you learn about during pregnancy?) and their response was 'if you believe in that sort of thing...'So I didnt bother and just lay flat.

Today, I had an antenatal appt with a senior registrar, and asked him the same question. His reply...was the same! 'If you believe in that sort of thing, we dont...'
Is this part of the script?

He then sort of mumbled something about his egyptian background, and that back home they all stand and deliver and have pretty quick births. So, he concluded, there may be some truth in it.

I walked out feeling v confused. Anyway, did you stand, or did you find being mobile was definately the cause of a speedy delivery?

thankyou

OP posts:

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Lulumama · 03/10/2007 21:15

well, am not a midwife, but i have done a fair bit of reading and research about birth over the last 3 years or so, and everything i have read pertaining to natural childbirth i.e unmedicated ( if possible ! ) , vaginal birth..suggests being

MOBILE

ACTIVE

UPRIGHT

BEING ABLE TO MOVE AS YOU NEED TO

it is the basic law of physics, no? gravity.. standing or being at least partially upright gets the baby down into the pelvis onto the cervix, which stimulates dilation

lying down to push, means pushing uphill, against gravity

don;t need to be isaac sodding newton to see the flaw in that !

fingerwoman · 03/10/2007 21:16

well, gravity has GOT to help surely? during my last labour I was very actively encouraged to be up and about and bouncing on a birth ball. all i wanted to do was sit down cos it hurt too much lol

Lulumama · 03/10/2007 21:17

BTW, my midwives turfed me off the bed when my labour was not progressing

fingerwoman · 03/10/2007 21:19

should add, I ended up on my back and had epidural and ventouse delivery for ds.

am due at the end of this month and planning a homebirth with pool. Will update you on if it's easier being upright lol

ellenjames · 03/10/2007 21:20

i gave birth stood up leaning on a table as i refused to move, which the midwife wasnt happy with! it was my 2nd labour after 10 hr labour with epidural for the first. My ds was born withinn 1hr 15mins and weighed 10lb 3oz! i think mobility in labour is fantastic but do what you want to do not what anyone tries to tell you to do.

nell12 · 03/10/2007 21:21

I stood up for dd (well leant over bed) delivery was quick (maybe too quick... I tore!). Only side effect on dd was she was purply pink for the first 12 hrs and covered in tiny white spots (like milk spots). Apparently it is quite a common side effect of standing up delivery amd the midwives who saw dd afterwards all said "you had her standing up, didn't you?"

She went back to a normal colour and the spots diasppeared within hours.

Theclosetpagan · 03/10/2007 21:21

Agghhh! Vannah - Lulumama is absolutely right and the crappy midwives and registrars you have spoken to were wrong.

I used to be a midwife and in most cases (ie - normal labours) women and babies did much better in an upright position. Dilation was quicker, women appeared to cope better (freedom of movement meant they could adopt whatever position felt best with contractions), there was less need for pain relief and any NCT teacher will tell you that the pelvic outlet is wider in an upright position than if the base of the spine is being compressed on a mattress.

Your Egyptian registrar needs to look at the women in his homeland and take proper note.

BroccoliSpears · 03/10/2007 21:23

I didn't, but your thread title made me laugh .

Piffle · 03/10/2007 21:31

stood with 1st too, very quick short easy labours, quick easy deliveries, truly believed in being upright so much so that I could not have lay/sat down if I'd wanted to
With ds2 it was stop start Homebirth transfer 8 hrs labout overnight from 18pm-4am with no progress, when I got there suddenyl went form 3cms to 10cms, stodd but was so fatigued I kept falling so I leant over a raised bedhead, squatted/leaned over ish on my knees so remained upright with support. in true style he also came out very quicly in the end

FWIW no tearing any time and breathed them out as they crowned

chipmonkey · 03/10/2007 21:31

I immediately thought "Your money or your life, (drumroll) Ha!" a la Adam and the Ants!

Original poster

vannah · 03/10/2007 21:41

I know, I was actually singing it while I typed the title...obviously in good spirits this evening!
Good to hear lots of positive stories about standing - esp good to hear theclosetpagan - that you were a midwife and what you had experienced.

Going to try really really hard to stand. Not sure how easy thats going to be if I opt to have epidural again (had 'mobile' one last time - ha) plus felt knocked out with so much gas and air.

but will remember your stories and try!

OP posts:

ChasingSquirrels · 03/10/2007 21:46

I stood (well kind of squatted) but only because I got off the bed so that dh could get some bubble wrap on it (plastic sheeting). he was pretty quick, but tbh I think he was just coming anyway and it didn't make that much difference - other than freaking out dh (who didn't manage to finish the bubble wrap) because he thought I was going to drop the baby.
I wasn't mobile prior to the actual delivery, I had been lying in bed reading.

Whizzz · 03/10/2007 21:48

think he did

Klaw · 03/10/2007 22:14

when at consultants appt before my VBAC, saw a lacky who poo pooed the idea of gravity, saying baby didn't weigh enough. I couldn't leave the roon fast enough, I also got the idea, rightly or wrongly, from the colour of his skin and with preconceptions, that the women in his homeland work all day, while the men sit around and insist on superiority.... I couldn't believe that he dared to speak to me like I was a stupid little school girl!!! grr, sorry, had managed to blank that memory for quite a while till now!

I was all set to refuse to see him again if he ever walked into a consulting room, but he didn't! Can you imagine my disappointment?

Anyhow, I made the mistake of getting on the farking bed to labour, and did not refuse CFM.... BIG mistake! so, donlt get on the stupid thing, stay on your own two feet and retain control!

Klaw · 03/10/2007 22:17

BTW, I adored Adam Ant

xXxamyxXx · 03/10/2007 22:33

i was told to walk around the corridors of the hospital untill i could walk no more definatly made things nice and fast how can you argue with gravity?

vole3 · 04/10/2007 04:27

I kept on my feet for most of my 5 1/2 hour labour and delivered kneeling up facing the back of the bed. Second stage was only 15 minutes and 3rd stage 5 minutes. Not bad for a first timer.
Nell12 - that explains a lot about ds complexion , just thought he'd hit his teenage years a bit early

mezzer · 04/10/2007 04:52

I was on my feet / squatting / bouncing on a ball most of the time and then got in a birthing pool and towards the end the midwife suggested that it might speed things up if I got out and stood up. After two days of contractions, I was willing to try anything so I jumped out of the pool and had dd whilst leaning over a bed.

I don't know who the eejits are that say that gravity doesn't do anything. They clearly need their heads examined.

milou2 · 04/10/2007 07:59

With my first my best contraction was upright leaning over a piece of office equipment in the corridor of the John Radcliffe!

I learnt from that and with my second I walked around at home, stood in the shower then delivered kneeling up on the bed at hospital, holding on to my husband.

I'd say gravity is a fantastic help. At the risk of being TMI, how do we all do a poo, on our backs or upright!!! That's what I point out to my sons!

Mintpurple · 04/10/2007 08:17

Remember that most nhs doctors have not seen a normal delivery since they were a medical student, so how can they advise on positions.

Being mobile is vital if you want a normal birth, but it still amazes me how many of my colleagues keep their patients on the bed, justifying it by saying 'ooh Im too old to go crawling about the floor' or 'my backs too sore!'

It also amazes me how many women are happy to lie on their backs on the beds and not move. Some of them look at me like Im mad to even suggest such a thing as moving about in labour!
And as soon as you turn your back on them they are back in bed!!!

FLIER · 04/10/2007 08:29

For my first birth I kneeled on the bed facing the bed head-not a good look but that was how I wanted to be, an upright position was recommended for SPD, which was why I decided on this position.
unplanned homebirth with 2nd baby and was standing up.

Everything that Lulamama says, too.
Look into "active birthing"

bozza · 04/10/2007 08:37

My DS was born with me laid on a hospital bed with my legs in stirrups after two hours of pushing and he was a big baby and I had a lot of stitches.

My DD was born at home after a very active labour, wandering around the house, including up and down the stairs and into the shower (had a bath in labour with DS but much preferred the shower) and I was stood with my hands on the bed for support. The second stage was 5 minutes, if that, with no stitches and just a tiny graze.

I am not planning on having any more, but if I were to, I know exactly how my birth plan would run.

bozza · 04/10/2007 08:38

Also I had a fantastic midwife at home who was very much into going along with what I wanted.

GingGangGooley · 04/10/2007 10:28

My first sounds VERY similar to yours... gave birth on my back after a long early stage of labour, ds ended up posterior, forceps, epi, stirrups! yuk yuk yuk!

I was on my feet and all fours all of my labour for my second

When I wasn't standing I was on my knees bent over my ball or my DF's lap (while he was sat down) That's how I actually gave birth resting on him like that on my knees.

Definitely easier the latter!!

MarsLady · 04/10/2007 10:31

Mobile is the way to go. I've seen many a labour change when the mum has gotten up. I've also had several clients birth their babies standing up.

Congratulations and I hope you get the birth you want this time.

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