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Childbirth

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

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Original poster

Did anyone else not push when giving birth?

89 replies

jenny74 · 13/10/2007 21:50

I could not and would not push, all i could do was deal with the pain, I only managed to push once DD was crowning, and my body took over. HV called it gentle birthing, or baby does its own pot holeing!!!!

OP posts:

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sweetbean · 15/10/2007 09:34

dd1 i had to push and it felt amazing!!! so productive compared to horrible labour pains and i felt her moving down the worst bit was feeling the head thereand knowing that i had to push the head out after that it was all good. i only had gas an air when delivering the head so i think that helped me stay intune.

milward · 15/10/2007 10:04

know what you mean sweetbean - I felt the head of dd and thought of the tear I would have but she came out in one go and no tears at all!!

MegaLegs · 15/10/2007 10:14

Didn't physically push as it were, I went with that doing a big pooh feeling (sorry, but you know what I mean)but I felt like I sort of breathed them out.

DS3 was massive (10lb 15) and I had no urge to push him, I just sort of waited ( as did DH and the MW saying "Go on mummy have your baby.." over and over grr! ) and he sort of slithered out with the contractions.

claireybee · 15/10/2007 11:57

I couldn't make myself push and wish I'd known it was possible for baby to come out without it cos I found it quite stressful trying to make myself. In the end I was pushing for quite a long time, probably because i was pushing ineffectively.
If the same happens this time round (due in dec) I'll not worry about it and just go with the flow

MellowMa · 15/10/2007 12:07

Message withdrawn

skidaddle · 15/10/2007 12:21

I had no urge to push at all and it took 2.5 hours and a ventouse to get dd out. Wish I had known you didn't need to push as well - would have made it a lot less stressful. Also the mw kept telling me I wasn't pushing properly and telling me to save my energy for pushing not shouting (I was shouting f*ck with every contraction ) which made me even more stressed.

This time round I will just listen to my body and go with that.

Canadiandream · 15/10/2007 12:33

Wow, you learn a lot on mumsnet.

Am that you don't need to push. Feel p*ed off that I put in so much effort for an hour and a half, destroying my pelvic floor, to push ds out and you're saying I needn't have bothered!!!

Does it not just take a whole heap longer though if you don't help things on their way?

Boco · 15/10/2007 12:38

I had a champagne cork delivery with dd2 - she shot out with no pushing due to a reaction to the induction drug. I went from 3cm dilated to holding her in 14 minutes. It was shocking - it felt like a huge force charging out of me and was in shock for a while. It totally put me off ever having another baby.

krabbiepatty · 15/10/2007 12:45

My DC3 was rather like Boco's experience or a scene from Alien - overwhelming force expelling DD (I think the tentacles were only in my head). It was shocking but actually preferred it to other births...

MurderousMaveta · 15/10/2007 12:47

No only right at the end.. I had an epidural which eventually worked but for quite a while at the end I had this really strong urge to push that I just kind of rode out.. We were on our own for ages and there were no midwives around, I was too scared to push in case I wasn't 'supposed' to so I just kind of let my body do what it was doing and didn't actively add to that. Then when she came back in I said I really felt like I needed to push and she said 'oh if you feel like that you should just go ahead' well thanks for telling me then she got me ready to properly push and after pushing through 3 contractions he was out!
So maybe it was for the best in the end..

RGPargy · 15/10/2007 12:59

I'm really that you dont need to push either!!! I felt an urge to push with DS but as i'd heard you couldn't push at first unless the mw told you to, i held it in. Then when i told the mw i wanted to push, i expected her to say "NOOOOO! Dont push!!" but instead she just said "ok that's fine".

But if you dont need to push, i'm hoping that this LO will just slither out into the pool!

bohemianbint · 15/10/2007 13:02

I did Hypnobirthing and learnt not to push. Wrote in my birth plan that I didn't want to be told to push, wanted to "breathe" the baby down. Well, no one read it and I got shouted at to push. I did really want to as well though so it ened up going that way. I think I'd like to try harder to stick to my guns next time.

spookykitty · 15/10/2007 13:04

My body just took over with both and I felt like a bystander as it pushed the babies out. I think I pushed at the end as the quicker the baby came out the quicker the pain would go.

I hate the US programmes where they have the mother all gowned up with a nurse with a foot each, a doctor with a big plastic face mask on, 17 relatives in the room and they are all shouting 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10 BREATHE at the woman. I would have been shouting f* off at everyone.

phlossie · 15/10/2007 14:44

This is amazing! Would everyone not need to push if they waited? I had overwhelming urge to push both times, and while it stung like hell, I much preferred pushing to contracting. Tore loads though and babies looked like they'd done five rounds with a prize fighter!

MellowMa · 15/10/2007 14:47

Message withdrawn

Klaw · 15/10/2007 23:05

I should point out to all you ladies in waiting that you will still need to push if you are lying on your back or sitting on your coccyx as the exit for baby is, effectively, uphill.

In order to get the 'babyjustfallingoutand nopushingrequired' effect you really need to be upright, standing, on all fours or in a supported squat. (We westerners can't do squatting properly as we don't do it on a daily basis)

Imagine you have an elbow section of plumbers piping kind of like this and that you have a little ball which fits inside. The ball will represent baby and the elbow piece represents the birth canal. If you lay it on it's back the ball will not be able to come out. If you hold the pipe upright the ball falls out. If you lay the pipe on it's side (as if you are lying on your left side) it's still much easier for ball/baby to come out. Does this make sense?

When Jean Sutton describes the mechanics of birth in these sorts of terms it makes so much sense!

Klaw · 15/10/2007 23:41

These are the links I post on another forum:

4 links about pushing I wish I'd known about BEFORE my VBAC when I begged mw to check me when my body just started pushing if it's own accord:

The "rest and be thankful" stage of labour

"You're 10cms - now push!

Pushing for First-Time Moms by Gloria Lemay

Birth Without Active Pushing

xXxspookyxXx · 15/10/2007 23:50

couldnt stop my body pushing!was told to by midwife because he thought i had ages to go ds was born 5 minutes later

1dilemma · 15/10/2007 23:54

didn't push with one of mine (in fact I was the opposite and yelling 'I'm not pushing' the whole time (and I was lying down - sorry) weirdy weirdy contractionswith the following one felt like they were pushing the baby in!!!!!

Niecie · 16/10/2007 01:13

I didn't push DS2 out. I had a couple of trial pushes when my waters first broke as I read somewhere that pushing relieves the pain and I wanted to see if it was true - it wasn't. (I had an epidural with DS1 so I don't know what it felt like).

I didn't push as I was waiting for the ambulance to come (DS2 was an unplanned homebirth) but my body did all the work. It was like an enormous downward pressure and there was no fighting it but it required no extra effort from me. DS2 was born within 5 mins. of the rapid response ambulance car arriving. He just sort of dropped out whilst I was on my knees leaning against the side of our bed.

I have heard/read somewhere that a baby can actually be delivered whilst the mother is unconscious as the body takes over and does the pushing for her. Amazing.

1dilemma · 16/10/2007 01:15

sounds quick niecie!

Swaliswan · 16/10/2007 08:34

My body started pushing without me meaning to and then I was told that I had two contractions worth of pushes to see how well I could do and try to escape theatre as DD1 was prem and in distress So I pushed for England and got her out ASAP. Shame about the tears and visit to theatre the next day

WindUpBird · 16/10/2007 10:46

Jenny74 - Thanks for starting this thread, it's something I've been wondering about for a while.
Klaw - I was really interested to read about the 'rest and be thankful phase'. This happened to me once I got to 10cm. It was fantastic, suddenly all pain was gone as the contractions had stopped. I just wanted to sleep (having not had any for 2 nights). In this haze I vaguely remembered reading somewhere that this was 'normal' and that I would get my energy back and start the 2nd stage a bit later. However, the midwife immediately hooked me up to a drip to get the contractions going again and my fabulous labour all went a little bit downhill from there! I then had to lay on my back to be continually monitored. Everyone screaming 'PUSH, PUSH like you're doing a poo!' for the next 2.5 hours, till I was strapped to stirrups and ventoused! 18 months on I still suffer a weird kind of chest pain as a direct result of the strenuous pushing, physio says it's normally as a result of a car crash etc!
So this time, I'm hoping I can just let the baby find it's own way out

formerlyknownasfatslag · 16/10/2007 12:55

I really thought I needed to poo and was thinking sht oh sht, IYSWIM... then I realised it was a mega urge to push and I had only just got to the delivery room. The midwife had disappeared to get dh, the obstetrician was having his coffee break and I thought HEEELLLLPPPP wtf do I do now. I did that panting thing they teach you at the prep class (thank God they do) and hung onto my buzzer for dear life. Of course I was all strapped down, monitoring equip and god knows what so I couldn't get off the table or even sit up to catch him myself. Mid wife and dh reappeared at full gallop, I yelled "he's coming" and out he shot. The mid wife caught him on the way out.

No pushing involved AND I was horizontal. You absolutely do not need to be squatting to get a baby out.

Quick, easy and virtually painless - the contractions hurt a lot more than the actual birth. I wish the same luck to all you expectant Mummies (because it's all down to luck in the end).

callmeovercautious · 16/10/2007 13:15

My body pushed for me for hours! The Midwife kept telling me off as I was not fully dilated (I could tell she had not been through it herself!)I suppose that was just my contractions. When DD crowned I also pushed and she came out quite easily, I found that bit much easier than the earlier stages, I think I only pushed 3 or 4 times in total.

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