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Childbirth

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

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Original poster

What would happen if you didn't push?

117 replies

MarkStretch · 29/08/2008 11:12

Just wondering.....

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

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missblythe · 29/08/2008 11:14

Well, in my NCT classes, they did say that even if you did nothing, teh baby would come eventually. Not sure I believe it though.

Is this your birth plan?

Original poster

MarkStretch · 29/08/2008 11:16

Ha! No!

OP posts:

notnowbernard · 29/08/2008 11:16

How on Earth would you not be able to push, though?

The urge is too overwhelming, surely?

ellideb · 29/08/2008 11:16

I started a thread on this a while ago here, take a look

Original poster

MarkStretch · 29/08/2008 11:20

Thanks ellideb- that's interesting.

Funnily enough I asked because I was watching one of those cheesey american shows where there is a room full of people screaming at some poor woman to 'puuuuuush, puuuuuush' and I wondered what would happen if she said NO.

OP posts:

becaroo · 29/08/2008 11:27

....oh, you'll push, believe me!

Mamazon · 29/08/2008 11:29

You don't have to.
your body totally takes over.

When i had DS the midwife topped up my epidural without checking me. i instantly felt pressure and was scared witless as i just couldn't feel when i had to push.

With DD i had no pain relief at all as i was so scared it would go wrong again.
result was that my body went into auto pilot.

it all happened all by itself...as much as i would like to take full credit i can't, it was mother nature at work totally.

ellideb · 29/08/2008 11:36

Because of the info I learnt from that thread I have made it very clear in my birthplan that I do not want to be told to push and would rather wait until I get the urge, whether that is immedietly (sp?) or 2 hours later. It is fruitless and exhausting to begin pushing when you don't get the urge to as your body is just not ready. That's why you are more likely to need intervention if you have had an epidural. If hospitals just allowed women who have had epidurals to rest until the baby's head can be seen at then our body's would have done most of the work, intervention would be far less likely and so would tearing and episiotomy's. Mother's wouldn't be as exhausted either.

becaroo · 29/08/2008 11:41

....I told the midwife I wanted to push and then did.

Ds born after about 6 pushes - he literally shot out!

I hate it when you see these TV programmes with medical staff all yelling at some poor woman to "push".

I would tell them to feck off.

FAQ · 29/08/2008 11:43

Midwife with DS3 told me not to push - but I knew that his head was there and I couldn't bear the thought of another contraction so pushed like crazy - and out his came........thankfully only had a tiny tear as a result of my impatience

ScaryHairy · 29/08/2008 11:54

I saw a TV show where a woman who was paralysed from the neck down - and so couldn't control her muscles to push - had a vaginal delivery. Her uterus did the work itself, although they gave her a bit of help with the ventouse right at the end.

Re the people yelling "puuuush", that always struck me as ridiculous and I kept laughing at my DH when he did it (thank you, epidural) as it seemed foolish that he would tell me what to do (when he never ahs before!). I'm sure there was a study in the last couple of years that said that "coaching" during birth made little or no difference to how quickly the baby was born.

I really loved that article on the other thread.

3andnomore · 29/08/2008 11:57

There is something called breathing Baby out...i.e. no active hard pushing, but breathing through the contractions and feelings of wanting to push. This is slower for the Baby....

Cammelia · 29/08/2008 12:23

For both my births, when the labour became transitional (ie the contractions changed to bearing down rather than being for opening the cervix) I had no choice but to go eith it. At no point did I consciously push, it was more a case of letting go.

Notanexcitingname · 29/08/2008 12:31

I didn't push; Ferguson's foetal ejection reflex kicked in. I just felt my contractions change, and then a while later a baby appeared.

Google foetal ejection reflex-it's quite enlightening!

Cammelia · 29/08/2008 12:33

I didn't know it had a name !!

lindenlass · 29/08/2008 16:00

It's about how 'zoned out' you are when you're at that stage. If your forebrain is totally switched off and you're working totally on instinct, then your body will do all the work and you won't need to conciously push - it'll all just happen. Harder if you're on your back, of course, because of no gravity helping and your coccyx getting in the way. If you are not 'zoned out' then you will feel the urge to push in the same way you do when you need a poo, and will push in a very conscious way - it's actually not that natural to birth that way though: it hurts more and makes the second stage faster than it ought to be sometimes, and possibly even contributes to tearing etc. But it's hard to get into 'labourland' when you birth in our culture - too much talking going on, too much coaching, too much of everything really. If you were on your own in a dark room, you'd be far more likely to switch off, your natural pain-managing techniques would switch on (pain's mostly felt in the forebrain) and you would naturally breathe baby out.

oi · 29/08/2008 16:05

I never had the urge to push the first time. Everyone says you will but I never did. Was very odd.

Mimsy2000 · 29/08/2008 16:17

don't mean to hijack this one but can someone please explain how epidurals affect the urge to push? i didn't have an epidural with my first and definately had an overwhelming urge to push. i am considering an epidural this time round but can't imagine losing the urge to push. is this what happens? can it be controlled?

also, lindenlass didn't quite get what you were saying about being 'zoned out'. my urge to push did feel like i needed to poo [sorry tmi] does this mean i wasn't zoned out? confused.

odearyme · 29/08/2008 16:19

When I was in labour, I was being told to push, but i lied and said I was as I just couldn't bear the pain of pushing! He literally pushed himself out while i just stood there holding onto a towel rail.

TsarChasm · 29/08/2008 16:20

Everyone will be whispering that you're posh..

schneebly · 29/08/2008 16:26

With my DS2 I didn't push but my body did - they called it 'involuntary pushing' - was fab very little effort required! I think he was out in 3 contractions or something. Opposed to when I had DS1 and I was epiduraled up to the eyeballs so there was much effort and purple face required!

SummatAnNowt · 29/08/2008 16:26

I had been pushing for a couple of hours before it was decided I should have a c-section. I remember sitting on the table in the theatre and deciding there was no point in pushing anymore even though I "felt" like it. On the third contraction there was no way I could not push, my body just did it. Very weird to be sat down doing it, I was half-convinced ds would actually come out then and end up with a completely flat head!

ScaryHairy · 29/08/2008 16:27

Mimsy - with my epidural I couldn't feel a thing - numb from the waist down. The only way I knew I was having a contraction was because the monitor said so. So even if my body was doing some pushing I was not conscious of it or the urge to push. I only know that the pushing I did was in the right place because the midwife told me so. It was v weird and, perhaps unsurprisingly, I ended up with a section.

SummatAnNowt · 29/08/2008 16:27

Pushing also helped relieve some of the pain that had built up the last two contractions.

MamaG · 29/08/2008 16:30

I tried not to push when I got hte urge, with DS, as I was hoping for an epidural

I shook and shook and broke out in a horrible cold sweat.

I soon got on with pushing!

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