Okay - who breathed their baby out? Does it work??

[GinaFordAteMyBaby]

Expecting number two in a week or so and after things not really going my way last time am feeling a lot more confident in my ability to just get on with it and for my body to do what comes naturally. Have read a great hypnobirthing book and although have been very rubbish at practising I've found the whole tone and philosophy very reassuring.

So I was wondering if anyone had breathed their baby out rather than actively pushed, or a combination of the two, or if anyone had tried and it hadn't really worked?

I would describe breathing your baby out as being a bit like doing a poo. You do push, but the pushing is involentary. You will breathe out as you push, but its not a deliberate decision its like a reflex. The logic is that your body controls pushing so that you push at the right moment and not tear badly.

It is very different and much calmer than american film style of doctors shouting at the woman to push.

It does work. Idea is that you follow your body, move and breathe instinctively in a way that facilitates the tissues and bones opening rather than all tightening. It is also about not being directed from somebody outside who has no idea what is happening internally in your body. Externally directed pushing has been likened to somebody shouting at you to do a poo right now!!! even if they have no idea what sensations you are eperiencing. You listen to yourself and your baby not somebody else.

If you let the uterus do the work and you focus on breathing, softening and opening the baby will do all it needs to (it spirals out of the womb) and you are less likely to tear. You may need to explicitly ask the midwives to refrain from telling you what to do.

This sound like how i had my second baby- just went into myself and pushed completely involutarily- couldn't have stopped if they'd wanted me to! My body just knew what to do. It was lovely, and i didn't tear at all. I did have gas and air though- but was quite proud of myself as i had an epidural fisrt time around and pulled every muscle when it came time to push!
I hope it goes really well for you

Not sure if this count's but didn't push at all with DS2 he just came out as I panted alot on G&A. (But he was a very quick birth 45 min from first twinge)

I know when I did preg. yoga my teacher said that was one of the important things to remember - BREATHE! When we are in pain it is normal reaction for us to breathe in and hold our breath, but we have to concentrate on breathing out.

I did and would highly recommend it. When it got to the stage when I wanted to push I just concentrated really hard on not pushing until eventually my body took over and he was born quickly and easily without so much as a graze. Despite being over 9lbs. A vast improvement on birth no 1!

Both of mine required plungers to get them out. Wish I had got the sighing business sorted...

I did with dd 1, but had never heard of it previously... it's just what my body did, I never got the urge to push, dd just came out gently. Luckily I was in a birthing centre.

Unfortunately ds was born in Spain, where maternity wards are more, err, brutal. They wanted to give me an epesiotomy (standard protocol),so I pushed as hard and fast as I damn well could to get a bloody awful experience over with.

i didn't 'breathe' my baby out, (not sure what that means anyway.)

i was in the pool and as no midwife was there (fast labour) i told myself this one was coming whether or not i pushed and just let the contractions get the baby out. she came in 3 or 4 i think and not even a graze, no ring of fire etc. the urge to push was fleeting. dunno if it had to do with my position.

never pushed voluntarily with dd, just let my body get on with it. it took bl**dy ages - well around 50 minutes of involuntary pushing- I was getting very bored but it was the most amazing sensation I've ever experienced.

I've had four at home with no intervention and each time I'm pregnant I say to myself 'this time I AM going to breathe it out' but I get to the crowning and I just have so much adrenalin and sheer determination by then and am also quite keen to get it OUT that I just push for all I'm worth.

It's another example of my short termism because I always tear badly and I always regret it.

ds2 just fell out. Guess I'm rather bucket like then

I'd say lucky

I don't know about 'breathing ou' but my body was pushing all on its own. MW's were happy for me to just go with that until they saw meconium in the waters and then made me do active pushing. Iended up with a second degree tear. DS came out blue and wasn't breathing so the pushing was probably necessary in my case.

Thank you ladies. It's all very well reading something in a book but find it a bit more meaningful to hear your stories. I am going to try and let me body do its thing and see how it goes. The idea of not pushing is very appealing!

I tried it but it didn't work for me. I have had dreadful problems getting mine to descend though, even being upright and active etc. etc. so I think that my anatomy must be a bit strange and not helpful to delivering babies.

Even when I needed to push with all my might, the midwife was lovely and let me decide when to push. It was much better than having everyone in the room shouting at me as though "PUSH" was a novel idea.

I suppose I breathed DS2 out. I was meant to be having a hospital birth but my waters went at home and I just knew that I wouldn't make it to hospital.

DH called the ambulance and I didn't want to deliberately push in case DS was born too quickly, before we had some help so I just breathed.

He was born 2 contractions after the rapid response paramedic arrived. I had done one trial push just after my waters went just to see if pushing made the pain more bearable as some suggest (didn't make any difference) and then 25 minutes of breathing and he was born. I didn't even feel him crowning.

It was wonderful and, despite the drama surrounding his birth, actually very calm - well I was anyway, can't vouch for DH.

I did tear but only slightly along my episiotomy scar from DS1 - epidural/forceps birth for him so very different. DS2 was 9lbs and 2.5 lbs bigger than DS1.

agree with the pooing analogy - it wasn't that I didn;t push, but I certainly didn;t decide to push - my body was utterly in charge

Personally I thought I sort of sang dd out, not wailing sreaming but just going 'aaaaaaah' with each contraction

but apparently I sounded more like a walrus

i am due with dc2 in a week or so and have been doing preg yoga and we watched a great dvd of a baby being born by being "breathed out".. not sure that i will manage to be so quiet (certainly wasn't when ds was born - our poor neighbours!) but definitely hope that this time i will let my body do its own thing a bit more by practising all the breathing stuff we have learnt at yoga - when ds was born i am pretty sure i ended up with 2nd degree tear because i pushed the rest of his body out when i wasn't having a contraction..
but do worry that like spidermama i will just be impatient to get it all over and forget everything i have learnt
glad to hear that others have managed it though

Yes with all 3 of mine
Stopped and panted at crowning and deep breathed and help as they came out, was so peaceful and easy
No tearing, no real pain, just a slight sting on crowning.
Really nice births all 3 times.
And quick
I stayed upright as it gave me mrore control over my breathing

i breathed out long and slow on each contraction. No philosophy or wider plan involved as I was also pushing hard (in late labour) I'm not sure it helped deliver the baby, but it gave me something to think about other than 'when is this baby going to come?'. It was calming.