did hypnobirthing block my urge to push??

[camflower]

just back from gynae app at hospital and was discussing my birth 8 months ago with senior midwife. i mentioned that when it came to pushing i really thought my body would do it for me but this never happened. I was told to push although i never really felt like it, even when fully dilated. the only time i felt a proper urge was when he was crowning and i was told not to! she then asked me if i was doing hypnobirthing, which i thought a bit odd, and said yes, i had, and why? she then suggested that maybe i was (unwittingly) blocking the urge to push cos i was so focused on getting through the contractions and staying totally relaxed.

it's an interesting idea, and one that i'd never considered for a moment but when she said that i couldn't help but wonder if there was anything in it. oh, i ended up with ventouse and episiotomy after pushing for nearly two hours because there was meconium (although he was a 4kg baby with a big head!)

any thoughts?

No. I doubt it.

Have you heard of the 'rest and be thankful' stage?

Lots of women get this, but mws get all panicky and decide that when you are 10 cm, you may as well get on with pushing the baby out. The reality is you are pushing with no urge, you get exhausted, the baby gets distressed and you eventually need help.

If they let you be, you'd have probably had a little sleep of up to an hour and then woken up with an incredible urge to push and baby will have popped out fast with your renewed energy.

Oh and I know this because I was in your shoes once, obsessively researching what on earth could have happened. That was what I came up with.

ah yes that is exactly what happened - i told the mw i didn't feel like pushing but she said you're 10cm you can't just stay that way doing nothing or words to that effect. rest and be thankful - what a lovely concept!

I guess midwives are used to directing women to push and slightly unsettled when they don't.

I'm not an expert at hypnobirthing (only received cd this am) but i gather the aim is NOT to push through contractions as the womb contracting is a gentler birth, hence "breathing the baby out". I guess this works well up until your baby becomes distressed.

I wouldn't knock yourself or your birhting method. You both got through it fine without too much residual trauma. I've yet to do the birthing bit.........eeek!

i've just googled 'rest and be thankful' and wish i'd known about it before going into labour. somehow i missed that despite my extensive research!

flowerbee - i was really scared about giving birth, hence the hypnobirthing cd, and it really did help me (with the contractions at any rate). that and the large bag of starbursts

Check out Pushing for firsttime mums (from "reversing the energy" onwards). Does that ring any bells?

I did hypnobirthing for my second DC.

For both my DD (DC1) and DS1 (DC2) I felt no urge to push. With DD has to push very hard for a long time.. and it wasn't very nice, especially as had no urge to push at all and she was distressed, there was meconium, and she needed resuc when born. I did manage to get her out before the ventouse arrived though.

With DS had a rest and be thankful phase (midwifes were very reassuring about this) and then did little half hearted pushes when the contractions started again / hypnobirthing breathing and he came down birth canal in lovely slow controlled way. Probably took around 15 mins to push him out, again no real urge to push.

I just had DC3 last week. Was definately more relaxed than with the other DC. But no no rest and be thankful phase and HUGE urge to push, I just couldn't help it. He was born very fast - one minute midwife telling me she couldn't fill the pool as i wasn't in established labour, next minute waters went and felt HUGE urge to push. I tried not to as I didn't want to tear but I couldn't help it. He was born with 90 seconds!

Each birth is different..

My 2 cents:

I used the hypnobirthing CD before first baby, not religiously but used some of the techniques in labour. I didn't get the urge to push and did feel that the MWs were keen for me to get going with the pushing. I was knackered by that point (having been labouring all night and it was then about midday). I then pushed for 1hr20min and it felt like bloody hard work!

With 2nd labour (which I accept are usually quicker) I was in active labour for about 4 hrs, used the hypnobirthing techniques again. I can remeber thinking that I wasn't going to push until I was ready. In fact the midwives were in the kitchen making tea when I suddenly made an odd 'pushy' noise and they had to get back in sharpish. MW knelt down and said that she could see the head. Two pushes later and that was it...

mumnw - they kind of sprung the ventouse on me - if i'd known that was on its way i'd have really put my back into it!! first i knew there had been a change of plan was hearing the doctor say 'can you pass me the scissors? no, not those the BIG ones"

Have you heard about Fergusons Reflex, or Fetal Ejection Reflex? Some find it kicks off big time, some don't. Sometimes it's the position of the baby that does (or doesn't do) it. It's possible to kick it off artificially: This is something Mary Cronk had to say on the same subject:

"Some years ago I cared for a woman aged 46 gravida 5 who had no urge to push
though when I checked the cervix was fully dilated and the head was well on
to the cervix after abiut half an hour of this with very painful but non-
expulsive contractions I explained Ferguson's reflex to her and with her
permission put my fingers onto the posterior vaginal wall and elicitated
Fergusons Reflex with immediate expulsive contractionss and the baby was
born face to pubes a few ciontractions later I wonder if it would have
rotated if I had not interfered ? Digitally elicitating Ferguson's reflex
was something I learned about (like Chinning) as a Pupil midwife donkey's
years ago I wonder if Students of today do know about it? regards Mary"

smilehomebirth - had a quick look and the bit about the agonising internal examination setting back labour rings a bell - that was the only bit of labour where i was really screaming in agony and she was really rough (this was a different mw while mine was on a break). i remember thinking to myself she'd scared the baby back in again!

Never did the hypnobirthing CD or anything but basically followed my MW's instructions with DC1 (4 years ago) and breathed long slow breaths for 6 loooong hours and got myself so zen that I too never felt the urge to push. Had to be told I was 10cm. Was also told to wait for an hour once I reached 10cm so that baby would turn/drop. Still felt no urge to push. Eventually they held my legs up whilst flat on my back (always a great position ) and told me to push like I was pooing. 45 mins later DS1 was born. I pushed so hard that I broke all the capillaries in my face and eyes and had a petichial rash for a few days and some WICKED blood shot peepers. DD and DS2 - no hypnobirthing no deep breathing - just on G&A and can honestly say I maybe pushed 3 times in both births. My body just "did" the rest.

Don't know what the medical reason is but I do know it was a whoooole lot easier with my body doing the job for me. MW said this last time ( 3 weeks ago) that I breeeathed the baby out. Didn't feel like breathing - but that's what she said. I think. I was quite out of it on G&A!!!!

Camflower: Luckily I gave birth to DD in a MLU - no doctors / forceps /ventouse / episiotomies allowed. But the labour ward was just along the corridor so they were relaxed enough not to transfer at the first sign of distress...

However eventually they said, sorry you have to go to labour ward baby is too distressed you need medical assistance to get it out.

I said ok, but can I have 3 more contractions, they said ok but only 3 while we pack up your stuff/get wheeelchair etc, so I gave it absolutely everything I could and DD arrived within the third one. I ended up with 2nd degree tear as her head and whole body born in one go but it was for the best (I stayed in MLU) and I healed really well.

She was distressed and needed resuc and they did initally say she had to go to SCBU but within 5 mins she was totally fine.

As i said i did not have an urge to push and I think I was a bit scared of tearing. But once I realised I was going to go to labour ward and probably have an episiotomy/forceps etc I was more scared of moving to labour ward than tearing hence my ability to push her out. Midwife said that this was not uncommon.

I had no urge to push, though I pushed as directed to for 6hrs. I burst many blood vessels, tore a muscle and had bright red eyes for days.

I know now that it was malpresentation that caused my lack of urge, though I did use hypnobirthing. DD wasn't pressing on the right bit and hadn't descended sufficiently. Not even a ventouse or a manual rotation budged her and she was airlifted out through the sunroof.

I really felt cheated of that urge to push but I think it didn't materialise because there was no reason to push iyswim. She was stuck as a stuck thing and it was a pointless endeavour.

I never used hypnotbirthing either but did have a fantastic switched on midwife who realised I was managing and when I hit 10cm with no urge to push yet asked if she could nip off for her tes break while I was resting before the big push so to speak

I was wuite happy to be left (had my mum with me) and by the time she came back and asked me if I was getting the urge yet I was ready to go and ds was out in 3 pushes from me but only when I felt ready to do it.

So it seems from what others have said it seems a normal stage and possibly ahd you been left to it for a while hypnobirthing or not it might have gone as hoped.

I had a really violent urge to push with DD2 and had been very relaxed in labour until then (and even during that part to a point - I handed back my gas and air because I was more chilled without it). I was even able to sleep for an hour when I first went into active labour by listening to my hypno CD which always sent me to sleep. At the end I went from throwing up to pushing within about 10 minutes, so think the last part of dilating went really fast.
Anyway, the upshot of this was that with each expulsive contraction DD2's heartrate went through the floor. The MWs were shocked I was pushing so soon. They said "we normally don't get women pushing until the baby has descended". I said (wailed really) "But I can't help it". Anyway, the baby didn't drop, didn't rotate, the brachicardia continued and I ended up with another emcs.
I kept wondering "where the hell is my rest and be thankful stage?!". Funny how different it is for everyone.

I didn't do hypnobirthing (but thinking of it now for my third). With my second (VBAC) I didn't have an urge to push either. I just followed what the midwives said and pushed her out in 20 minutes. I was pushing with every contraction, but stopped for a while when she crowned (v. uncomfortable rather than painful by the way !).

I didn't tear, but had a couple of internal grazes and my poor labia needed a couple of stitches.

Baby was only 6lb 3oz though.

Interesting though as I just listened to the midwives. It didn't occur to me to wait until my body was ready. May have to use this for my third.

I had a similar thing with my daughter (born seven years ago today!) and as a doula seen it a few times, usually associated with malpresentartion (as someone said above) either a posterior baby or head at a funny angle (asynclitic).
Some good techniques on Spinning babies
Selina

This is interesting to read. With both of my DC the urge to push has been HUGE! Cue midwives wailing 'pant' at me (DS) or saying 'no, no, she's not pushing' (DD) 2 pushes per baby and I honestly believe that it wasn't a conscious effort on my part. I couldn't have not pushed if you offered me a million pounds!

I was already 10 cm dilated when I got to hospital. I used hpnobirthing and didn't want to be sent home, so really took my time, listened to the relaxation CD, used TENS and ate my porridge.

Because the first stage was so fast, I thought the baby would just pop out. I felt a little frustrated about the rest and be thankful stage though and was impatient so tried to push even though my husband was trying to get me to take my time. I think I ended up having stiches because I didn't recognise the rest and be thankful stage and decided to push rather than breathe.

"Found this hypnobirthing story" was very similar to mine.

it really is amazing how different it is for everyone. because it was my first it never occurred to me that perhaps my body wasn't ready to push - i was just obeying orders so to speak. but then my baby did have a large head (37cm) and i am quite slim - i always dreaded having an episiotomy but i was exhausted and the idea of making the hole a bit bigger suddenly seemed like quite a good idea!

I did not do fullon hypnobirthing, just used some basics i had read about (didn't have time to read the book) I did not feel the urge to push at all but did have the 'rest and be thankful' stage.(it was fab but strange also) I too ended up with a ventouse as well as a 2nd degree tear.

That said I did get dd out in 5 pushes, consultant said he'd guided her head out so no cone head!