Breathing the baby out Vs pushing

[abigboydidit]

Hi -

Been having a conversation about breathing the baby out Vs pushing and wondered if anyone had any experiences of this they would be happy to share? Am hoping for a VBAC after a traumatic ECS last time and tentatively heading down the hypnobirthing route. However, all discussions with MW have talked about pushing so am wondering if the reality is that I will end up just doing as am told in the heat of the moment .

Thanks in advance!

[Tgger]

I have no idea either, although I have to say that DS was not budging and got hauled out by ventouse. He was very big and in a difficult position. For 2 hours I had midwives and husband and then doctors urging me to "push" with all sorts of descriptions of what I was supposed to be doing. I couldn't feel where he was at all, complete waste of their energy. Then DD was complete opposite, just flew out like your first, and I certainly wasn't pushing there either..... so I have two ends of the spectrum!

[HipHopOpotomus]

I love this thread. Lovely to hear of other women also didn't push their babies out. I always thought no pushing was a bit strange perhaps - people give me strange looks and nods if I mention it. Yet after 2 DC's I still have no idea what all this pushing is about. Lots of powerful contractions, yes, but no pushing at all for both babies. Just a few "surges" - my body took care of it. The hypnobirthing helped me to be relaxed and fearless which was very useful.

DD1 simply flew out, eyes open and smiling, DD2 was a little more rumpled and shy.

[chocolateicecream]

I never had to push.

[mummysmellsofsick]

I asked my midwife about this. She said 'yes you can breathe your baby out but only in the same way that you would breathe a truck up a hill. You are going to have to push!'

[Gilberte]

"If the baby is back to back I think you have to push, ime... "

Not necessarily but I realise I was lucky. Both of mine were back to back. First one required considerable effort, epidural and synotocin.
My second was a stargazer and just came out by herself.

[Bumpsadaisie]

Had an epidural with DD so didnt feel the pushing, just did it with each contraction.

With DS I was expecting to get an urge to push and then "decide" to push mentally, and then push. I also thought that there would be a clear "pushing stage".

Actually it didn't work like that at all. I was getting towards full dilation and I noticed the contractions started to make my body convulse at the same time (I know now this was transition).

Gradually the contractions became less contraction-y and more convulsion-y until it felt like I was throwing up, though rather than it just being my tummy convulsing it was literally my whole body. There was no "pushing" as such and I absolutely had no control over it. DS shot out in 6 minutes (9lb 4)

[marylou123]

I did hypnobirthing with two babies. My advice is: make sure you don't need a wee when the baby is on its way out! I was desperate but I didn't realise because of all the other strange feelings in that area. After two hours of pushing and an episiotomy, he finally came out, cord around neck and with a head circumference on the top line of the graph. Not the easiest baby to get out. I can honestly say it wasn't painful though. The worst bit was the local anaesthetic injection.

With baby 2, I made sure I didn't need the toilet! The pushing stage was 7 minutes with no tears and I only did one push once her head was out. Her hand was up by her face and I think the midwives were scared of her shoulders getting stuck. Other than that, my body pushed her out by itself. Like reverse vomiting as someone's said before, it was completely uncontrollable.

I really recommend hypnobirthing. It can help you stay calm and comfortable. Even if your baby is in the wrong position or something is in the way, it will still help you. Just be aware that you might not always be able to breathe out the baby.

[TheElfOnThePanopticon]

I planned on breathing the baby out, but I had an absolutely irresistable urge to push - it felt amazing, utterly overwhelming and powerful.

I think that breathing the baby down works in a lot of births, but if I had done that, it would have been going against what my body was telling me to do, and I think that in labour, your body generally lets you know what needs to be done.

this article has some criticism of the Hypnobirthing promotion of breathing the baby down over other forms of pushing:
midwifethinking.com/2010/07/30/pushing-leave-it-to-the-experts/

[snoozed]

If the baby is back to back I think you have to push, ime...
I tried the breathing it out thing.. But nothing was happening, dd did not budge.

In the end it was 2 hours of hard pushing - she came out face up. I tore badly (in water).

[peanutpie]

With both births I had an irrestible desire to push. It was sort of overwhelming & mechanical. It also felt good to finally be doing something!
My second birth was completely explosive and it felt like dd might have bounced off the floor of the birth pool if the midwife hadn't caught her.
I have seen the videos of people calmly giving birth but that wasn't my experience.
PS I should also add that I felt great at the end of my births and I went with my physical experience completely !

[Notgrownupinmyhead]

I breathed boy3 out. Was scared of pushing as I knew how much it was going to hurt but closed my eyes and breathed in and out with each contraction then when I had to push the little peach out it was over pretty quick and I was home within a few hours.

The other boys are a different story!

[ratbagcatbag]

Sorry hypnotic thing is hypnobirthing, stupid auto correct made me look very rude :(

[ratbagcatbag]

I'm reading this with interest as ive got 15 weeks to go and terrified of labour, for the ladies that did hypnotic thing, what cd and book do you recommend?

[Snowydrift]

I suppose I did. I had the midwife shouting in my face "don't push, just breathe, don't push just breathe, else you'll tear." On repeat, quite loud. It all happened rather fast!

[MrsWinklepicker]

I think that I did what you call "breathe" my two babies out .... I had some hypnotherapy sessions before the first birth and I had two very calm, quiet births and there was no pushing at all, the first was in the pool and the second would have been if she hadn't popped out before anyone could get anywhere near a tap ..... HOWEVER, I am fairly sure that a large part of it was luck - the fact that for reasons completely outside my control, my contractions were very efficient and not too painful.

There is definitely something to be said for being relaxed and being prepared, but imo it is important not to get too hung up with your expectations of having a "perfect" birth.

[DewDr0p]

I had 2 births in a mw-led unit and then a hb. They were all relatively fast labours (less than 6 hours, 2 hours and 4.5 hours resp) I had a very strong urge to push with ds1 and ds3. Neither were especially easy to get out - ds1 had the cord wrapped around his body and was kind of bungeeing with the contractions; ds3 was back to back and had his head up. Hard work.

Ds2's delivery was the most extraordinary experience of my life. We arrived at the birth centre with literally a couple of mins to spare, dh and the mw helped me out of my jeans and onto the bed so she could examine me. Waters went as I climbed on I think. When she looked she said "erm are you sure you don't need to push?" and I said "hmm not really but I can give it a try if you like" and in 3 or 4 very smooth pushes he was out, a matter of seconds. I felt so in control and very focussed and all powerful - I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar . (The 2nd mw was still watching the World Cup on TV and missed it )

Have to say that following that I expected ds3's delivery to be similar and it was a bit of a shock when it wasn't, so as pp's said, you just don't know how things will pan out and best to keep an open mind.

Btw I had minor stitches with ds1 and ds2, none with ds3. And ds3 was the most laidback baby imaginable whereas the other 2 were fairly high maintenance...

MrsMcEnroe your experience sounds really fascinating.

[BoffinMum]

A warning though - I got so relaxed doing hypnobirthing that labour stopped for 24 hours!! I'd advise against being too mellow.

[BoffinMum]

With the last one I eased him out rather than breathed him out, after a hypnobirthing course. It really wasn't too bad at all.

A couple of the others were tricky though, mainly due to positioning (compound presentation, etc). Those times I really had to push or they would not have emereged without help.

[pettyprudence]

I did a hypnobirthing course with some other parents to be and "breathed" ds out. like many said, it wasn't a consious decision my body just did it (dc1, homebirth). I do remember asking the me if I should push it something but they said he was already more or less out .

I never managed to self hypnotise but the best thing I took away from hypnobirthing was the breathing, relaxing and DO NOT fight your body or contractions (sorry, surges!). tensing and fighting contractions stops your blood flowing properly, the muscles can't do their job properly and it just drags the whole thing out (labour, that is)
I also listened to the cd I was given every night and became conditioned to sleep to it so I managed to sleep for an hour during labour when I was contracting every 2 minutes . my hypno practitioner told me sleeping was the ultimate state of relaxation

[ditzyd]

With my DD I was pushing and pushing and my body really struggled .i was panicking as I didn't know what I was doing, but with my DS I felt more in control of my body. I knew what I wanted. I just let my body tell me what to do. So I did breath my baby out. My advice is to stay as calm as possible, and listen to what your body is telling you

[Afrodizzywonders]

6 hours of pushing for my first who was huge......when I was giving birth to my second 10 days ago that's all I had in my mind, I wasn't fannying about, I pushed and like I said above, she shot out very quick, you have to do what your body tells you, and the urge to push was overwhelming.

[ksrwr]

HOWEVER, i'd just like to add, everything else i learned in hypnobirthing was great! the CD's properly brainwashed me so i was totally relaxed and confident about labour and birth. and co-incidentally i had a really straightforward experience, with no intervention or repairs necessary. But i do believe your birth experience is almost pre-programmed, and any amount of hypnobirthing/panicking wont have any effect on whether you need a c-section, have a long/short birth, have tears etc.

[ksrwr]

i did hypnobirthing and so truly believed in the whole breathe baby out thing. when it came to the overwhelming urge to push, i tried exactly what i'd been taught and tried to breathe the baby out, it had absolutely no effect. in the end all it did was slow down the birth. the midwife tried to convince me to do it her way, i.e. hold my breath and push, which is the exact opposite to what i'd learned in hypnobirthing, i so so stupidly thought i knew better. so when my way wasn't working, i tried hers and POP dd arrived. in hindsight i actually think breathing the baby out is dangerous. it slowed everything down and put baby at risk. so i wouldn't recommend it based on my own experience.

[1978andallthat]

I had so much epidural I couldn't feel to push. They told me when to and I pretended to do a poo but to be honest I don't think I did anything - it was all the baby doing it.

[MrsOscarPistorius]

Hmm yes, "breathing the baby out" I had that in my birthplan for DC3 as wanted to avoid stitches.

When it came to it, it felt like my pelvis was breaking and was so bloody painful that I thought sod it, I'm just getting this over asap and pushed as hard as I could!!! managed to get away without stitches but did have a second degree tear.

(2nd stage with DC3 was strangely more painful than with DC2, who came out as though on a log flume - but still needed stitches)