anyone ever have to give birth with a hemorhoid?

[koalove]

I have hemorrhoids that come and go during the end of pregnancy but they have always been thankfully absent during the actual birth. this time however, i have one now, and think ill be giving birth any day. im terrified of pushing with this already painful problem! my babes tend to come out in just a few powerful pushes but im worried that i will be reluctant to push like that with a hemorrhoid. has anyone ever given birth with one? were you scared to push or were you more focused on getting the babe out and not even thinking of your rear end. tell me i wont care!

[Cheshire]

I gave birth to my hemorrhoid when I gave birth to my first son.

Last August I gave birth to my second son and didn't really think about it before. When it came time to push it was an emergency situation and I had to push him out as fast as possible (unfortunately he died 12 hours later due to a cord issue). I purple pushed about as much as one can for 8 minutes to have him. I don't think it made my hemorrhoid that much worse.

When I'm not pregnant it doesn't give me that much trouble. While I'm pregnant I have to make sure I don't have to sit on the toilet for too long - it's just too uncomfortable, yk?

I'm due again this August and I guess I'm not really worried about it. I figure I'll have so many other things running through my head that I probably won't notice it one way or the other.

[koalove]

oh im sorry to hear about your little one, but congrats on the baby on the way. i can see why it is not a concern of yours...you have other thoughts on your mind! i guess im lucky that it is my biggest concern at the moment. did you have counter pressure to support the area while pushing an if so, do you think it helped?

[Cheshire]

I don't think so. I asked DH and he can't remember for sure, either. I had a mirror to watch him being born and and think the midwife was completely hands off.

I do know that all I was thinking was to be as open as possible and not let any of those muscles restrict or tighten up and prevent him from coming out. I told myself to stretch, stretch, stretch. I had just the slightest tear. Compared to my first when I pushed for 45 minutes and tore in two directions I think physically my body did well pushing him out so quickly.

I'm curious to see what experiences others have had. Good question!

[abckidsmom]

I've had hemmorrhoids at the end of all 5 of my pregnancies. The first 4, I had epidurals, so was able to push without worrying about it too much. I pushed much too hard, IMO.

This most recent baby was a homebirth, precipitous labor, and the midwife was about 40 minutes away as the baby started to crown. I did not push, did not want to push, tried hard to not push, and it wasn't that terrible (I guess it was at the moment, but looking back it was fine). She arrived, congratulated me on "breathing down" the baby, and I pushed two little times to birth the baby, who was enormous. 11'14". At 3.5 weeks pp, I started having a little trouble with the hemmorrhoid again, but it's definitely not as bad as it was with the other kids.

[MeepyCat]

I'd say, avoid coached pushing. They were absolutely crazy about that stuff when I was in labor, and I went in with a little 'rhoid and came out with a big one. Breathe the baby down as much as you can, and try to be upright during delivery so gravity can help.