"Wait, DON'T PUSH!" - Page 2

[Jane]

They really need to say what they mean, which is usually, "Please hold on long enough to let me get my gloves on!"

[momoftworedheads]

First of all, your body will push the baby out on its own. Even if a Dr/MW/nurse tells you not to push, it's not like that urge goes away! With my 3rd son, I told the MW I have to push and out my son came. She was not ready at all. Thank goodness I planned on catching him myself.

I cannot believe how Drs, etc expect a woman not to listen to her own bosy's signals. Crazy!

Take care!

[DanelleB]

Telling a laboring woman not to push is like telling someone not to sneeze. It just can't be helped. The Dr almost didn't make it when DS was born because he was in surgery--the ped took one look and said "This baby isn't waiting!" What made me laugh was him "thanking" me for waiting for him. HA! I wasn't waiting for anyone, you just lucky, buddy.

[nccrunchymama]

Like a pp mentioned, if there's a good reason not to push, they should say so and by all means wait. But if it's just for staff convenience... just yell CATCH!!! My problem was opposite. After I pushed a while, I needed to rest through a contraction. I was so irritated with the nurse who kept yelling PUSH. I told her to shut up and I took my break. Baby came soon after.

My suggestion: just listen to your body. It knows what to do.

[suearoo22]

This happened with my youngest DD, I had a very fast labor less then an hour and she told me to wait the dr was coming. I told her I did not care who caught the baby and she better get someone else in there if she was not OK with it. A resident came running in and lifted the baby off the bed, oh gee thanks I could have done that LOL! The dr made it 10 minutes later and could not believe I did not wait, yeah like he ever had to wait to give birth jerk.

[N8'sMom]

Do they tell you to wait on the doctor because he or she can't get
paid unless they actually are the ones to deliver the baby??

[Jane]

I don't think it matters really. If the person delivers before reaching the hospital, then the person who delivers the placenta can be the person paid for the delivery. But if you're in house, it's still under the supervision of the doc.

[sapphire_chan]

Thing is, if they meant "don't push on purpose" that'd be almost okay since ideally your body's doing the pushing anyway. What's the line "wait to push until you can't not push"?

But I suspect that the same person who says "don't push" because their end of things isn't ready is the one who'd be shouting "push, come on, push" just because there's 10 cm of dilation if they did have their gloves and such.

[myllissa]

The OB told me the same thing. HA! Like I had ANY control over that urge. It was the strongest urge I have ever had in my life and I had no say in the matter. My body was taking over no matter what the doctor said.

[Vancouver Mommy]

In most situations it is best to stop pushing as the baby crowns to give the perineum time to stretch slowly and not tear. Is that what you're referring to? If not I agree with the pp that if your body is telling you to push, you're probably ready.

[Sexybookworm]

I think this is different, but, I know when I was having my first baby and I was almost done pushing her out the doctor said stop pushing and I tried and said "I can't." I think this was when she was almost out. I remember seeing a drug-free birthing video where the mom did the same thing. Why do they ask you to stop pushing at the end? I was afraid I was going to hurt my baby or myself because she seemed serious.

[Sexybookworm]

Originally Posted by Vancouver Mommy

In most situations it is best to stop pushing as the baby crowns to give the perineum time to stretch slowly and not tear. Is that what you're referring to? If not I agree with the pp that if your body is telling you to push, you're probably ready.

Is it necessary to stop pushing to do that? Couldn't they just ask you to push less hard or slower? I think that might be what my doctor was doing but I couldn't stop. I didn't tear though.

[Vancouver Mommy]

I think your body will continue to push on its own - there's nothing you can do about that. The idea is that it is best to let the shoulders ease out as slowly as possible as the perineum is stretched paper thin by this point and over zealous pushing can cause big tears.

[Lizzardbits]

nak.

when i had my first, there was heavy meconium staining, so the doc wanted to do suctioning when his head was born, and was told not to push. in retrospect, i shouldn't have allowed the suctioning, but hind sight is 20/20.

my second the l&d nurse caught her because there was no stopping the frieght train that is pushing. there was a doc visiting with his patient next door, and he didn't even have time to come running. my family doc showed up for the placenta--lucky her, hahaha. there was just.no.way.that i couldn't "not" push. like trying to stop puking mid puke, my body just took over.

my newest little one, i had one "warning" push so i could yell out that i was pushing for Hubby and midwife to assume the position (i was standing, bent over the bed) 2nd push his head was out and 3rd he was born. again there was no stopping the frieght train that is pushing. not pushing was not an option for me.

[justmama]

I heard this with my second child as I went from 5cm to 10cm and had her out in less than 45minutes. My husband nearly had to catch her. The nurse who he found in the hallway and begged to come in to the room took one look at me and ran screaming down the hallway for doctors and someone to page the nicu team(34 weeker). I'm sorry but there was no way on god's green earth I could have held her back. She was ready, she wanted out. That baby was coming. The doctor didn't have time to wash his hands. He caught her with one glove and ruined his nice new shirt. Our nurse never did make it back for the birth. She walked in to check me and found about 20 people in my room and a crying baby being taken to the nicu. Freaked her out a little I think!

[MKury]

My mw *asked* me not to push *if possible* b/c baby was asynclitic (sp?) with a compound presentation (hand at mouth) and I had developed a cervical lip. MW was concerned that if I pushed too hard, the cervix would swell and it would be a while bf baby would come. So, we resolved the compound presentation when I got on all fours and flopped down hard on my left side (hand went down), and then I did a "rotissere" where I blew (doing the "horsey blow") through 2 ctx on my right side, all fours, left side, and back. The cervical lip resolved itself, the baby came down in about 5 pushes, and then she was born. She did have a smushed nose for a couple of weeks bc her head was turned coming down, but that fixed itself, too. I'm so glad that mw advised me not to push- I would have hated to have messed up my cervix or prolonged labor! And she never told me not to... she asked me to try not to if I could, but if I couldn't help it to do what my body was making me do...

[s_kristina]

I caught something on one of those baby shows the other day when an OB was saying he liked when women have an epidural as they can stop pushing which makes things easier for him : Another good reason to not watch those things!

When I was having ds there was no way to stop pushing when it was time. I told my mw I couldn't stop pushing and her reply was something along the lines of "then push." She did later ask if I thought I could sit back some from a squat to slow things down as she knew I was worried about tearing badly again. If I hadn't been able to sit back that would have been fine with her too, but at least when she wanted me to do something she asked nicely instead of telling me what to do.

[caedmyn]

Originally Posted by angelpie545

Holding a baby in can be very dangerous for both mother and child. It can cause injury to the mother, and it can deprive the baby of oxygen and cause possible brain damage and death (babies have died this way years ago when they used to tie a mother's legs shut to keep the baby in). It would be well best to just ignore it when they tell you to stop pushing, no matter how freaked out they and you may be.

There's a big difference between not pushing when you feel like pushing, and actively doing something to hold the baby back. Not pushing when you feel like pushing isn't going to harm the baby--your body will push it out anyway with or without your active help.

[thixle]

So why do do they say don't push once the head is out???
I had already been given a 3rd degree episiotomy, so I KNOW no one cared about tearing. I didn't push, my body did- it wasn't concious at all, but I still got yelled at "Don't PUSH!"

[starshine1001]

Originally Posted by thixle

So why do do they say don't push once the head is out???
I had already been given a 3rd degree episiotomy, so I KNOW no one cared about tearing. I didn't push, my body did- it wasn't concious at all, but I still got yelled at "Don't PUSH!"

They like to have the chance to check for cord around baby's neck before the rest of him comes out, as well as suctioning his mouth before he takes his first breath. As for me and not pushing...they told me not to after my 1st son's head was out because the cord was around his neck x 3...after they unwrapped it, I was free to push. That was a first birth, natural, in a hospital, with pitocin and an episiotomy. He was 8 lbs 6 oz and I had a 3rd degree tear (I tore past the episiotomy), and was born after 45 minutes of pushing. My second son was a natural birthing home waterbirth. No guided pushing, I just pushed when the time was right for me. I didn't WANT to push even though I was really feeling the urge, since the tub wasn't filled yet and I really wanted a waterbirth. But the best I could do was vocalize as LOUD as I could so I wouldn't hold my breath and bear down. My body was still pushing, I was just trying not to help it any! Hahaha! Well, it bought me a little time, but as soon as I was in the water, 3 pushes and he was out. Oh, and just for the record, he was over 10 lbs, and I only had a 1st degree tear.