Anyone delivered their baby without pushing?

[swissmiss2584]

I have seen women deliver their babies without pushing. They just allowed their uterus and baby to do the work.

Has anyone done this? If so can you explain what you felt, did you have the urge to push, how fast was it?

[~*~MamaJava~*~]

sort of - with #3...had the urge, in the sense that i knew she was coming...it was fast, 3rd baby - only maybe 4 or 5 minutes.

the trick with that is to BREATHE. some people can't not push, i can, i was glad, because dd didn't flex her head to be born and i could feel it wasnt quite right. if i would have pushed with all my might she would have been out like a shot but i would have torn badly.

i know i pushed some but not a real push.

i don't know how that would be with a 1st baby - it's just easier the next times because you really know what you're feeling and what's happening. for me with #1 all the sensations were so new, i couldn't wrap my head around what to do with them.

however, it's great, if it works, to just let that baby ooze out. stretches the perineum gently.

[mommathea]

I pushed 1x with my dd. I was actually trying not to push because we were on our way to the hospital and didn't make it. But I could feel my body pushing her out. The only time I pushed, and I probably shouldn't have was when she was crowning. My labor logic was to get past the ring of fire as quickly as possible. lol. But after that 1 push her whole body slipped out.

[courtenay_e]

I didn't push with my second. Thought I was in transition and he crowned. I used hypnobirthing, though, and was envisioning the cervix opening and the baby moving down through all of hard labor. Was always upright, and I had been on the birthing ball for about 35 minutes. I felt the urge to poop, didn't want to do it on the floor, stood up, and he was born. Never pushed, though. My sister always reminds him that the first thing I did to him was sit on his head.

[soso-lynn]

I only pushed once, and for about half a second, and that was the worse feeling ever. I had been feeling my body (or my uterus more specifically) pushing on its own. It never occurred to me to actually push (I still had not fully grasped the fact that I was in labour). Then I saw the head crowning and got too excited. That is when I pushed a little while my body was pushing and it was horrible. I stopped and just watched the head slide out and the shoulders slowly turning and then the body literally jump out of me in a huge gush of projecting fluid.

I tend to believe that the whole birthing process should not involve too many things you need to do consciously. If you have to think about it before doing it, it probably is not what you need to be doing.

Then again, I'm sure there are occasions when active pushing might be helpful.

[vesper0]

I didn't push with my first baby, except one push to dislodge the head(baby was breech and the chin was hooked on my perineum). I just road the waves, so to speak. I just let me body do it. I ended up not even tearing, despite it being a first birth. I attribute that to not pushing. It really feels like the baby slithers down and out, if you don't push. I will say that it took some effort to allow my body to work, instead of "pushing" it along, though, at some points.

[hubris]

I absolutely loathe coached, forceful pushing. It felt all wrong with DS1 and I never even felt the "urge" during that labor. During DS2's birth I labored him down and felt him descending with my contractions, but then was bullied into a bed and switched to coached pushing, and could no longer get in touch with where he was or feel the urge.

With DS3 I was determined not to let aybody coach me to do things that ran contrary to what my body was doing/feeling. I labored DS3 down and out, no purposeful/forceful pushing at all. A friend who heard my birth story said "OMG, uterine contractions WORK?!?!" Well, yes, they do.

I wish I could go back and birth DS1 and DS2 over again, I'd do it so much differently. Riding the waves, as vesper0 said, is an amazing feeling and I feel strongly that it contributed to a much more gentle and positive birth experience for both my baby and myself. BTW, I chose a homebirth for DS3 so that I would birth in an environment of trust in my body. I had been unable to find that kind of trust in a hospital.

[tinyshoes]

Originally Posted by ~*~MamaJava~*~

i don't know how that would be with a 1st baby - it's just easier the next times because you really know what you're feeling and what's happening. for me with #1 all the sensations were so new, i couldn't wrap my head around what to do with them.

I'm preparing for my 3rd baby to be born, and I am planning to breathe/ease my baby out, and not "push."

I was trying to wrap my head around this idea, of 'how can the baby just move down?' and I realized, OH......with my first baby, with my epidural, while I waited an hour for the doc to show up after I was 10 cm.....that was when my body was just easing my baby down. I didn't push--and when the doc finally showed up, she came out with just 5 pushes because my body had already done 98% of the work.

I asked my mws about this, and gross as it may be, they were talking about how it's like takin' a dump....sure, you can spend time and energy PUSHING it out, or you can wait til it's low, and just kind of go with the flow.

HTH

[courtenay_e]

I DO have to say, though, that with my first, I felt the urge to PUSH!!!!!! And at one point the midwife asked me to stop. I laughed in her face. Not on purpose, but to me, the urge to push was just like vomiting. Asking me to stop was to me as if you had asked me to stop puking mid vomit. Couldn't be done.

[~*~MamaJava~*~]

Oh yes, the urge is there - i guess i find it just helps to try and work with it in a different way. i know more people have said that to me - once the urge is there they are unable to do anything but sort of heave the baby out which is fine...but can lead to more tearing, right?

[durafemina]

like courtenay_e I never consciously pushed, but my body was throwing her out. I couldn't have stopped because I tried to (cervical lip) I had a very minor graze - that's all. I think there's a big difference btwn that and forced 'purple pushing' which can cause more tearing.

[mamallama]

My third baby just fell out. I knew he was close b/c I'd just checked for his head and he was right there, about two knuckles in. I was on my patio in the fishy pool. A few moments later thunder crashed and the skies opened up. I made a mad dash for the back door and a few minutes later he fell out into my hands on the bathroom floor. I didn't push at all--never had the urge. In fact, the first time he crowned it hurt really bad, so I pushed him back up with my hands. He must have tucked his chin or something, b/c it didn't hurt at all the second time (when I let him out,) and even though he was 10+lbs, I only had a tiny tear.

I pushed a couple of times with my second. I couldn't resist the urge.

I was coached to push with my first. It took a long time and it was exhausting. I was too sore to sit for weeks.

[momileigh]

I didn't push w/ my second at all. It took about 20 minutes from when I knew she was moving down until she was born. I had read that Bornfree article "Don't push the river, it flows by itself" and wanted to try that out. I felt the pressure, but it did not compel me to actively push. (With my first, on the other hand, I had an urge so strong that I would compare it to vomiting downward, totally inescapable.) I watched her slide out in a mirror. Very gentle. But I tore anyway.

[tinybutterfly]

Am I the only one who thought that pushing felt great?

[momileigh]

Oh, with my first, pushing felt *great* especially compared to the dilating contractions! Absolutely. But the second time around I was trying to avoid a tear. Didn't work, but I still didn't regret not pushing. You know what also felt "great"? Not rushing things. Felt great in a different way.

[honeybee]

Both of my boys were born by fetal-ejection reflex. I've never consciously "pushed" my babies out. My body took over and there was nothing I could do to stop it. They were both fast births.


I had a 3rd degree tear with ds1, but I was in lithotomy position after being flat on my back for awhile to "slow things down." Ds2 was born at home, and I was on my hands and knees, and only had a small tear that did not need stitching.

[NatureMama3]

I never pushed with my youngest son and don't plan on it with this one either. My body just took over and I was along for the ride. I didn't breathe special or anything, just grunted and held on.

[Collinsky]

I didn't actively push with my first... my body sure did, it was the strangest feeling. Pushing was happening, but I wasn't doing it. My three other births, I did actively push though, and pushed HARD, and that felt right. They've all been UC, no cervical checks for dilation or coached pushing - just going with the flow. The only difference is that with my first we had called 911 (ugh! whole other story) and I was trying *not* to push even though I had the urge, I was trying to hold the baby in until they got there. With my other births I pushed as soon as I got the urge. I always tell myself, "Okay, hold back, wait a little, breathe the baby out..." and then end up puuuuuuuuuuuushing. Pushing has never lasted more than 10 or so minutes for me.

My first birth was the one where pushing her out felt better than orgasmic, and I haven't gotten that feeling with the others... I have wondered if some of that has to do with holding back the pushing for a while until my body is doing it without me.

[ericaz]

Pushing felt great here, too, particularly with ds. Because of horrid 'rhoid issues I wanted to avoid pushing but as soon as I felt him crown I couldn't help it. Five pushes and a tiny tear later he was out.
The 'rhoids were incredible, though. Gigantic and painful. Owie.

[Collinsky]

Originally Posted by tinybutterfly

Am I the only one who thought that pushing felt great?

Nope... I love pushing, even the non-orgasmic kind, even with ring-of-fire. In fact reading this thread made me want another baby. It's SUCH a cool feeling. I could do without the contractions up to that point, but pushing is the bomb.