That's quite an interesting article.  I wish that it would be copied and sent to every single ob out there.  The more educated I become this time around, the more frustrated and dumbfounded I am that medicine has interfered so much.  I'm sure that all of the obs out there mean well and really want the best, but if that's the case then they should be reading these articles and changing things for the better instead of putting restrictions on women.  Unfortunately, too many people sue doctors so none of them are willing to take chances.  I guess that's where midwives come in handy.  Thank you for posting this.

You are welcome!! My 2nd was posterior and asynclitic - I felt the urge to push at 8/9 cm and the midwife told me just to do what my body was telling me. However, they kept checking me and I was swelling... OB didn't have time to wait for baby to come - I know he would have eventually but how much sooner if they'd just left me alone completely...??? Grrrr....

Next time (if there is one) I'm staying H.O.M.E. =D

The problem isn't just OB's, part of the problem is the 95% of american women choosing epidurals. you don't feel the 'urge to push' like a unmedicated woman. could many of these women have had shorter, less complicated labor and deliveries if they could be in tune and harmonious with what their bodies were telling them to do? I believe so.

In my experience with nearly 100 births, most women look for validation that it's ok to get out of bed, that it's ok to move, that it's ok to get a drink, that it's ok to pee... we don't portray birth as anything other than a medical event (think TLC's, movies, television) where some how we need a doctor to tell us what to do next so most women don't realize that doing these things are normal and healthy and OK. This translates into pushing, many women wait for the validation that it's ok because we taught them to believe you have to be 10cm to push out a baby. Many women have been convinced that if they push before 10cm's they'll swell and all sorts of bad things will happen, and yeah, that can be true in *some cases*, but I've also seen women unmedicated, pushing with urges (no counting, no direction) at 10cms and have their cervix swell.

you know i never understood why 10 was the special number since the mommies and babies are all different sizes. why would a 9.5 lb baby need the same dilation as a 6.5 lb baby? i actually had a secret plan to push, maybe just a little, when i felt like i needed to even if the docs told me not to... and now i feel justified!

It's funny but after reading this I was watching a baby story on TLC(I know bad me).  This woman was planning a natural hospital water birth with an OB.   He was saying how great it was for her to be walking around using gravity instead of in bed!  Then when she was in the tub he told her she could push even though she was not 10cms and the baby was born a few mins later.  I was really surprised! 

I do have to say that I did have an epidural with my first and I don't know if maybe they had let it start to run out, but I felt the urge to push, even with the epidural.  My doctor let me try to push twice which I did correctly, but then said that bc the baby was head down and sunny side up, he wasn't descending. She left and the nurse tried to turn his head which was when I really thought my epidural had run out, I felt everything!  After she said he wasn't turning, she scared me by saying "Well, that's what it would feel like to push him out."  So of course I thought that a c-section would be easier, since my doctor had already said we should start thinking about that option.  I figured that with the epidural I wouldn't feel pain when it came to the pushing stage, so when I felt her trying to turn his head, I freaked.  After she left I had an overwhelming urge to push.  So, like I said, maybe the epidural was running out and wearing off, but I definitely felt the urge to push with it.  This time I'm educating myself and preparing myself alot better than I did the first time, so hopefully there will be a different outcome.  I can look back and get mad at everything that happened all I want, but it won't change anything.  All I can do is learn from it and try to do things differently this time around.

stayhomemommy2 wrote:I do have to say that I did have an epidural with my first and I don't know if maybe they had let it start to run out, but I felt the urge to push, even with the epidural. 

 

so heres the thing, I am also employed by a hospital as a staff doula, so I also see loads of epidural patients, and we REGULARLY and I mean almost every one, check a patient at 10cm's and let her "labor down" or "marinate" (as some jokingly call it). She'd be ready to push, except we know she can't feel it, so we let the contractions continue to work the baby down without moms effort; it reduces the pushing time for mom for contractions to do that work for her. At a certain point, with a baby low enough a mom will feel the need to push because there is literally a bowling ball between their legs, unmedicated women won't sit at 10cm for 30-45-60-75+ minutes without that urge on a regular basis and begin pushing because they need to much earlier. And everyone with an epidural feels pushing that type of pressure and stretching is outside the scope of what an epidural covers. (one more way women aren't being given informed consent about epidurals)

An unmedicated woman goes through a VERY different process than someone with an epidural, most unmedicated women start involuntarily grunting and bearing down to lower the baby (and even if you asked them to stop they can't they don't even realize they're doing it), where with an epidural you sit there and wait; most people describe that urge to push with an epidural as a feeling of needing to poop or pressure and it's a completely different feeling for an unmedicated woman.

Now epidurals don't work ALLLLLLLL the time. So is it possible once the baby got low enough you had a hot spot that the epidural didn't cover and you felt like an urge to push, sure, I don't know your labor, but, the VAST MAJORITY of women never will until the baby is +2, +3

Maybe I just had that hot spot you were talking about.  From the way my doctor was talking it didn't sound like my son was low enough for me to feel that big urge to push. She said he wasn't descending and that I could push for an hour, but he wasn't budging and that I would just swell and it would end in a c-section anyway.   I can't help but think about that now and wonder how much of it was true and how much of it was her just ready to be done with it.   I'm very anxious to see how everything is different this time.  I hope I don't have back labor so I can know what the other kind of contractions feel like ( I know, weird huh?) and I don't plan on getting an epidural unless I really can't take it. But I don't want to be stuck in a bed for any length of time this time so I'm going to try to avoid anything that could potentially land me there.  From what you're saying it sounds like it could be a totally different experience this time, I'm a little nervous I have to admit.  I'll just keep reminding myself how much it sucks to have to recover from a c-section and maybe that will help. :-)

And from what I've heard, sunny side up babies take a lot longer to come down/out and doctors don't want to wait that long. That was my situation...

I did some "practice" pushing before being checked for "10 cm".  It felt so good!  Unfortunately one of the nurses caught me pushing and got all freaked out....so began the hospital frenzy that tarnished Kaden's birth....UGH!  Hence why I now hate hospitals and OB's!

I'm really glad I checked the board this week. This is a GREAT article! I'm really eager to find out what the urge to push feels like when it comes and I know not to hold back now!