When my daughter was born a year and a half ago, I had what seemed to
be unusual, uncontrollable pushing contractions (more than an urge)
starting fairly early in labor, I think at 3 cm or so. She was in a
posterior position and I had pretty severe back pain through the
whole labor, so my specific memory of elapsed time is a bit fuzzy.
What I most remember about the labor was how incredibly difficult it
was to pant through and try to hold back these very strong pushing
movements for hours, until I had dilated "enough." By the time I
reached 8 cm, my muscles were so fatigued from fighting the urge to
push that I had a lot of trouble getting them to cooperate to push
the baby out, which took another 2 1/2 hours. I have never read
anything about this pattern of labor, and the approach we took seemed
to contradict the "trust your body to know what it's doing" message.
Does anyone have an explanation? I'm expecting my second, and hope
not to have a repeat performance.
-Carla
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In response to Carla who complained that she had had a
strong urge to push beginning early in labor, then when
finally allowed to push seemed
to lose the ability to do so well and needed to push 2.5
hours to birth her first baby [Issue 2:29]: She said the
way the birth was handled "seemed to contradict the "trust
your body to know what it's doing" message.
I see many women, especially Hispanic women, who push early
in labor. Sometimes it's a cultural thing, and I see women
pushing only because family members are encouraging them to
do so. In this case I always instruct them not to push but
rather to breathe and relax as much as possible through
contractions. However, you can tell when a woman is pushing
because her body (rather than someone outside it) tells her
to do so. These women usually do quite well if left to their
own method of birthing. Rather than swelling or damaging the
cervix, their pushing seems to "push it away" and they have
rapid labors. These women's bodies do know what they're
doing, and even though it contradicts everything the
caregiver might believe, they work just fine. You know the
idea that all women are different and all labors even in the
same women can be different? Maybe with your next labor you
won't have these "pushing pains," but if you do, consider
that your body might know just what it's supposed to do.
-Joyce Jones RNC
Reprinted from Midwifery Today E-News (Vol 2 Issue 30 July 26, 2000)
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