labor down?

jasrun80

I just learned that this means to wait to push until you feel the urge... in my pasts I had to push because my firsts heartbeat was lowering with contractions & with my second I didn't know any better... anyone planning to do this or have any experience doing this?
my labors were fast so I'm wondering how long it would take to feel the urge to push once I'm at 10 cm & I'm intrigued to wait if possible. are doctors opposed to laboring down?

Tia!!

*LrCg*

Not to be offensive but with your first were you induced or did you have an epidural? The ONLY reason I ask is a side effect of those is a lower heartrate. My births have all been med free (homebirths) and I've always just waited to push until my body did it. I use a midwife so I think its probably more in their philosophy of birth. This will be my 4th baby and my births have ranged from 4-2 hours. I don't know when I was ever fully dilated because we never do internals, I just always listened to my body and let it do what it needed to do. I think some providers are just use to birth being a schedule of events and sometimes if a women has pain medication she may need help in knowing when to push so they maybe just so use to that that they treat all of them the same.

ncbelle

With both of my babies I didn't have an urge to push until I was fully dilated (unmedicated births) - in fact me feeling that I needed to push with my second was the clue that I was fully dilated.  They kinda happened right together (although the ends of my labors went relatively quickly both times).

I agree with the pp - some providers are just more interested in a "schedule" vs. letting nature take its course.  That would be a conversation to have with your provider for sure.

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PrimRoseMama

I labored down with DD & DS. I went med free with DD & had an epidural at 9cm with DS.

FYI the epi eliminates pain, but not pressure so it's easy to labor down. I was told to not alert medical staff unless I absolutely couldn't help myself. My OB & midwife were very much in favor of laboring down.

RaeJ004

I labored down for about 2 hours after I was fully dilated.  My doctor basically told me that there was no reason for me to exert all that energy pushing her down if my body would do it for me.  After those couple hours she had come down quite a bit more and the only reason I had to push for an hour was because she was turned to the side.  Otherwise it would have made delivery much quicker.

WashingtonQueen

My body started pushing with every contraction all by itself between 8 and 9 cm. It was an odd feeling but really cool. Your body knows what to do and the involuntary pushing made me finish dilating very quickly. They had to rush my midwife back in the room and by the time she got there her head was almost out. 2 pushes of my own and she was out.

WashingtonQueen

PrimRoseMama said:

I labored down with DD & DS. I went med free with DD & had an epidural at 9cm with DS.

FYI the epi eliminates pain, but not pressure so it's easy to labor down. I was told to not alert medical staff unless I absolutely couldn't help myself. My OB & midwife were very much in favor of laboring down.

I felt absolutely nothing at all with my epi when I had DS. Seriously nothing. No pressure, nothing.

RaeJ004

WashingtonQueen said:

I labored down with DD & DS. I went med free with DD & had an epidural at 9cm with DS. FYI the epi eliminates pain, but not pressure so it's easy to labor down. I was told to not alert medical staff unless I absolutely couldn't help myself. My OB & midwife were very much in favor of laboring down.

I felt absolutely nothing at all with my epi when I had DS. Seriously nothing. No pressure, nothing.

This.  DH had his hand on my stomach the whole time telling me when I was contracting so I would know when to push.  I didn't feel a thing.

sschwege

Just lurking over here, but I never felt a strong urge to push.  With my first I labored down for at least 1.5 hours, I was just so comfy in the bath I didn't want to get out, plus DD was still pretty high and I didn't want to waste all that energy.  Even when I decided to push it wasn't because I felt an overwhelming desire, I was just ready to be done.  With my second I was still in triage, had been hooked up to the monitors for 5 min or so and the triage nurse asked if I felt like pushing.  I said, 'yes' she got my MW and when my MW came in she didn't even have to check me because she and DH could visibly see the head.  Two pushes later and he was out.  My bag of water didn't break with either one, so that may be part of the reason I didn't feel that strong urge, I felt pressure, but nothing major.

allrightmeow

I guess I'll find out with this one.  I ended up with an epi with DD and didn't feel a thing down there.  No pressure, nothing.  

cMichelle0423

PrimRoseMama said:

I labored down with DD & DS. I went med free with DD & had an epidural at 9cm with DS.

FYI the epi eliminates pain, but not pressure so it's easy to labor down. I was told to not alert medical staff unless I absolutely couldn't help myself. My OB & midwife were very much in favor of laboring down.

I had an epidural with my first and I could absolutely feel the pressure. I was told to let my nurses know when I felt a lot of pressure and felt like I needed to push. (As in felt like my body couldn't resist the urge to push).I'll be delivering at a different hospital with this LO, but I definitely will plan on using what I learned with my first while laboring and birthing this baby.

jasrun80

*LrCg* said:

Not to be offensive but with your first were you induced or did you have an epidural? The ONLY reason I ask is a side effect of those is a lower heartrate. My births have all been med free (homebirths) and I've always just waited to push until my body did it. I use a midwife so I think its probably more in their philosophy of birth. This will be my 4th baby and my births have ranged from 4-2 hours. I don't know when I was ever fully dilated because we never do internals, I just always listened to my body and let it do what it needed to do. I think some providers are just use to birth being a schedule of events and sometimes if a women has pain medication she may need help in knowing when to push so they maybe just so use to that that they treat all of them the same.

I did have an epidural,,, I believe his heart rare was knowing with each contraction & I though it was normal, as well--I believe it was happening even before my epidural. I got the epidural around 10pm & had him by 10:50. my doctors are not the big business type docs -- in fact she only induced because she was sure I'd go into labor very soon. I show no signs then boom: labor! baby! so at the time I had a loss in the family & no support to organize my other child as well as a distance to travel to the hospital. I may deny being checked this time until I feel like it's time. my doctors prefer everything as natural as possible so I doubt they'd care if I said no to having 4 residents check me! thanks for the info--I didn't know that about the epidural,,, in some ways I'm kind of "no news is good news" and that back labor was not something I could get through on my own,,, I didn't have the same severity of pain with my second so I'm curious if I could handle no epi.

jasrun80

toriisalemon said:

With my first, it was an emergency, lots of people yelling and running in and I had to get him out quick and then I seized; it was all very panicked.  That one I can't really use as a good example here but the dr did tell me when to push and after 3 sets of  counting to 10 and holding, he was born.  My second son's birth I literally woke up, threw up, and he was crowning; he was born about 5 seconds later on '3' of counting to 10. That time it definitely felt like my body just knew what to do and I went with that feeling. I had epidurals with both.

how did you wake up & have your second that way? did you already know you were in labor and sleep at the hospital ? I'm so curious how there was time for the epi?

jasrun80

I also felt absolutely nothing with my first, the epidural took everything away. an anesthetist I know tells me that the spinal hadn't work off yet so that's why I get zero.

jasrun80

I also felt absolutely nothing with my first, the epidural took everything away. an anesthetist I know tells me that the spinal hadn't work off yet so that's why I felt nothing.

chloephoebecali

I had epis with both kids. With dd, I felt painful pressure with need to push. With ds I had pressure to push, but no pain like I did with dd. This time I am going to try to wait it out a bit more if my body can stand it because I feel I pushed too hard too fast and needed lots of stitches.