Pushing question

JKB1986 · August 2011

I'm hoping to have a med free birth this time but the one thing I'm scared about is the pushing. My question is was it a relief to push or did it hurt and you had to make yourself push?

katcarls · August 2011

I'm sure it's different for every person and even different deliveries for the same person. In my case, I felt the contractions change completely when it was time to push and they stopped being painful. My body started pushing on it's own and it was uncontrollable, a lot like sneezing or throwing up. I pushed with the urge and it wasn't painful at all.

fmw0526 · August 2011

ditto to PP. I mean, it burned and felt like a lot of stretching when his head came out, but as far as while I was pushing, it felt good to push with the contractions.

Nechie122 · August 2011

Pushing hurt like hell! I only pushed a few times, though, and in retrospect I don't know if pushing itself hurt or whether it was her crowning or even the perineal massage. It might have been that "ring of fire" you hear about that I was feeling.

ridesbuttons · August 2011

Pushing was good. Felt good, a relief. Also felt good to be in control of what was going on rather than just a passenger.

There was no 'making' myself push. I announced when I was pushing and let nature take its course.

tokenhoser · August 2011

Pushing was a relief compared to transition. Transition was the part where I questioned my sanity for wanting a baby at all. Pushing was fine - hard work, but not the same level of pain, even when I had a 3rd degree tear at the end.

superned · August 2011

Transition for me was like an out-of-body experience. I was completely zoned out in between contractions and could barely speak.

When it was time to push, I immediately came back to the present. I don't remember feeling like I was in pain, but I also don't really remember feeling a release. But pushing definitely felt like I was DOING something, rather than just managing the pain.

I never felt the "ring of fire" and didn't notice that I had a 2nd degree tear.

I had to concentrate to make my pushes productive, but my body totally told me when it was time!

JLG95 · August 2011

The only part of pushing that really "HURT" for me was the ring of fire when the biggest part of my son was coming out. It burned like heck and the midwife told me to push through it. After that, he popped right out.

This lady's blog explains it really well: https://womantowomancbe.wordpress.com/2008/03/12/the-ring-of-fire/

abell77 · August 2011

Try not to let this fear deter you from pursuing a natural birth. It's not as bad as you're probably imagining it to be. I didn't feel relief from pushing, but it wasn't any worse and didn't hurt any more than the hardest parts of my labor. With my first labor I was not aware of any ring of fire sensation, and when he actually came out it was not painful at all. Second time around I was certainly more aware of the sensations of crowning and when he came out, but it honestly really wasn't that bad. Once you get to that point you are so motivated to be done and to get to see your baby that nothing else really matters. I had second degree tears both times and I can honestly say I wasn't aware of it as it was happening.

VABride2008 · August 2011

It was a huge relief for me to push. I had to wait for the doctor to come in and holding back the urge to push was the hardest part for me.

iris427 · August 2011

It was a relief for me. Pushing made the contractions much more bearable. It did start to hurt as he got really low but still way better than not pushing.

rjveldman · August 2011

I agree with all the PP - pushing was such a relief.

LovelyLou23 · August 2011

for me, I was terrified to push, which I believe really held me back. I was so scared that it was actually happening, knowing that a child was just about to come out of me. It definitely hurt, but I describe it as more intense than anything. ultimately, it's totally worth it and for me, any pain was instantly gone the minute I held my baby. (the tears are welling now, even 10 weeks later).?

jcsumm0 · August 2011

My body started pushing on its own with my contractions. I felt like it still hurt, but not any worse than the other contractions during transition. I didn't feel like PP that it was a relief to push. But I don't remember feeling a ring of fire and the moment she came out felt ahh-mazing! I didn't push for very long--I'm not sure the exact amount of time but probably under 30 min.

McAllie5 · August 2011

Transition was the worst. The pain was so bad, I actually forgot that I was having a baby. I thought I was going to die.

BUT

Pushing felt so freaking good. Once I was given the "go ahead", I pushed with the urge. It was the single most powerful experience of my life.

They counted but I didn't pay attention to the counts. At one point after they finished counting, I said "I'm gonna keep going".

Somewhere in the back of my mind I registered the sensation of something coming out of me, and a little tiny bit of burning. I ended up with a 2nd degree tear but I really didn't feel it.

I would absolutely 100% go natural again!!

TheQuietGrrrl · August 2011

Pushing was great. It felt productive, not aching just to ache. Like that "hurts so good" yoga stretch. Only towards the very end did my lower back start aching a lot and the whole ring of fire business. But at least I knew it was coming.

Honestly I went in with so little fear of the process, I didn't even think that labor was that bad at all. Although it might have helped that I didn't really have an obvious transition, just hovered in hard labor forever, then kinda scooted straight towards pushing.

I guess knowing it will not last forever, it's productive pain, I've coped with worse and absolutely nobody ever died of pain got me through it.

And the other huge motivator that helps you to put up with an awful lot of pain. Get LO out. NOW!

barnwife · August 2011

Pushing was a relief! It was so much better than the first stage of labor, which included excruciating back labor for me. I couldn't not push...it was an uncontrollable urge. If I stopped before a contraction was over, then I was uncomfortable. But as long as I pushed during second stage contractions, life was great!

Even his head coming out didn't really bother me, and I tore.

While I am sure every pregnancy and labor/delivery is different, for me the first stage was much harder.

Manderlin923 · August 2011

Um, I'm not sure...pushing was a relief in a way in that it was a lot of pressure and I felt more like doing something and not like I was just lying there in pain. But I still felt a lot of pain, it was like being cut in half. I also got a huge charley horse in one of my legs, coupled with pushing pain and the ring of fire/tearing was not fun!

Some people say they can't feel the tearing because of the pressure but I did. I actually thought my mw was using a razor blade on me (she wasn't, of course). Pushing wasn't a good time but it only lasted an hour and a half. I am hoping for a shorter time my next baby!

KateLouise · August 2011

I liken it to pushing out a poo on the toilet (assuming it's a comfortable normal one) you just do what you have to do, because your body tells you to.

I did have to make my self really push through the "ring of fire" because it felt like I was going to tear from one end to the other, and that was on my fears going into childbirth that I would tear badly. I didn't tear badly (needed two stitches) but I did hold back from that pain at first and would push to an extent but not as much as I could.

lily225 · August 2011

For me, it was both. You have this incredible urge to push that you can't stop and want to do physically, but it still hurts when you do it and you want to not be doing it anymore.

JKB1986 · August 2011

Thank you for your answers everyone! They were extremely helpful. I'm determined to do this med free this time so having a good idea of what to expect will help me be as prepared as possible. I'm actually very much looking forward to the experience, hope that doesn't make me sound like a crazy person! haha

preppymama · August 2011

i loved pushing. it was SO intense, but it was much better than sitting through horrible contractions for hours. i don't even remember it being painful and i definitely don't remember a "ring of fire" that people talk about when crowning occurs.

StacieJane · August 2011

katcarls:
I'm sure it's different for every person and even different deliveries for the same person. In my case, I felt the contractions change completely when it was time to push and they stopped being painful. My body started pushing on it's own and it was uncontrollable, a lot like sneezing or throwing up. I pushed with the urge and it wasn't painful at all.

This. I don't remember the pushing being painful, or being like a ring of fire. I remember thinking that it was exhausting to push, but that's it.

ckolak · August 2011

I don't think it was especially painful to push with DD (DS was not a med-free delivery, totally different experience). I remember mostly feeling like I was having a bowel movement (but I wasn't) and feeling very "stretchy" and very slight burning with the "ring of fire." There was a very brief moment of pain that I recognized from having DS, where it felt like my pelvis was going to break in half, but it was so brief it was really only there long enough to feel it and then it was gone. I think that was when her head was coming through. It was beyond my control at that point, my body was just pushing her out, and I didn't even have to try (much, if at all) to push until it was time to deliver the placenta.

Mrs.Handy · August 2011

I'll be the odd person out and say that I never got the overwhelming urge to push. I was fully dilated and for some reason my contractions weakened so much I barely knew I was having them. I pushed for 3 hours in the middle of the night and it was exhausting.

I was not prepared for that. One thing that really helped my pushing was looking at the mirror. Doing that I could tell which pushes were good ones and which ones weren't so good. I think next time I'm going to try to do some pushing from a squat position. I was on my back most of the time, but I was so exhausted from being up all night that any other position didn't seem possible.

cfitz16 · August 2011

A little bit of both....

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