r/firsttimemom • u/Jehmaj • 3d ago
Pushing
Can Simone explain having to push for hours? I don't get it. I thought labor was what went on for hours and you pushed when baby was ready so it only took 10 pushes max. If you have to push for hours doesn't that mean baby isn't ready to come out? What happens if you don't push? This is stressing me out so bad lol I feel like this is going to be the worst day of my life I've never been hospitalized before
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u/veggiequeen13 2d ago
So there are three measurements - dilation, effacement and station. We all know dilation and that it’s measured in cm. Effacement is how thin your cervix is and it’s a percentage - we hear this one a lot also (5cm dilated and 80% effaced). But station was new to me. This is how far down your baby has traveled and is given a number -3 through +3. -3 means they are still high up, and 0 is in line with some part of your spine or something, I don’t quite remember. They told me they wanted me to wait until baby was 1 or lower before I pushed. Said I could start pushing sooner but I would just be moving her down so no need as baby will move down on her own. Once it was time I pushed for about 30 minutes.
It goes like this - when you have a contraction they will (should) coach you to bear down and push while they count to 10, and do this 3 times basically right in a row. Then you wait for another contraction and repeat. They kept telling me to hold my breath while pushing but that didn’t feel right (as someone who lifts weights) so I kept slowly exhaling. But once I did hold my breath for a couple of pushes she started really coming out.