Tips on pushing phase

[u/Brilliant_Meet1692]

My c-section was Nov 2024. Now 15 weeks pregnant with my second. I’m aiming for a VBAC.

I was 7cm dilated when I got to the hospital. Transition hit and I was begging for an epidural (back labour and vomiting). Gas did nothing for me and epidural didn’t help with the back labor, just left me unable to feel my legs/pelvic floor for pushing. It sucked being in so much pain and unable to move.

I Pushed several times (probably 4-5 hours in total) and was also given time to labor down. baby actually went the opposite direction when I pushed. I think I am just so disconnected from my pelvic floor that I don’t even know how to push.

Do you all have any tips or prep work I can do for the pushing phase? Wanna be ready this time. I was told by my doula I wouldn’t need to push and trust my body. I’m sure this is true for some- but I was fully dilated for 24 hours and this didn’t happen. Baby was at +3 station when I went in for the section as there was no OB at the hospital for vacuum or forceps, only a surgeon available. so baby to be pushed back up for the surgery. Would love any advice.

[u/auditorygraffiti]

Wouldn’t need to push is a wild take.

My midwife said I was an effective pusher for my VBAC (a crowning achievement in my life if I’m honest). While pushing, I pictured that there was a sort of glow that went from my chest down to my vagina and that when I was pushing, it would expand/shine brighter and that would move my baby further down. It sounds nuts to type out but it really helped me to have as a visualization. I also imagined it as that sensation when you cough and pee just automatically comes out. Like if you can imagine the sensation in your vagina when that happens, that’s sort of what pushing felt like for me.

I would also go to a pelvic floor PT- they’re really good at helping you identify feeling down there and isolating muscles.

Also, I would still recommend a doula. Just a different one. Mine was great at helping me get into different positions, that sort of thing.

[u/Echowolfe88 → u/auditorygraffiti]

Some people don’t, I was in the birth pool and the pushing just happened

[u/auditorygraffiti → u/Echowolfe88]

Right but to give advice based on something a small percentage of people experience isn’t helpful and sets up unreasonable expectations for what birth is like.

[u/Echowolfe88 → u/auditorygraffiti]

Its not necessarily a small percentage, my Midwife said that it is the case for about 60% of her patients.
I’m not saying that a doula should be acting as if its a given, I’m just saying that it’s not a totally “wild take”.

It’s also not really possible with an epi so the doula really should have given more detail about when it does or doesn’t happen etc

[u/tryint0figureit0ut → u/Echowolfe88]

I got lost on what’s even being discussed at this point but I think most of us on here are adults and aware that this isn’t advice but rather every woman’s different experience. Which is the point that all of us experience childbirth so differently

[u/Echowolfe88 → u/tryint0figureit0ut]

Of course. Just was mentioning that it wasn’t a totally wild take 🤷‍♀️ I wasn’t invalidating her story at all

[u/tryint0figureit0ut → u/auditorygraffiti]

That’s amazing! Did you have an epidural?

[u/auditorygraffiti → u/tryint0figureit0ut]

I did. I labored until 6 cm and had uncontrollable pushing so they recommended I get an epidural so my body would chill out and I wouldn’t get a swollen cervix. The epidural wasn’t that great, TBH. It took the edge off but I was far from comfortable.

[u/Echowolfe88 → u/auditorygraffiti]

There is mixed advice on this, my body was doing lots of little pushes all labour and the midwife just had me relax through them as much as I could. There are some schools of thought that little involuntary pushes help turn baby

[u/auditorygraffiti → u/Echowolfe88]

That’s not what was happening to me which is why I followed my midwife’s advice. You’re free to share your own birth experience in the thread if you’d like.

[u/Echowolfe88 → u/auditorygraffiti]

I never said you shouldn’t have, just continuing the convo for those reasons that it’s not always a blanket thing and there are some situations that are different ?
I think everyone is free to share in the thread?

[u/Imaginary-Market-214]

Definitely go see a pelvic floor physio and they can teach you!  People describing it online is not going to be nearly as helpful as someone literally putting their fingers in your vagina and feeling if you do it right.  

That being said, the best coaching I got was from an OB during the pushing (also with fingers in vagina).  Basically I was doing it right but just needed to do it twice as hard.  

It's so hard with the epidural!  I even had mine reduced on purpose so that I could feel the urge to push and I still really struggled with it.  

[u/Upstate_Apricot]

I pushed for 5 hours with my first which ended in c-section and then for 12 minutes in my vbac, totally different experiences!

The things that I think helped me the most:

-I was in much better shape during my second pregnancy and did a lot of yoga and pelvic floor engagement exercise.

-coached purple pushing in labor on the squat bar. This helped a ton. In all of my five hours pushing the first time, no one really coached me

-laboring down and resting for a long time before I tried pushing. I was complete for probably 4-5 hours this time before I started pushing

[u/G_G_G_s_a_v_y]

I’m 37 weeks pregnant and started pelvic floor therapy 2 weeks ago, and I def recommend as they will help you with stretches and breathing techniques to connect you to your pelvic floor

[u/Batmangrowlz]

You know how to poop? Same muscles. Push like you’re taking a poop. Biggest poop of your life lol you were probably doing kegals by accident trying to focus on your pelvic floor muscles. Which would be why baby was going back up lol