Sep 5

“If You Don’t Push This Baby Out In 20 Minutes, You’re Getting A Cesarean Section.”

“If you don’t push this baby out in 20 minutes, you’re getting a cesarean section.” – Midwife to mother who had been pushing for two hours.

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There are 9 comments to this post.

Jane had this to say, Sep 5, 2011 @ 4:52 am (Quote)

Because shift change is in thirty minutes…?

If the baby isn’t tolerating pushing, that’s one thing. But come on — arbitrary time limits?

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Selia had this to say, Sep 5, 2011 @ 5:32 am (Quote)

I once attended a home birth where the mom took 6 1/2 hours to push out her baby. She wanted to keep at it and the baby was fine, so the midwife saw no reason to suggest transfer. After the baby was finally born the first thing the mom said after confirming the baby was out was “That was so much better than a hospital!”. Obviously she was happy to have pushed that long and avoid unwanted intervention as a trade-off. Docs: Don’t make assumptions and be patient! If you need a break, take one! There are other docs who can keep an eye on mama and the nurses are trained to deliver too!

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Louisa Reply:
September 6th, 2011 at 6:14 pm Louisa(Quote)

I pushed for 9 before I transferred. bub’s head wasn’t aligned properly and prevented it from getting under my pubic bone and I was too exhausted by that stage to keep going. bub was coping fine though.

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Sheva had this to say, Sep 5, 2011 @ 5:35 am (Quote)

Here’s a thought – How about everyone stops yelling at me and leaves the room? You could watch the baby on your hall monitor.
I’ll get up (!) move around a bit (!!), and breath through some contractions without pushing, also known as laboring down (!!!). Then, when I feel the baby moving down, I promise I’ll call you to make the oh-so-important and medical-personnel-is-always-necessary catch. K?
Now, shoo, you’re making it hard for me to concentrate.

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BeckyJ Reply:
September 5th, 2011 at 5:37 am BeckyJ(Quote)

LOVE this!

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It happened to me, too had this to say, Sep 5, 2011 @ 5:39 am (Quote)

Exact same words were spoken by my OB at 4:00 AM one morning. Had been induced for failure to progress, then required epidural. Pushed for 2 hours on my back with feet in stirrups. I kept saying that my position was wrong & my hips needed to adjust somehow. After that warning from OB, baby was out in 9 minutes. APGARs were 9 & 10. I ended up with 3rd degree tear & my 1st ring of hemorrhoids. :/ better than a scar on my belly, at least.

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Dee had this to say, Sep 5, 2011 @ 7:32 am (Quote)

I’m not the OP, but wow, similar to my experience. The nurse and DH were helping me push, but I was taking a while (baby and I were fine)…OB kept sticking her head in to see if I was crowning…again, again, and again. DH said later she was glaring and looking at the clock…and he was just waiting for her to say the ‘c-section’ word. I remember pushing so hard my eye popped a vessel because I knew ‘time was running out.’ I did get a small tear, but that was better than a c-section. I detested that woman and left her practice the minute I could get my records transferred.

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Carrie C Reply:
September 6th, 2011 at 7:36 pm Carrie C(Quote)

Yes! The “time is running out” card that we play on ourselves. You and the baby are just fine *now*, but if you don’t go into labor/transition/deliver the baby in , you will have to go to the hospital/be induced/have a section/ and/or the baby and/or you will die.

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