Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
Sep
14
Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
“No, Mom Has To Be On Her Back Otherwise Baby Won’t Fit Under The Pubic Bone.”
“No, mom has to be on her back, otherwise baby won’t fit under the pubic bone.” -L&D nurse when asked if the mother could push in other positions besides flat on her back.
There are 51 comments to this post.
So dead wrong! On the back pushes the tailbone closer to the pubic bone, making it harder to get under the pubic bone! Most every other position is better than on the back. To quote Marsden Wagner, the only harder way to give birth would be hanging upside down!
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Jane Reply:
September 14th, 2011 at 7:32 am (Quote)
Okay, you’re going to laugh. I nearly was hanging upside down when I pushed out my 4th baby. My third had gotten caught between contractions with her head out and not her shoulders when the contraction stopped, and everyone suddenly had a case of TEH PANICK!!!! because they thought it might be dystocia. She came out fine as soon as the next contraction started and I could push.
So during the next birth when my next baby appeared to be doing the same thing, I refused to let it happen. It was a waterbirth that time, and I grabbed the top of the tub, braced my feet on the top/side of the tub, curled over myself, rocked backward almost onto my shoulders, and PUSHED like that to get the kid all the way out over one contraction.
Very nearly upside down. And it wasn’t as hard as pushing on my back with my first.
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Renai Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 7:25 pm (Quote)
I was an hbac transfer and wound up on my back (semi-recline) with my legs being held up. Although I had a light epi, I could still feel the contractions. On a couple of them I did almost the same as you (as much I could)- lifted up my bum off the bed and moved backward. In hindsight (just now!), THAT’S what delivered and got my 8lb 10oz baby out of this 4’11″ body. Wow, mama instinct wins again…
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Angela Reply:
September 14th, 2011 at 12:28 pm (Quote)
Okay, well, this chimp’s not hanging upside down, but she is upside down for a good chunk of the crowning! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bF_T3wBE14
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Yeah, but unless she’s on all fours, the baby can’t fit OVER the pubic bone!
—
Dear Nurse:
We know you learned one thing and have seen one thing in your tenure as an L&D nurse, and you don’t really know why it’s done that way except you’re sure there must be a reason. So you tried to decipher one. But actually, there is no physiological reason to do it that way. It’s for the doctor’s convenience, not the mom’s and not the baby’s. Watch a few upright deliveries and you’ll have a better scope of what’s going on.
Love,
Everyone
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You my sad stupid little nurse are an idiot. Do you not realize that laying on your back CLOSES the birth canal and that just flipping a mom over on her hands and knees opens the birth canal up about 90% more? Someone must have just barely passed med school.
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road2vba2c had this to say,
Sep 14, 2011 @ 4:55 am (Quote)
How did the human race get so far without this nurse…
Scratch that, how is the human race going to survive with idiots like this…
Note to those who may be in this situation soon: don’t ask. Just do. They aren’t your boss.
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Jade Reply:
September 14th, 2011 at 8:25 am (Quote)
Totally agree with your last statement! They can say no all they like, but they will ahve far less hope of stopping you doing it or making you get onto your back if you are already in a different position.
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Sheva Reply:
September 14th, 2011 at 9:17 am (Quote)
True in theory. But I’ve seen women held down when they tried to change positions.
I think the key is to never lay down in the first place.
And make sure you’re squatting/on all fours/position of choice before the catcher gets there.
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Jade Reply:
September 14th, 2011 at 9:20 am (Quote)
Didn’t say it was impossible, just that they had less hope lol. I work as a doula and have never seen someone held down and I think I would get quite angry if I witnessed that.
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himom Reply:
September 14th, 2011 at 9:39 am (Quote)
Sadly I have seen this form of physical force used to drag a pushing mom from a hands and knees position where she was comfortable and making progress to the lithotomy position that the OB wanted her in. Two nurses and the husband (!) physically forced the mom to turn over and dragged her, then held her into place on her back with feet in the stirrups while she screamed her protests. As her doula, I could help her advocate, yes, but I could not physically prevent them from physically violating her. Still infuriates me on many different levels.
Later the husband blamed her, angrily asking why she could not have been more cooperative with the people who were telling her what to do. (Don’t get me started on this abusive jerk – he also asked her accusingly where she had “caught” GBS, as if it were some sort of STD)
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BeckyJ Reply:
September 14th, 2011 at 9:52 am (Quote)
Ugh! I feel ill for how this woman was treated. 
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Melanie Reply:
September 14th, 2011 at 12:26 pm (Quote)
A good friend of mine was manually twisted over from her hands and knees onto her back by a group of nurses while she was pushing her baby out. They just grabbed her legs out from under her and flipped her. She’s pretty sure the twisting has caused the chronic back problems she’s been seeing the chiropractor for ever since.
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Christine Reply:
October 2nd, 2011 at 12:20 pm (Quote)
I see this all the time. Mom tries to just put her legs down from the stirrups and someone grabs them and replaces them, telling her “NO!” And usually they ask her support person to take over one leg, thereby making him restrain her. The standard US birth attendants care about 1 thing only during delivery – making sure the birth canal stays hovered over the plastic “sterile field.” Literally. The rest of the woman is just unfortunately attached.
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I was told this, as well, during my first birth. I was made to lie flat on my back and pull on a knotted bedsheet so that the baby “would fit under the pubic bone.” When I asked if I could push on my side, I was told “no, you’re going to do it my way.”
Not surprisingly, the baby didn’t fit after 3+ hours of pushing and I had an “emergency” c/s.
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Mama Wrench had this to say,
Sep 14, 2011 @ 7:11 am (Quote)
Wow, I had to pause for a second and make sure this wasn’t mine. My nurse said the EXACT same thing, word for word, with my oldest.
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BAHAHAHAHAHA I AM LAUGHING MY ASS OFF RIGHT NOW AT THIS DOCTOR’S COMMENT! Is he RETARDED?
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Laurel Reply:
September 14th, 2011 at 10:55 am (Quote)
It is really not ok to use that word that way.
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BeckyJ Reply:
September 14th, 2011 at 11:34 am (Quote)
Are you my mom? Should I refrain from speaking in case I offend someone? Is it any consolation that OB’s or nurses reading these posts may get hurt feelings because of things people say on here? It should be a 2 way street but it’s not. I won’t be told what to do by anyone.
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Laurel Reply:
September 14th, 2011 at 1:18 pm (Quote)
If I was your mother, I’d tell you it’s rude to use a term like that. It’s offensive. Like the person below me says, mental retardation is a condition that affects people in different ways. People who are born that way or who are damaged in accidents or at birth do not deserve to me made fun of, which is what is happening when you call someone who is just plain stupid or wrong the R word. It is never ok to make fun of someone, and yes, you should refrain from using words that hurt like the N word and the R word.
Please educate yourself on this subject because it just makes you sound ignorant and rude.
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Amelia Reply:
September 14th, 2011 at 1:31 pm (Quote)
Please don’t refrain from speaking. Please refrain from using words that are 100% sure to offend innocent people. I’m not getting into a debate about this.
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Amelia Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 7:02 am (Quote)
Different Amelia but I utterly agree: it’s not offensive because it’s being rude to nurses etc it’s offensive because it’s rude to those with different educational needs.
No one is saying don’t speak, but we’d appreciate it if you thought before you spoke and avoided certain offensive terms.
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StaudtCJ Reply:
September 14th, 2011 at 11:15 am (Quote)
Mental retardation is a condition that affects the lives of many people both positively and negatively. Please don’t mistake obtuseness, unwillingness to learn, or failure to understand with actual developmental delay or other actual diagnoses. Using the word in the way you have used it is offensive to many people.
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Mama Mirage had this to say,
Sep 14, 2011 @ 7:20 am (Quote)
Well how on earth did my 7pd 12oz, 8pd 8oz, and 9pd 2oz kids EVER emerge then? Wouldn’t you think that with gravity and all, the best way to open things up would be more of a birthing stool or squatting kind of thing? If you lay a well cooked manicotti or penne pasta noodle on it’s side it goes all oval shaped from gravity. If you dangle it from one end it’s nice and round and flexible. This is what I’m imagining is going on inside me too during birth. If I’m laying down then gravity is pushing the canal together. If I’m upright then it’s open and flexible and whatever’s coming down and out of it is helped along by gravity. Do you poop laying down? No? It’s not natural because it’s not the most efficient way to do it. Neither is birthing laying on your back.
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Kasondra Morin had this to say,
Sep 14, 2011 @ 8:16 am (Quote)
Well Thank GOD for the unicorn pee I drank during my recent birth where I birthed on hands and knees…
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RRM Reply:
September 14th, 2011 at 8:52 am (Quote)
You just made me laugh out loud! BWAHAHAHAHAHA! On another note, I’d love to hear from the OP- I hope she told this nurse to shove it and did what she felt like doing. MY pushing involved a dining chair, then a toilet, then a birthing stool- I guess it’s a wonder my baby made it out, huh?
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Kasondra Morin Reply:
September 14th, 2011 at 9:17 am (Quote)
I should also note that I pushed FOR AN HOUR during my first flat on my back birth and for 15mins or so with my second…
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Jenny Islander had this to say,
Sep 14, 2011 @ 9:33 am (Quote)
There’s an argument going on at The Unnecessarean right now in which the old “midwives are uneducated, midwives are ignorant, midwives endanger babies because they use unproven techniques” canards are being trotted out.
All I know is, my midwife never asked me to swallow crap like this and the OB who said he “looked forward” to being the one to catch my first labor on hospital rotation did. Not the “you must lie on your back or the baby won’t come out” nonsense, but “you have fat in your vagina so you can’t give birth without an IV and a scalpel,” “it’s impossible to see this baby without using an internal wand,” “you’re off the standard charts this week” (said EVERY week, and always wrong–what, didn’t he think I could read?) and so on.
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All of you are saying, “it doesn’t work, it never works, that position is ONLY good for the convenience of the doctor.” I will agree with you so far as it is not the position ALL women should be in ALL the time, and that it’s NOT impossible for a baby to get out/past the pubic bone unless a woman is in lithotomy position, however sometimes lying on one’s back really IS a good idea to get baby past the pubic bone. It happened to me, in a home birth, with a very competent midwife. I tried a few different positions including squatting, on the toilet, on my side, on all fours, and my baby was just not getting past my pubic bone. My midwife said, “I know you’ve heard that laying on your back is not best for birth and it’s only good for the convenience of the care provider, but that’s not always the case – sometimes it can help a baby get past your pubic bone.” So I tried, and this is how my daughter ultimately was able to get out.
DEFINITELY, lithotomy is not the way it should always be across the board, but there is a time and a place for it as well.
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Jennifer Reply:
September 14th, 2011 at 11:04 am (Quote)
I had a very similar experience to Indi with both of mine- I tried nearly every position (sitting, standing, squatting, all fours, on my side) and both of my children would ONLY get past my pubic bone while I was flat on my back. Seriously. With my second kid, I actually could feel it quite distinctly and announced that he had passed by my pubic bone (it was that obvious to me) to the midwife, who then propped me up to a near squat to give the last pushes. So in some, probably rare, cases this does work well.
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Jewels Reply:
September 14th, 2011 at 7:55 pm (Quote)
Are you me??? This is exactly what happened with me (except we ended up transferring to a hospital). The way my mum described it to a friend of hers afterwards “the baby was so stubbornly in the wrong position that the only way to get him out was to put Jewels in the wrong position too!”.
He had a GIANT head (at 9 months old, his head is only a few centimetres smaller than mine. We fit the same hats!) & acynclitic presentation, so it’s not exactly a common scenario. That said, I definitely wouldn’t recommend it unless completely necessary & you’ve tried everything else… it was an EXCRUCIATINGLY painful position (every other position I was fine with, that one made me scream & sob).
*Generally* though, it is just for doctor’s convenience & usually causes more harm than good. It’s only useful in rare circumstances.
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Lisa Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 5:16 pm (Quote)
The only way my first VBAC baby got under the bone was from me doing backbends over the edge of my floor bed. Hands & knees just got him more stuck. We literally heard his head grinding against me as he finally slipped under the bone. Then I had a nap for 2 hours while his head molded.
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Ellen Reply:
September 25th, 2011 at 7:34 pm (Quote)
I know of a birth with an extremely naturally-minded hospital provider where exactly this happened. Other positions weren’t working and produced decels; the mom was advised to lie on her back, which turned out to be best for the baby’s heart rate, and apparently it was the trick which kept the birth from progressing to a C-section. (The baby was somewhat asynclitic and had apparently been wedged directly against the pubic bone; the on-the-back position helped correct that.)
I also have a friend who birthed with a very well-known homebirth midwife who wound up birthing on her back, because the baby wasn’t coming out any other way. (That case involved a uterine anomaly, though.)
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Lil had this to say,
Sep 14, 2011 @ 3:12 pm (Quote)
My eldest is mentally retarded, she’s nearly 23 but has a mental age of 7…and I don’t find the comment overtly offensive, and nor would my daughter. I will say though, I can see the similarity with this L&D nurse’s comment and my daughter’s amazingly strange logic. For example, if my daughter does something that goes wrong, she will blame other people, she likes things to always be done the same way because it makes her feel safe, and if you ask her why she has done something weird and random, her excuses just leave you gob smacked and you have to resist the urge to laugh, because she honestly does believe what she is saying…I love my daughter and she has many great talents…working in maternity isn’t one of them, and this nurse’s comment would be the sort of random logic she would come up with, when what she really meant was ‘because that’s how I’ve seen it before and I don’t like things to be different’!
I’m not encouraging people to use ‘mentally retarded’ as an insult…but I really can see the similarities between my daughter and this nurse!
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…I just laughed so hard my two year old asked me what was wrong.
I’m really hoping this nurse was NOT serious, or at least didn’t tell this to the family while OP was actually in labor.
Next nurse please!
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Alyson Miers Reply:
September 14th, 2011 at 6:42 am Alyson Miers(Quote)
We’ve had entries similar to this before. Some people actually believe this, and they care for laboring mothers for a living. Despair for humanity!
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