 This mother was supported in using "completely mother-directed pushing" during her hospital birth. Labor has been exhausting but with your birth team you're almost through the hardest part. The lights have been low, you brought your favorite essential oils, you've used the tub, birth ball, and shower for pain relief, and NOW THE TIME HAS COME. You start feeling "pushy". Finally you know what that means. The sharp pull at the peak of contractions begins to be replaced by a totally different, nearly unexplainable feeling. You have to get that baby OUT. The nurse rushes in, pages the doctor, the lights come on (ESPECIALLY the big one pointed at your vagina), the bed is broken down, and you are instructed to 'HOLD YOUR BREATH AND PUUUUUUSH. COUNT TO 10 WITH US!' And now you start to understand why they call it "purple pushing". It isn't pretty or fun. The whole energy of the room has changed, and you're not sure that you like it. (DISCLAIMER- this doesn't happen at ALL hospital births. But it is VERY COMMON due to how most doctors and hospital staff have learned to manage the pushing stage. Listen to women tell their birth stories...you'll see the trend). TIME OUTI love to discuss the benefits of physiological pushing. What does that mean exactly? It's letting the birthing mother decide when and how to push her baby out. It doesn't mean:
I always bring a copy of this lovely blog post by Rachel Reed of MidwifeThinking with me to prenatal visits with families that I'm working with, because it really emphasizes how the mother is the expert in pushing out her baby. Risks of "purple pushing" or directed pushing include:
 Becky expresses that her labor was peaceful and filled with love, and that she was encouraged to walk around between pushes when other positions weren't as effective. All of this support and different positions helped her posterior baby to turn and to be born vaginally. Even though study after study has documented the risks of directed or purple pushing, the physiological pushing has been slow to take hold in most hospitals. This survey from 2005 documented that only 21% of women pushed when they felt like pushing. Over 90% gave birth on their back or semi-reclining. Some reasons for this likely include the fact that upwards of 60% of women in most areas choose an epidural, which leads to more management of pushing, but also it's just a fact that most birth professionals are taught directed pushing in their trainings, and they rarely see or experience anything else. Humans are creatures of habit, and we tend to fall back on what we know. This study review has a great overview of the differences between physiological and directed pushing. Women who are pushing instinctively often push only for 3-5 seconds and then take a short breath, before pushing again. They tend not to close their mouths or clench their jaws. The mother often will chose a position such as kneeling or hands and knees. She might not put her chin to her chest and push "down" to the baby. I very often see women wanting to arch back and do just the opposite! There really are no "rules", and a position that works for all women. Remember: a woman's body knows how to give birth! Listen to it. Now that you know that it's evidence-based and healthy for a mother to push when she feels like it, and in positions of her choosing, what can you do to maintain your physiological birth even if you are being encouraged to do something different? I love this article about saying "no" to purple pushing, but I've found that it's really not that simple when that moment comes. So here are my tips for saying 'no' and being successful at mother-directed pushing no matter where you are. Strategies for Physiological (Mother-Directed) Pushing in the Hospital
 Bethany Bagnell is a Bradley Instructor who pushed instinctively during her hospital birth. The bottom line is that mother-directed pushing is safe for the mother and her baby. If you discuss this with your care provider and they are unwilling to consider this option, you might want to think about finding a care provider who will work with you, and the birth that you would most like to have. Or, you can share some of the linked studies with him or her and ask them to reconsider.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again. You can have a great birth no matter where you choose to be! Hospital, home, birth center...but it never hurts to know what you want, to communicate those wishes clearly, and to bring a supportive team who knows you well to help you achieve that goal. A supportive birth partner, and a doula, can help to remind you of the plans that you made before you reached a point in labor where it's easy to think that 'those details weren't important, so let's just get this over with.' But you might feel differently once the hormones wear off. (I speak from personal experience when I say this, can you tell?) It's normal to feel like you need reassurance and guidance during this phase of labor, but remember that YOU are the only one giving birth to your baby, and your body knows what to do! Have your birth partner remind you of that! It's not the last time that you'll need to lean on your instincts as a mother to do what's best for your child. What was your experience with pushing your baby (or babies!) out? Do you have any other suggestions for supporting mother-directed pushing? And thanks to the mothers who shared their beautiful birth pictures to show the various positions that women can choose for pushing!
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 see bottom of post for ingredients.. This one is kind of a quickie. I'm going to get back to the "pregnancy interventions" series later this week, but I thought that it might be helpful to give some tips on HOW to include some "sacred foods" from these traditional cultures into your preconception or pregnancy diet. Not all of us are ready to jump into liver and onions; I know that I wasn't!!
It's okay to go slow, but including at least some of these foods can only be helpful to your body and to your baby. And don't forget Dad! Cultures that prized these foods also included the father in the preconception period; he was also expected to eat liberally of whatever food was prized in fertility for his particular area. I'm going to start with homemade bone broth. Broth is incredibly nutritious and healing, and may even be palatable if you are coping with morning sickness in your pregnancy. Please keep in mind that the quality of bones is important; healthy animals will produce a more nutrient-rich, tasty broth. Buy local or pastured as much as possible, especially if you will be using the bones. "Your baby is measuring much larger than normal."
"Your baby appears healthy but we are worried about his size; he may not be growing." "Your amniotic fluid is low". Generally all of these statements are probably followed by "We'd like to induce you". But you've had a perfectly healthy pregnancy! You've been planning to go into labor on your own. Your baby appears to be happy, how did you get to this point? Should you trust this commonly-used technology to guide decisions about your pregnancy and birth? Many women find it amazing to see their baby on ultrasound. During my first pregnancy I had 3 ultrasounds, the first at 12 weeks to verify pregnancy, one at 17 weeks for gender, and another at 22 weeks to check anatomy. I was a low-risk, first-time mother. Women with any other risk factors such as gestational diabetes, hypertension, "advanced" maternal age (over 35), suspected genetic abnormalities, or clotting factors may find themselves with many more ultrasounds. As I continued in the pregnancy, however, I became more and more sure that I wanted to avoid an ultrasound late in my pregnancy. Why? Cue the music.. Late. Term. Ultrasounds. What are they good for? Absolutely. NOTHING. (almost) It seemed to me that ultrasounds in late pregnancy are more often than not used to scare the caregiver and the mother into thinking that something is wrong. It's common knowledge that ultrasound measurements can be, and frequently are, inaccurate. But when it comes down to it...the doctor will usually want to "err on the side of caution". There have been several studies on ultrasound after 24 weeks gestation in low-risk pregnancies, like this one, a Cochrane review of studies totalling over 25,000 mothers and babies: Read more here. The authors concluded that "routine late pregnancy ultrasound in low risk or unselected populations does not confer benefit on mother or baby. There is a lack of data about the potential psychological effects of routine ultrasound in late pregnancy, and the effects on both short and long term neonatal and childhood outcome." This study finds that late-term ultrasound estimates of weight are not particularly reliable, and "must be applied with extreme care". So there are no proven benefits to row-risk pregnant women and their babies, but what about risks? Risks A interesting study published in 1993 selected a group of women (sample size 2,834) to either receive "intensive" ultrasounds (5 from 18 weeks to 38 weeks), or "normal", which was only one scan at 18 weeks. There was a statistically significant increase in the intensive group of having a baby with a birthweight below the 10th and 3rd percentile. The irony here is that in my experience, late-term ultrasounds dramatically increase the chances of your baby being diagnosed with IUGR, whether or not the baby's birthweight is actually low at birth. Could the overuse of ultrasound be CAUSING the IUGR? The authors of the study found it "plausible". Perhaps because another study just a few years before had found a similar negative effect on growth and hypothesized that repeated ultrasound exposure most likely affects bone growth, not soft tissue growth. The good news is that a follow-up study found that this difference in growth seemed to disappear by age 8. But the authors of this study recommended that ultrasound use in late pregnancy be restricted to "those women to whom the information is likely to be of clinical benefit." Rather open-ended, but can we find more information on who these women might be? GreenMedInfo published a blog post entitled "When Do the Benefits of Ultrasound Outweigh the Dangers?" I highly recommend reading the entire article! The author states that the evidence points to several instances where an ultrasound may have some benefit, among them locating the placenta to clear a women to attempt a TOL for a VBAC, when trying to turn a breech baby during an external version, and when utilizing reproductive technology such as IVF. Not included are: Measuring large for dates Maternal age greater than 35 Measuring small for dates To measure the amniotic fluid Diagnosed Gestational Diabetic Factor Five Leiden or other clotting abnormalities Measuring the "thickness" of a uterine scar internally before a woman attempts a VBAC The author also points out that there are only a handful of issues that an ultrasound might help to diagnose and then treat before the birth of the baby, as well as a high false-positive rate with abnormal ultrasound diagnoses (I will be working on an article on fluid levels soon!), so the possible benefit to most mothers and babies is slim indeed. Even more concerning is that very few large, epidemiological studies have been performed since the allowable acoustic limits for ultrasound machines was increased in 1992. Part of the problem is that finding a control group of unexposed babies would be quite difficult because ultrasound use has become so common! Although most other studies have been performed on mice, other possible adverse effects of late-term ultrasounds (based on evidence) include: Damage to the neurological system Thermally induced teratogenesis (the formation of congenital birth defects) Left-handedness (in men) For more studies on the possible adverse effects of routine ultrasound, please see GreenMedInfo's database here. What is the Bottom Line? Although ultrasound has been used in the care of pregnant women and babies for several decades now, there isn't much evidence to support it's routine use. There are many animal studies that suggest exposure to ultrasound increases the risk of abnormal neurological development in the brain and for growth restriction of the skeleton. A few women may benefit from ultrasound screening, but the possible risk of repeated exposure should certainly be discussed so that an informed decision can be made. Part 2 will discuss some of the emotional issues that women may face because of the use of ultrasound, and how it may affect them and their care providers throughout the mothers' pregnancies and births. |
Author- Sara
I look at birth from the perspective that our bodies are wonderfully made, and if we really believe that and work with the birth process and nourish our bodies properly, they will function optimally, most of the time! Archives
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