Do You Have to Push in Labour? What Nobody Tells You About the Pushing Stage
The pushing in labour that we see so liberally on television, film, documentaries… That part of birth where the baby is imminent. Displayed for the viewer with a sweaty, chin-to-chest mum being shouted at by her caregivers.
‘Push’
‘Push harder’
‘Push properly’
‘Get angry with your baby’
‘Hold your breath...stop breathing out!’
But is there another way? Simply put, yes. Believe it or not your body is fully able to push your baby out when the time is right. Without a single person shouting at it. For some women this will mean their body physically pushing out their baby in the same way that we are able to push up and out food that didn’t agree with us. And for others this will be more of a collaborative effort between pressure and the wish to push against it to birth a baby.
This normal birthing reflex is the body’s own ability to bring the baby into the world. It often starts with a surge of adrenaline that washes into the woman, waking her from the trance-like state in which she has been labouring or resting. Yes, adrenaline, even though it can feel a bit rubbish, is in fact a birth hormone. It washes in to ask you to look around, observe your surroundings, notice if you are safe. It then gives you focus and energy for this powerful stage.
This may feel like a series of intense and involuntary surges (contractions, waves, rushes) that will be working to move your baby out of your uterus and into the birth canal, at which point nerves in the pelvis are stimulated and this feedback to the brain releases more of the hormone oxytocin, which with a symphony of other hormones has been driving your labour forwards. This may start with feelings of intense pressure (quite often toward your bottom) or it may simply feel nudgy and pushy. This will then grow
However, there is a catch. This all seems to happen more readily without intervention. In dark, calm spaces, where the mother is left to labour or rest without interruption or question.
As Midwife Marianne Littlejohn states “Physiological birth is an involuntary process, related to activity in the primitive brain and body structures. It occurs best when a woman’s parasympathetic nervous system is operational and she is in a state of trust. A dark, calm, quiet, and almost solitary surrounding serves the mother best for labour and birth. Birth is not a voluntary action” (Littlejohn 2014).
We as mammals require exactly what every other mammal requires to give birth.
Calm, dim lighting, no distractions, no unwanted observers and no questions. Nothing in fact that requests the thinking brain joins the party.
We also need to be mindful of our own fear. This intense pressure against the rectum leaves women feeling vulnerable that they may lose control of their bowels and this can increase the fear of being watched and observed. Thus a holding on and halting can occur.
Of course there will be times when some women and babies need more support and assistance. But birth can and does regularly happen without it being told to.
Without it being cajoled, requested or monitored. Without someone watching or telling you what to do.
It can happen in water or on dry land. At home or in hospital. It is a normal part of physiological labour. As normal as a yawn or a sneeze or an orgasm. If you are supported and feeling safe, completely able to move how you wish and make the sounds that feel good then birth will unfold as it is intended.
You could in fact say that birth happens in spite of us, if we’re just willing to give it the opportunity.