Why Pushing Is Not Necessary…..
Most experienced midwives know and wholeheartedly agree with Marie Mongan’s concept of HypnoBirthing and what Mongan is saying about pushing.
Pushing, not even excessive pushing, but just pushing, can be detrimental in labor, particularly in final stages of labor.
When a woman is taught to push, she is pushing the baby’s body against the opening that is not open yet enough to let the baby through. She is pushing, urging the baby to come out, and the baby’s body and the mother’s body are not yet synchronized in their readiness. While pushing the baby he mother misunderstands the references she is working with.
What is implied in the HypnoBirthing philosophy is that a woman should listen to her body and wait for signals. For this ability to listen to her body and to “hear” what her body tells her is happening, a woman needs to prepare herself ahead of labor with exercises in relaxation so she can be attuned to her body. In the last stages of labor there will appear the “urge” to push.
In her book HypnoBirthing Marie Mongan suggests that the urge to push is a conditioned response, and midwives know this as reference to the rectal pressure that all women feel, and that many women translate as "an urge to push". They say they feel the pressure and then have an urge to push and then they DECIDE to push with that pressure.
On the contrary, rectal pressure is ONLY RECTAL PRESSURE and should not be interpreted as pushing urges.
We are so conditioned that when we feel pressure on our rectums we must sit down on the toilet. Pushing out the poop is a normal sequence to feeling that rectal pressure.
If you don’t sit on the toilet and push the poop back in, what happens?
Your poop would eventually COME OUT BY ITSELF!!
There is also an element of pleasure associated with doing your number 2. Freud referred to it since very early childhood experiences, when at the age of 3 all children experiment with holding their poop and then letting it out, experiencing a suggested secondary sexual pleasure.
Back to birth....so when a baby has moved very low into the moms pelvis she will feel rectal pressure from the baby’s head. First she begins to experience this pressure feeling it at the peak of every surge. Then she begins to feel it during the whole surge, intensifying at the peak. Eventually, the rectal pressure is constant, peaking higher with each surge and her muscles begin to propel the baby downward. It is a REFLEXIVE action. She cannot DECIDE to do it or not. Her body does it, and beautifully. THIS IS WHAT WE ARE WAITING FOR!!! The trick to pleasure is while she is having those rectal pressure urges, she MUST BE BREATHING, utilizing the HypnoBirthing Birth Breathing.
During the final stage of labor, when experiencing the Urge Surge, mom’s job is to breathe!
Dads! READ THIS: Keep her focused on her breathing, otherwise she may shift her attention to her sensations and then her pleasure will escape.
The intensity of her muscles working may make her breath catch for a moment...this is ok...she should continue to listen to her body and breathe her baby DOWN. Some moms feel that bearing down during the peak of this surge is helpful and feels good (even orgasmic). Other moms feel better if they only allow their uterus to work and they breathe. The important thing is for her to listen to HER WISE BODY and to be given the space and respect to do so. AND BREATHE!
Happy Birthing!
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