# I never felt let up in contractions and never had the urge to push... anyone else?



## Tamashii

When I gave birth to my son I remember the contractions being spaced out at first, getting closer and more intense and then by the time we got to the hospital I was almost fully dilated and the contractions no longer eased off they just rolled together into one constant, intense pain. The midwife walked in at one point and said "Oooooh you naughty girl sucking on the gas and air when you're not even having a contraction!!!" but I was in intense pain so of course I was bloody well sucking on the G&A! Is this normal to have no let up in contractions just before reaching the pushing stage???

Also, when it came to pushing I never got the overwhelming urge to push. I only knew when to push when the midwife told me. I wouldn't have had a clue when to push if she hadn't been there to tell me exactly what to do.

I am 30 weeks along at the moment and starting to realise I am gonna have to go through this again and am worrying about that intense, unyielding pain that my contractions built up to last time. My friends were talking about maybe I had back labour and that can just be intense, constant pain whereas some women seem to have a break between contractions where they can talk and relax to catch their breath in preparation for the next one before starting pushing. I just never had this and I think the midwife just thought I was being a woos (but I have quite a high pain threshold normally so hate to think I was not coping or imagining the constant pain).

Anyone else know what i am on about?

Thanks in advance :flower:


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## emzky90

I never really had the urge either! I only had gas and air so could still feel everything....the midwife came in and examined me and said "right i can feel your babies head do you feel the urge to push?" and i remember thinkin no lol


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## Cazza89

I had the exact same as you. I was constantly on the gas and air without any breaks as I was in constant pain, I had an epidural at that point as I'd been in labour for so long and I was exhausted. It was such a relief when that kicked in!! 
My contractions also stopped so I had to have something to start them off again!

I also never had the real urge to push but my midwife was telling me to push waaay before I felt ready coz he hadn't dropped and she wanted me to get him down the birth canal. She had me on my back ( which I now know to be the worst position for giving labour in! ) And I felt like I was pushing against nothing, if that makes sense!? My body wasn't ready to push. In the end, my son got stuck. He was 9lb 1 born and only 4 1/2 hours past his due date! I'd been predicted a 6-7lb baby. I was only tiny, a size 8 and had a tiny, neat little bump and didn't put on any weight apart from my babies! I was cut and had ventouse in the end. 

This time I really want to try a more 'natural' birthing position. Last time I had to be strapped up to a machine to monitor my sons heart rate so I couldn't really move much at all. I didn't go into hospital until I was 5cm dilated either. I want to stay at home for as long as possible and be able to move/walk around more this time. I also just want to do it on gas and air if possible as I know Epi's slow labour down and I didn't want it so much for the pain at the time, it was coz I was exhausted. X


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## lynnikins

the "urge" doesnt come as soon as baby is ready to decend for all women your body is tuned to know when and when not to and if you dont get it before the MW's ask its not a big deal, having a back to back baby will affect this as baby wont be in the ideal position also your own positioning can have an impact on it if there is no weight being put directly on the edges of the cervix when its fully dilated then how is it supposed to send the message to push to your brain? 
Ever labour is differnt and some women dont get the urge to push , some women dont actually need to push if things are going well then your body can actually do it all itself without your brain needing to consiously be involved in the process.


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## bubbles123

I had regular contractions but no desire to push at all, even at 10cm. So I have no idea what the urge to push feels like. My LO was stuck solid and back to back though and was an eventual ventouse after pushing for over 2 hours so that probably had something to do with it.


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## dan-o

It sounds a lot like my labour & mine was a back to back presentation. My contractions were like yours, one rolling into another & super intense!

I only got an urge to push when I was kneeling over the back of the bed during transition, but it was more an involuntary bearing down at the peak of each contraction than an urge to want to do anything. I asked for an epidural at that point, but obviously it was far too late for that lol. I never got any urge at all when I was laying on my back, I just pushed through the middle of each contraction, which took away the pain and got baby out.. what a relief!

My baby didnt turn in labour either, he came out looking up!

I'm told labour with a normal presentation is a lot less intense! :flower:


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## Guppy051708

I never really had the urge to push. I did a little but not much at all. But i think thats because i had a very long labor (30 hours unmedicated) and i was tired ALSO my baby was posterior and i know that plays a huge role in the urge to push! Every time i felt a contraction i had to have the MW feel my stomach (it gets hard when you reach the peak of one) so she could tell me when to push. But i did it....6 hours later haha (my contractions only came about once every 6 minutes)

oh well i guess i forgot, i did have the urge to push BEFORE i was 10 CM dilated, which apparently happens a lot with a back to back baby. I was reading a midwifery journal and she said that women with OP babies should actually push because only the tip of the head is on the cervix (unlike an anterior baby where the entire head is pushing on the cervix to help it open up). After that though, my sensation wasn't there much :nope:


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## Ju_bubbs

My first 2 labours were exactly like that! I pushed, just coz the midwife told me to, even tho I didn't feel I needed to, I'm quite sure that it made my labours much longer than they neede to be, they last 6 and 4 hours

My last 2 labours however.. I just didn't push, I relaxed and breathed through it instead, these 2 labours lasted 25 minutes, and 15 minutes :haha:


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## Guppy051708

The interesting thing, is that even if you NEVER EVER pushed, your uterus contracts so well that force alone would expel the baby! Granted this method does take much much longer, but just saying, if you never pushed your body will still get the baby out ;)


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## Ju_bubbs

dan-o said:


> It sounds a lot like my labour & mine was a back to back presentation. My contractions were like yours, one rolling into another & super intense!
> 
> I only got an urge to push when I was kneeling over the back of the bed during transition, but it was more an involuntary bearing down at the peak of each contraction than an urge to want to do anything. I asked for an epidural at that point, but obviously it was far too late for that lol. I never got any urge at all when I was laying on my back, I just pushed through the middle of each contraction, which took away the pain and got baby out.. what a relief!
> 
> My baby didnt turn in labour either, he came out looking up!
> 
> I'm told labour with a normal presentation is a lot less intense! :flower:

Huge congrats on your little boy Dan-o!!! :happydance:


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## momof2babies

I didn't get the urge with ds until he was crowning but I had an epidural with ds. with dd I got the urge at 9 cm


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## Connah'sMommy

With Connah i started to feel contractions at about 1am and he was born at 5am. From starting to feel the contractions i had honestly not felt any let up at all :/

Id had mild backache all day so that was me dilating i reckon and then at 1am they came thick and fast with no breaks, it was agony :wacko:

When i got to the hosp i was 8cm but jeez, it was nothing like what i expected lol

I did get the urge to push though xx


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## Eternal

sounds like my labour, i had a lot of back labour, i did ask for the epi but it failed.


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## Tamashii

Thanks to everyone for all the replies. I'm thinking now maybe I had back labour too then. It was so painful. Agony in fact. Nothing like other stories I have heard since where there was just gas & air and a couple of pushes before the baby popped out. Just seems everyone I have spoken to got this intense urge to push and kind of knew the baby was about to crown but I had none of that so thanks for making me feel less alone.

Hoping for a boring, non eventful, quick birth this time!


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## MissGx

I had a strong sensation of pushing, not the urge to push but the feeling of him pushing down within about 30mins of being induced. Once my waters were broke my body began pushing itself! I was soooo scared, it pushed so much it made my legs crunch up, the midwife said 'why are you pushing?' I was like 'I'm not! I'm not! I can't help it!'

Before she broke my waters I was 3cm but jumped straight to 10 once they had broke!


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## xxEMZxx

I def did have the urge to push, but I also found before I needed to push that the pain was constant.


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## ohbananas

I had an urge to push, the nurses were wandering around my room waiting for the Dr to get there, and all of a sudden I had this super intense contraction and screamed "OMG ITS COMING!" and the nurses ran over and my little ones head was all of a sudden right there, like you could see her black hair. So yeah, 5 minutes of pushing later, baby was here.


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## Cabbage

So glad to see this thread as I have been thinking about this a lot the last few days. 

My little girl was born with the aid of ventouse and I kinda blame myself because I was waiting for the urge to push. I didn't feel it and so I didn't try hard enough at pushing. I didn't realise that there was only a short time that you had to push before it was 'too late' and so they used the ventouse. The birth was still a positive experience, don't get me wrong, but this was one part where it didn't go according to my birth plan...

I went through the birth on gas & air only so I was disappointed when I didn't feel the urge... Aw well, I will know next time.


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## Minnyb

I didn't feel the urge to push with my second, and the midwife had to constantly remind me to and I remember her saying that my body seemed to be doing all the work. (I was clearly too spaced out!) 
This is my fifth pregnancy and baby four started quite posterior at the beginning of labour and pains were more difficult than previous pregnancies. I felt a lot of pain in my back. Luckily she turned towards the end. I've been looking into optimal fetal positioning recently as I want to make sure this one gets into the right place! It's worth looking into it if you're a little anxious, there's plenty of time for you to make baby move if it's not sitting quite right! :)


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## Tamashii

I am so going to look into the optimal feotal positioning thing. My friend was telling me to get down and scrub the kitchen floor! She says that is how she got her LO into the right position cos her Granny told her that's how they did it back in the old days :D LOL


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## Minnyb

Yep, scrubbing the floor is definitely a good one! Years ago babies rarely got into bad positions because of the way pregnant mothers were so much more active. Posterior postions are more common now. I think you need to sit with your legs lower than your hips too-anything that tilts your pelvis more forward than back. It's got to be worth a go! ;)


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## Seity

From 3cm on I had constant contractions, rolling one on top of the other. I did not have back to back labor, just very intense fast labor right from the start. I got the walking epidural or I'd not have made it to the pushing stage. Since it's only a 2 hour shot it wore off just as I was fully dialated. I was on my hands and knees and just really felt his head drop way down into the birth canal and the pain and contractions were so much worse. It wasn't so much an urge to push as it was an urge to get him the f*#@ out NOW!!!


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