Stages of Labor – Second Stage
Delivery
This is when you can begin pushing! You will feel uncontrollable urges to push your baby out. Your OB/GYN will guide you during this phase. As you push, bear down as hard as you can. This may be difficult if you have an epidural, as it is hard to feel what you are doing. Concentrate and imagine your muscles pushing your baby out into the world.
You have seen it in movies, on TV, and in books. When a woman is delivering her baby, she is usually on her back in bed. This is the hardest way to deliver a baby. If you are laying down, you are literally pushing your baby against gravity, almost uphill. This can easily prolong your delivery. There are several ways you can birth your baby without laying on your back. You can sit on a birthing stool, squat holding the sides of the bed or your partner, or hold on to the back of a raised bed while leaning on your knees. Before your due date, talk to your healthcare provider about what your hospital offers and what you are limited to with each pain medication. For instance, if you choose a drug free birth, you can walk, sit on the birthing ball and then crawl into the bed on your hands and knees – all of which will help gravity to deliver your baby faster.
As your baby’s head is moving down, you may urinate or leak stool. Do not be embarrassed. This is completely normal and is seen every day by the delivery staff. When your baby’s head can be seen and does not move back into the canal with continuing contractions, your baby is crowning. This may burn as you stretch. The skin will finally become thin enough to block the nerve endings, allowing you to relax more. At this point, your OB/GYN may perform an episiotomy if he or she feels you are going to tear badly.
In a normal delivery, your baby’s head will be delivered face down, then turn left or right. The OB/GYN will wipe your baby’s eyes and face as well as suction fluid out of the nose. Your baby will then be delivered one shoulder at a time, and normally slide out completely. Congratulations Mom, you did it!
