Vacuum assisted delivery experiences

[Anonymous]

I had a vacuum assist after 2 hours of pushing. I ended up with a partial 3rd degree tear but the dr said that would likely have happened anyway, due to the size of the baby's head (which is what necessitated the vacuum in the first place). Baby had a ring on her head which disappeared within a couple of days. My stitches healed fine. I would do it again rather than having a c-section.

[Anonymous]

I had a vacuum delivery after 3 hrs of pushing 7 lb baby and had to have perineum repair 10 weeks later. C-section would likely have been easier recovery. My second delivery was a cinch so it kind of evened out, but that doesn't seem to be a factor in your case, so I would lean toward the csection.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here, yikes! Clearly I have a lot more research to do. I have a dr appointment on Thurs so I want to be prepared to discuss this.

PP- I am a FTM. According to the doctors, my contractions should naturally push the baby low enough so that I don't have to spend too much time pushing. It sounded a little strange to me too, but all three had the same suggestion, so it seemed like a common solution to me.

I think what they are talking about is "laboring down" - with an epidural, instead of pushing after you are fully dilated, you can wait for your uterus to get the baby really low on its own. Then you spend less time pushing. This is what I did and ended up pushing only 20 mins or so! But I don't think there's any guarantee that it will be such a short time to push.

This was my experience with baby #1. I was induced and started the epidural at 3 cms because I was in agony and another injectable painkiller they tried didn't work. The injectable did make me sleepy, though, in part because I had checked in in the wee hours of the morning after no sleep (water had broken). As soon as the epidural kicked in I went to sleep for five or six hours. When I woke up I was fully dilated--probably had been for a while--and baby popped out after twenty minutes of pain-free pushing.

Second child was a bit smaller than the first but I pushed hard for about three hours. I think the med team suspected that he had been stuck behind my pelvic bone. I don't know if waiting longer between full dilation and the commencement of pushing would have helped, but I suspect so. I recall that they needed to amend the lip of my cervix (or something like that) to open it fully, which makes me think maybe they rushed the process a bit. I like your doc's go-slow strategy.

One other thought--What if the preexisting medical condition is activated during the twenty minutes of pushing? Presumably you could still c-section at that point, but what would be the health risks to you associated with activation of the preexisting condition?

[Anonymous]

Your body will push the baby down on its own without you having to actively push. With my first I dilated so fast that they had to tell me not to push b.c the Dr wasn't there.
..but he was on the way anyway. Ended up pushing for an hour and a half.

Is there a medical reason you need an epidural? I'm not anti pain control but it does lengthen the pushing phase.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here, yikes! Clearly I have a lot more research to do. I have a dr appointment on Thurs so I want to be prepared to discuss this.

PP- I am a FTM. According to the doctors, my contractions should naturally push the baby low enough so that I don't have to spend too much time pushing. It sounded a little strange to me too, but all three had the same suggestion, so it seemed like a common solution to me.

I think what they are talking about is "laboring down" - with an epidural, instead of pushing after you are fully dilated, you can wait for your uterus to get the baby really low on its own. Then you spend less time pushing. This is what I did and ended up pushing only 20 mins or so! But I don't think there's any guarantee that it will be such a short time to push.

This was my experience with baby #1. I was induced and started the epidural at 3 cms because I was in agony and another injectable painkiller they tried didn't work. The injectable did make me sleepy, though, in part because I had checked in in the wee hours of the morning after no sleep (water had broken). As soon as the epidural kicked in I went to sleep for five or six hours. When I woke up I was fully dilated--probably had been for a while--and baby popped out after twenty minutes of pain-free pushing.

Second child was a bit smaller than the first but I pushed hard for about three hours. I think the med team suspected that he had been stuck behind my pelvic bone. I don't know if waiting longer between full dilation and the commencement of pushing would have helped, but I suspect so. I recall that they needed to amend the lip of my cervix (or something like that) to open it fully, which makes me think maybe they rushed the process a bit. I like your doc's go-slow strategy.

One other thought--What if the preexisting medical condition is activated during the twenty minutes of pushing? Presumably you could still c-section at that point, but what would be the health risks to you associated with activation of the preexisting condition?

Thanks for this. Glad to hear you went through this process and it turned out well. This is what I'm hoping/planning for. Good question about my condition. Since I haven't had complications from it so far, the doctors are willing to give this a try, but most women have to go straight to CS. They are confident that 15 minutes of pushing wouldn't cause damage, but the result could be primarily blindness or possibly neurological damage. They will monitor me throughout and if any minor symptoms crop up, we'll have to pull the plug on this plan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your body will push the baby down on its own without you having to actively push. With my first I dilated so fast that they had to tell me not to push b.c the Dr wasn't there.
..but he was on the way anyway. Ended up pushing for an hour and a half.

Is there a medical reason you need an epidural? I'm not anti pain control but it does lengthen the pushing phase.

According to the docs, epi is basically non-negotiable in order to allow my body to labor down and keep me from wanting to push too soon. Trust me, I tried to see if there was hope of getting around it and even the midwife said it's a must. I started my pregnancy thinking I'd be natural all the way, and now I just have to accept that getting the baby out safely (and keeping me safe) are the only priorities here!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your body will push the baby down on its own without you having to actively push. With my first I dilated so fast that they had to tell me not to push b.c the Dr wasn't there.
..but he was on the way anyway. Ended up pushing for an hour and a half.

Is there a medical reason you need an epidural? I'm not anti pain control but it does lengthen the pushing phase.

Is there evidence for that statement that an epidural lengthens the pushing stage? The theory behind laboring down with an epidural is that with the pain relief you can wait to push until much later, and shorten the pushing phase.

[Anonymous]

And also since the plan is to use a vacuum (and high chance of a section, it sounds like) it makes sense to have the epidural in place.

[Anonymous]

someone had this type of delivery yesterday.
the result was a 3rd degree tear for the mom, otherwise all is fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here, yikes! Clearly I have a lot more research to do. I have a dr appointment on Thurs so I want to be prepared to discuss this.

PP- I am a FTM. According to the doctors, my contractions should naturally push the baby low enough so that I don't have to spend too much time pushing. It sounded a little strange to me too, but all three had the same suggestion, so it seemed like a common solution to me.

I think what they are talking about is "laboring down" - with an epidural, instead of pushing after you are fully dilated, you can wait for your uterus to get the baby really low on its own. Then you spend less time pushing. This is what I did and ended up pushing only 20 mins or so! But I don't think there's any guarantee that it will be such a short time to push.

This was my experience with baby #1. I was induced and started the epidural at 3 cms because I was in agony and another injectable painkiller they tried didn't work. The injectable did make me sleepy, though, in part because I had checked in in the wee hours of the morning after no sleep (water had broken). As soon as the epidural kicked in I went to sleep for five or six hours. When I woke up I was fully dilated--probably had been for a while--and baby popped out after twenty minutes of pain-free pushing.

Second child was a bit smaller than the first but I pushed hard for about three hours. I think the med team suspected that he had been stuck behind my pelvic bone. I don't know if waiting longer between full dilation and the commencement of pushing would have helped, but I suspect so. I recall that they needed to amend the lip of my cervix (or something like that) to open it fully, which makes me think maybe they rushed the process a bit. I like your doc's go-slow strategy.

One other thought--What if the preexisting medical condition is activated during the twenty minutes of pushing? Presumably you could still c-section at that point, but what would be the health risks to you associated with activation of the preexisting condition?

Thanks for this. Glad to hear you went through this process and it turned out well. This is what I'm hoping/planning for. Good question about my condition. Since I haven't had complications from it so far, the doctors are willing to give this a try, but most women have to go straight to CS. They are confident that 15 minutes of pushing wouldn't cause damage, but the result could be primarily blindness or possibly neurological damage. They will monitor me throughout and if any minor symptoms crop up, we'll have to pull the plug on this plan.

Holy cow, you are risking blindness or neurological damage in addition to severe lacerations? I get that you want as natural a birth as possible because you think it is best for your baby. But your baby also needs a healthy mother. Seriously consider the risks here! A c section sounds like the best choice for you and the baby.

[Anonymous]

I would want the epi just for the inevitable episiotomy.

[Anonymous]

Vaccum delivery with my first (and only so far) here too. Terrible tearing, no episiotomy. Baby had huge bruise on her head, which Drs said contributed to her jaundice.

[Anonymous]

I had vacuum assisted birth because after 3 hours of pushing I was done. He had a swollen area on his head for maybe 10 minutes and then everything was normal. No issues at all.

[Anonymous]

I had a vacuum delivery, 4th degree tear, but it healed fine. Generally people told me the recovery period after a c-section is worse than a tear, but as I've never had a c-section, I can't say. . . baby was fine. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

OP, are you able to opt for a c-section? I also have complications that indicate a no-push delivery but it's riskier for my health to have a cs due to blood loss.