Exercise is great but effective pushing and pelvic floor assessment would be even better for outcomes. Also, most OBs are only trained to deliver in lithotomy position to the point that they will encourage you to lay down even if you are birthing effectively in another position.
There are plenty of positions that work if baby is stuck and whats worse is that the on your back legs up position actually decreases the open space in the pelvis. I wish I had the knowledge I have now when I was laboring.

Depending on how you count labor, mine was over 77 hours. I went in for an induction on a Sunday evening (medicine started around 8 pm) and delivered around at 1 am on the following Thursday. Pitocin and contractions didn’t start until Monday afternoon, so the total time is a little less if you start the clock then.

The baby and I were not in distress so they let me keep going for a looong time. I pushed for three hours in the end, but the baby was malpositioned with a nuchal hand and just wasn’t going to come out on her own. I was in good shape and had worked out throughout pregnancy but I was still completely exhausted at that point. I ended up with a c section in the end.

If I had it to do over again, I would have pushed my medical team for the c section far earlier. I was really opposed to a c section at the time and they respected my wishes, but the recovery after that full ordeal was horrible. In fact, for my second, I chose a scheduled c section to avoid any chance of a similar ordeal.

Anonymous wrote:How dies hours of pushing happen? You are dilated to 10 but the baby is still high?

My baby’s head was malpositioned and she got stuck. I pushed for two hours and then my cervix started swelling and off to c/s we went.

36 hours. 3 hours of pushing. At about hour 2-2&1/2 I closed my legs out of sheer exhaustion and said “you need to cut this baby out. I can’t do it anymore”. Doc said we were close and to keep going. Baby was eventually vacuumed out. It sucked.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I ran xc and track in college and run marathons now abs had two relatively easy vaginal births. I guess it’s different for everyone, but working out helped me tremendously.

Correlation does not equal causation. Could also just be your anatomy and your genetics and luck.

Exactly! The same is true of athletes having bad labors. I’m very confused about the point you are trying to make. Are you saying that athletes can have bad labors? That no one should except use during pregnancy? No one is blaming you for having a difficult labor. No one. No one is insinuating that you didn’t work out enough and that caused a long labor. Please stop projecting! No one is blaming your for anything. No one is insinuating anything.

*exercise

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I ran xc and track in college and run marathons now abs had two relatively easy vaginal births. I guess it’s different for everyone, but working out helped me tremendously.

Correlation does not equal causation. Could also just be your anatomy and your genetics and luck.

Exactly! The same is true of athletes having bad labors. I’m very confused about the point you are trying to make. Are you saying that athletes can have bad labors? That no one should except use during pregnancy? No one is blaming you for having a difficult labor. No one. No one is insinuating that you didn’t work out enough and that caused a long labor. Please stop projecting! No one is blaming your for anything. No one is insinuating anything.

Baby was born 72 hours after my water broke. Contractions weren't regular for the first 24 hours, but picked up thereafter. It was exhausting, and the midwives pulled out all the tricks towards the end, but baby was born perfectly healthy after two hours of pushing.

Anonymous wrote:I worked out in pregnancy, ran until my second tri, lifted weights, walked, ate well, did prenatal yoga religiously, and had a 40 hour labor and 8 hours of pushing followed by forceps. A good friend who is a marathonher had a similar problem and ended up needing the vacuum. If anything, years of running/ballet/gymnastics can give you a really tight pelvic floor as well as hamstrings, hips, etc. Don’t blame people for their bad births, FFS.

Yep. Intense endurance athlete here and similar experience, and struggled with hypertonic pelvic floor after birth, especially after I got back into working out. On the plus side, giving birth is basically an endurance sport so it's within my skillset...lol. Also, athletic condition is 0% helpful with the problem of "big baby head, small opening." Sometimes it just be like that.

Also: 8 hours of pushing, Jesus.

Anonymous wrote:I ran xc and track in college and run marathons now abs had two relatively easy vaginal births. I guess it’s different for everyone, but working out helped me tremendously.

Correlation does not equal causation. Could also just be your anatomy and your genetics and luck.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was in labor for probably close to 48 hours with my first. About 24 hours of them were really “active” labor (painful contractions) and only 18 of them were at the hospital. Last 4 were the most brutal, 3 hours of pushing and then a forceps delivery because baby was in distress. Other than the assisted delivery/distress, I think this is pretty common for a first timer. Media depicts birth as being really fast and for most women, it’s not.

3 hours is long, even for a first birth. After 2 hours of pushing the chance of complications goes up. Labors are lengthening in general probably because of advanced maternal age, obesity and overall worse health.

Also most places dont allow you to push correctly. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1804305/ and are using outdated techniques.

Very interesting. Thanks for posting this. Validates my experience. I had no epidural and really wanted to push at 9.5 with a cervical lip. Midwife had me get on my hands and knees for 10 contractions not pushing. This was by far the worst part of the labor. The lip was still there and she had to hold it down as I pushed past it. Baby had a nuchal hand and I think asynclitic positioning. Too much maternal weight gain (:o), 8.5lb first baby. I pushed for over 2 hours. I don't think it was effective technique because I blew out capillaries in my eyes (pushing with my face). Or maybe he was pretty stuck. Maybe I started pushing too early but I really had the desire. Baby had a low 1min apgar score but ended up ok. Everyone says 2 hours of pushing is ok for first time moms but from the research it is not optimal. Once you're that far committed the other options are not that great, instrumental delivery or emergency C. I wondered whether an epidural would have slowed down labor and won me a C section, but maybe it would have actually helped. Who knows?

I ran xc and track in college and run marathons now abs had two relatively easy vaginal births. I guess it’s different for everyone, but working out helped me tremendously.

I worked out in pregnancy, ran until my second tri, lifted weights, walked, ate well, did prenatal yoga religiously, and had a 40 hour labor and 8 hours of pushing followed by forceps. A good friend who is a marathonher had a similar problem and ended up needing the vacuum. If anything, years of running/ballet/gymnastics can give you a really tight pelvic floor as well as hamstrings, hips, etc. Don’t blame people for their bad births, FFS.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My first and second pregnancies were both 18-hour labors. The first was an induction with pitocin and a balloon. I only pushed twice though. I had my membranes stripped with my second. There were water bags over my baby’s head, but once they broke it only took 45 minutes for my daughter to come. It was too quick. I only pushed for 5 minutes with second (I probably pushed 6-8 times), but my second child was higher up when I started pushing (I had to get her out, since she was hitting the umbilical cord on the way out and that was dangerous).

I think they’ll let you go for quite a long time in labor provided there isn’t an infection and the baby’s vitals (and your vitals) are fine. I don’t understand why women who can workout during pregnancy choose not to, since you benefit so much from being in good shape during labor.

Love the insinuation that long labor is because you are out of shape or didn't work out! In my case it was partially because the baby was posterior and he had to flip. I ran until 31 weeks and then walked vigorously until delivery. Also pretty sure Gwen Jorgensen, the gold medalist in the triathlon had a horrendous delivery with her son that involved the vac. But thanks for perpetuating the trope that women with tough deliveries are responsible for it.

http://www.gwenjorgensen.com/blog/stanleys-birth

No insinuation. You’re projecting your own insecurities/issues/rage/trauma onto my post. Working out during pregnancy (when you’re able to) can really help with labor, but for you I will add this disclaimer: *Working out during pregnancy doesn’t guarantee an easy labor or that you won’t need a c-section. Also, you need a therapist.

No I think they read you accurately. (NP)

I don’t know what your issue is with over correcting folks but it’s not supportive and really rude.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My first and second pregnancies were both 18-hour labors. The first was an induction with pitocin and a balloon. I only pushed twice though. I had my membranes stripped with my second. There were water bags over my baby’s head, but once they broke it only took 45 minutes for my daughter to come. It was too quick. I only pushed for 5 minutes with second (I probably pushed 6-8 times), but my second child was higher up when I started pushing (I had to get her out, since she was hitting the umbilical cord on the way out and that was dangerous).

I think they’ll let you go for quite a long time in labor provided there isn’t an infection and the baby’s vitals (and your vitals) are fine. I don’t understand why women who can workout during pregnancy choose not to, since you benefit so much from being in good shape during labor.

Love the insinuation that long labor is because you are out of shape or didn't work out! In my case it was partially because the baby was posterior and he had to flip. I ran until 31 weeks and then walked vigorously until delivery. Also pretty sure Gwen Jorgensen, the gold medalist in the triathlon had a horrendous delivery with her son that involved the vac. But thanks for perpetuating the trope that women with tough deliveries are responsible for it.

http://www.gwenjorgensen.com/blog/stanleys-birth

No insinuation. You’re projecting your own insecurities/issues/rage/trauma onto my post. Working out during pregnancy (when you’re able to) can really help with labor, but for you I will add this disclaimer: *Working out during pregnancy doesn’t guarantee an easy labor or that you won’t need a c-section. Also, you need a therapist.