# Can Stirrups Ever Be A Good Thing?



## trippingbillies (Mar 5, 2006)

I've had two babies(both with epidurals that stopped working right as both of their heads were beginning to crown).Each time, DH and a nurse held my legs for me..and I "helped" by pulling my legs back.
For me, this was tough. I was tried to pull my legs back in just the right way while DH was preoccupied with his "job" of holding my leg.
This next time I think I'd rather try stirrups so that a)I can focus solely on pushing and b)dh can focus solely on coaching me.
As long I'm in a sitting/semi sitting position,will this work? Also, do hospitals still strap laboring mothers to the stirrups? How does that work?


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## USAmma (Nov 29, 2001)

I don't know if stirrups are a good thing. For me they were uncomfortable and my feet didn't fit well in them. They were not well padded and not at the right angle. I did much better with someone holding each leg. For my first birth it was my dh and a nurse.

Have you thought about natural birth?


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## trippingbillies (Mar 5, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *USAmma*
I don't know if stirrups are a good thing. For me they were uncomfortable and my feet didn't fit well in them. They were not well padded and not at the right angle. I did much better with someone holding each leg. For my first birth it was my dh and a nurse.

Have you thought about natural birth?









Oh,that's what I'm aiming for


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## pfamilygal (Feb 28, 2005)

Mine were more like long troughs I could lay my legs on in between pushes. Then dh and the nurse helped me hold them for pushes. I eas semi-siiting with one and more reclined with the other. I wasn't strapped in and have never seen strap in stirryps at any hospital I have worked at.


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## cottonwood (Nov 20, 2001)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *trippingbillies*
Oh,that's what I'm aiming for

In that case, you might want to consider birthing in a vertical position in order to open the pelvis wider and let gravity assist. In which case stirrups would be irrelevant.


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## Hayes (Nov 20, 2001)

My 2nd labor went very quickly. I was surprised at how fast. The nurses came in and broek the bed down. I put my feet up in the stirrups just to push myself back, but they felt HEAVENLY! Seriously, I loved having my feet up there. I was really comfortabel, go figure.

However, this was my smallest babe, and I still tore. With my 9lb2oz babe, no stirrups, I didn't tear. With my 10lb2oz babe, homebirthed, I didn't tear.

So, the good, the bad, and the ugly!


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## Peppamint (Oct 19, 2002)

I pushed in the lithomy position with my feet planted on something like stirrups with my first baby. OUCH, my pelvic floor muscles were soooo sore and I was given the ol' episiotomy.







:

Second baby was a waterbirth, when ds first started coming (I didn't push, he roared out) I was kneeling and sat back in dh's lap sitting upright when he crowned. Third baby was pushed out kneeling.

The 2nd and 3rd times were much easier- try pushing in an upright position, it's just so much better! No super sore pelvic floor muscles and no tears.


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## sapphire_chan (May 2, 2005)

This thread is giving me the strangest mental image of a woman squatting to give birth while balancing on the footrests my gynacologist has.


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## mamaverdi (Apr 5, 2005)

SC


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## the_lissa (Oct 30, 2004)

I've not seen stirrups in the hospitals here.


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## LittleLlama (Feb 27, 2006)

I had a natural birth at a hospital and did use stirrups. I wasn't strapped in to them, but they acted more like a midway "rest stop" between pushes where DH and the nurse helped fold my legs up.


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## laohaire (Nov 2, 2005)

IMHO there's nothing wrong with stirrups per se... but pushing on a table in even a so-called upright position seems totally wrong to me. You can't really get upright on a table, not the part that counts at least (even if your head is up, your pelvis is still sideways). Worse, it keeps you from being mobile, since even though they don't strap you in, it's not exactly easy for a laboring woman to get on and off the table at will.


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## sapphire_chan (May 2, 2005)

Actually, a sitting position is even just as bad as laying flat on your back because of how it pushes on your pelvis.


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## rozzie'sma (Jul 6, 2005)

I stood up in the stirrups. They had handles and I pulled myself up off the table completely so I was kind of teetering in the things. Really made the OB nervous. And he tried to push my chest down but I almost fell off the table when he did that so he gave up


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## Aura_Kitten (Aug 13, 2002)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *fourlittlebirds*
In that case, you might want to consider birthing in a vertical position in order to open the pelvis wider and let gravity assist. In which case stirrups would be irrelevant.



















SC - how much do you know about natural birth, anyway?


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## Aura_Kitten (Aug 13, 2002)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *rozzie'sma*
I stood up in the stirrups. They had handles and I pulled myself up off the table completely so I was kind of teetering in the things. Really made the OB nervous. And he tried to push my chest down but I almost fell off the table when he did that so he gave up


this scares me! stuff like this actually happens in hospitals nowadays??







:


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## sapphire_chan (May 2, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *klothos*
SC - how much do you know about natural birth, anyway?









Whoops, should have said, just as bad as a laying down position. I'll fix that. All three positions, legs up, legs down and semi sitting are crappy positions and the way that epidurals and narrow hospital beds make those the only positions available to a majority of women should be considered a crime.


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## huggerwocky (Jun 21, 2004)

I find pulling at the legs just as horrible, or at least that's how I felt at that time. Raped in a way. But maybe it's different with an epidural, I don't know. I wonder why they don't at least make the women sit on a birthing stool, so I tend to think :never a good thing.


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## shelbean91 (May 11, 2002)

W/my first 2, there were full leg stirrups- I held onto a handlebar w/dd that allowed me to pull myself up to a vertical position. W/ds, i didn't have that handlebar and the nurse/dh pulled my leg back- that was WAY harder. W/ds2, I ended up w/a csection, so completely different.


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## boscopup (Jul 15, 2005)

When I was in the hospital, they put me in stirrups - no leg holding. They didn't have any straps - I think those went out in the 70s.







My DH pushed my back up so I was sitting upright, but yeah, it's not the same as squatting or kneeling, which I really wanted to do. If I'd known ahead of time that I was going to be birthing in a hospital with OBs, I would have talked to the OBs and discussed positions. But things happened very quickly and I was in the hospital preterm, and the OB that ran into the room to catch the baby was one I'd never seen before. So there wasn't much I could do at that point, and I really was more worried about my baby being healthy. He wasn't even 4 lbs, and I tore, because I was in a bad position and was being directed to push with each contraction (which I wasn't feeling an urge to push after the first one, and I didn't feel the contractions during that stage).

If I am in the hospital with this one (it'd be for a preterm issue most likely, unless other complications arise like pre-e or something), I will definitely talk to my OB first about squatting or hands and knees positions. Tearing sucks! I've heard of many women using those positions in the hospital if they asked to do it, so it's worth mentioning to your doctor that you might want to try those positions (which one is right for you will depend on how you feel at the moment, of course). I do NOT want to deliver on my back again.


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## poetesss (Mar 2, 2006)

Are there any hospital beds which don't give you enough space to get up and squat in the bed or something? I'm envisioning (in case of a hospital transfer, and barring no other major complications) myself screaming to the docs, "screw the stirrups, I'm just gonna squat in this bed!"


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## CalebsMama05 (Nov 26, 2005)

I ended up giving birth on my back with my legs held up and out of the way by two people. I hated it. I requested that they not hold my legs and got *overruled* by the nurse. I tried to get my legs out of their arms but they were a lot stronger than me. I did feel raped kind of. I wanted to squat...I wanted to be upright...but b/cuz i had the epidural (b/cuz of amniotomy) I was not allowed.

the stirrups had a use...my legs were in them afterward when my dr sewed up the tear my son made trying to get out and the cut he made helping him.


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## Aura_Kitten (Aug 13, 2002)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *poetesss*
Are there any hospital beds which don't give you enough space to get up and squat in the bed or something? I'm envisioning (in case of a hospital transfer, and barring no other major complications) myself screaming to the docs, "screw the stirrups, I'm just gonna squat in this bed!"









the bed i was in when i had my son was very narrow. there's no way i could have properly squatted on it. not to mention that beds in the maternity ward typically break down in the middle so that you can scoot forward and the doctor can catch the baby.

SC - yeah i was wondering about that.







then i saw your sigline and i was like, "







" ??

my daughter was born while i was half sitting / half squatting.


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## doctorjen (May 29, 2003)

When I had my first baby, I pushed mostly on my left side. A nurse would help me hold my right leg as I pushed. I had the shakes (from late labor, I guess) and it was hard to hold my leg up, so after a while, the nurse got the idea to attach an old style stirrup, with the leg rest backwards, so I could lean my leg against the padded part. It was really comfy, actually, and I didn't shake any more because of the nice support. Not exactly standard use of a stirrup, but it seemed okay to me!

That standard hospital, semi-sitting with legs pulled back position is really not physiological. It requires pushing the baby around a corner going uphill, and stretches the perineum unnaturally. You can certainly squat on a standard delivery room bed, or be hands and knees, or side-lying. Or squat on the floor, or kneel over the bed, or whatever works. It helps for your attendant to be hands off and physically flexible enough to get on the floor, too, though!


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## Snowdrift (Oct 15, 2005)

I had mine at home so stirrups were not an option, but I birthed flat on my back. During pushing I totally didn't want to be touched much, but needed some pressure on my back to help with the pain of a long back labor. The best soultion was flat on my back. I definitely didn't want my legs held up/back (see the part about no touching wanted) so ended up propping them up on pillows and midwives and apprentices knees as they sat next to me. I definitely liked the physical support of people, but just from a POV of the positon that was comfortable for me to birth in, yeah stirrups or some similar thing might've been nice. But they would've had to have adjusted perfectly to my preference, which I gues is not generally an option.

I think that part of what prevented tearing for me despite the flat on my back position was that I insisted on having my legs propped up a bit so they weren't totally spread, stretching out the perineum.

Just my theory from my own experiences. I guess it's stretching the "ever" part of the hypo a bit far though...


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## cottonwood (Nov 20, 2001)

Sitting is not ideal, but it's okay. It's the semi-reclining that makes trouble. Someone said that lying down is better than semi-reclining, and that's true. I think hospitals started switching to semi-reclining because it is more empowering for the woman to be on the doctor's level, she can get better leverage, and it just seems like a more active position. But it's really harder for pushing the baby out, as you're having to push around a bend and upwards. That's not to say that lying down is all that great. In a McRoberts position (knees to chest) you can get the pelvis opened wider, but you still have to deal with working without gravity to assist, you are in an extremely vulnerable and exposed position which may have psychological/inhibiting ramifications and makes it easier for the doctor to use surgical interventions, and finally the pelvis certainly isn't free floating like it is in a vertical position. Side-lying is comfortable for some women and has the added benefit of not reducing blood flow to the uterus (same reason it's better to lie on your side while sleeping while pregnant.) Vertical positions avoid all these problems.


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## cottonwood (Nov 20, 2001)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *klothos*
this scares me! stuff like this actually happens in hospitals nowadays??







:

LOL, I doubt it! It does point up the absurdity, though, of the feeling the hospital encourages of being restricted to the bed. I mean, no one is going to say, "hey, I feel like standing up to give birth. But I'd really prefer to do it four feet off the ground while teetering precariously on two small supports."


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## sapphire_chan (May 2, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *poetesss*
Are there any hospital beds which don't give you enough space to get up and squat in the bed or something? I'm envisioning (in case of a hospital transfer, and barring no other major complications) myself screaming to the docs, "screw the stirrups, I'm just gonna squat in this bed!"









My plan in that case would be to strip the linens from the bed and squat on the floor. Those hospital beds are absurdly high, I can't imagine being able to easily get on them while 9 months pregnant (although, who knows, maybe I'll be one of those althetic sorts of pregnant women?) let alone while in the middle of labor.


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## sapphire_chan (May 2, 2005)

I think what makes the stirrups so stupid is that they can easily be postioned in a way that lifts the pelvis as well as the legs. When people lift the legs, they will have more trouble lifting up the body as well as the legs and pillows and things are lower. So you get the benefits of the spreading (not nearly as good as a vertical position, but if laying is what your instincts are saying, go with it) without the disadvantage of fighting gravity--gravity isn't helping either, mind you.

I'm basing this off of a couple of pictures I've seen of a laboring mother in stirrups where there was clearly air between her buttocks and the bed. It could be her pelvis was simply elevated because of her own movement. (Hmmm, wish I remember where I saw the pictures, then you could analyse them yourselves.)


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## poetesss (Mar 2, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sapphire_chan*

I'm basing this off of a couple of pictures I've seen of a laboring mother in stirrups where there was clearly air between her buttocks and the bed. It could be her pelvis was simply elevated because of her own movement.

I remember my mom telling me: what helps during contractions is to lift your lower body up off the bed. I was like uhhh, okay mom







... but I don't think I'll be laboring lying with my butt down on the bed like that!


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## boscopup (Jul 15, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *poetesss*
I remember my mom telling me: what helps during contractions is to lift your lower body up off the bed. I was like uhhh, okay mom







... but I don't think I'll be laboring lying with my butt down on the bed like that!

Ouch! I had to labor in bed, including using a bed pan for pee (I was allowed to use the toilet for a bowel movement, which thankfully I needed to do when I went into transition and my body was SCREAMING to get upright). I remember it being VERY difficult to get my pelvis up in the air to get over that stupid bed pan while in labor. It just really really sucked. I can't imagine lifting my lower body off the bed during a contraction. That would totally tense up EVERY muscle and make it hurt much worse! Instead, I laid on my left side and breathed deeply and tried my best to RELAX every muscle in my body. That helped a ton.







Glad I had had a crash course in Bradley method earlier that afternoon.


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## OnTheBrink (Jan 24, 2004)

I used the stirrups as others have mentioned - kind of a place to rest my legs between pushes. While pushing, two things worked really well:
1. There were these kind of posts on each side of the bed, at the end. I could grip those and pull myself up into a squat. It was awesome. It really opened me up and I loved having something so firm to hold onto.
2. My dear friend (OnlyBoys) and husband took turns with this one - They tied a knot in each end of a sheet. I held one end and the other person grabbed the other end - and we played tug-of-war! When I pulled on that, I was upright and could really bear down. It was great!


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## OnTheBrink (Jan 24, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sapphire_chan*
My plan in that case would be to strip the linens from the bed and squat on the floor. Those hospital beds are absurdly high, I can't imagine being able to easily get on them while 9 months pregnant (although, who knows, maybe I'll be one of those althetic sorts of pregnant women?) let alone while in the middle of labor.

Yeah, I labored in a squatting position on the side of the bed - kind of holding onto the bed and resting my head there between contractions. But that was not something I wanted to do the entire time, so I tried different things.

(I labored for 54 hours at home, then we decided to transfer - labored 9 more hours before he was born at the hospital. It was not at all what we planned/wanted, but it worked.)

Oh, as far as getting on the bed - they lowered the bed way down when I got it in, then raised it up again - easy.


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## sapphire_chan (May 2, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *OnTheBrink*
Oh, as far as getting on the bed - they lowered the bed way down when I got it in, then raised it up again - easy.









Powered-beds, right, they have those in hospitals.







at myself


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## DreamsInDigital (Sep 18, 2003)

Laboring, especially pushing, while lying down is excrutiating. You would be better off on your hands and knees or squatting instead of stirrups.
I'm pretty sure I'm going UC next time. Threads like these are driving me crazy.


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## Aura_Kitten (Aug 13, 2002)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *DreamsInDigital*
Laboring, especially pushing, while lying down is excrutiating. You would be better off on your hands and knees or squatting instead of stirrups.
I'm pretty sure I'm going UC next time. Threads like these are driving me crazy.











UC is the way to go.


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## ~*~MamaJava~*~ (Mar 7, 2004)

I don't get why they call them 'stirrups' anyways. With #1, I was on my back with a pillow under me and my legs in those molded plastic thingys. Nothing for my feet, to push on. That's why my arms were so sore the next day







from pulling on the bars of the bed! (They didn't wait for me to have the urge to push, and I didn't know enough to tell them to leave me alone). I hated having my legs in those dumb things, and it was sooooo hard pushing that way.
With #2, without warning the dr







... I demanded to push him out sitting up or squatting. We had this conversation while I was hanging over the back of the bed pushing already. I waited because I didn't want to get talked out of it earlier, and I knew she'd listen at that point. She just dropped the end of the bed down which gave me a spot to sit, support for my feet, and the sides of the bed to hold. It was perfect, and so much easier. You should have seen the looks on the nurses' faces, though. They think I'm kooky. (It didn't help their impression of me when I asked to see the placenta - dr didn't mind, though).
This is one of the reasons I want to homebirth the next one. I am one of the lucky people who has a great doctor, but the hospital just can't provide the freedom I need and the kind of environment I want for the births I and my babies deserve!


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## orangefoot (Oct 8, 2004)

If there were no beds in birthing (sorry, delivery) rooms then there could be no stirrups.

I have never used them in labour but was asked to put my legs in stirrups to be sewn up after a bad tear. I refused as I get awful cramps in my thighs if I stay like that for long - the missionary position is not regularly visited in our bed either! The midwife didn't believe that I would be able to resist the urge to shut my legs as she stitched. I did resist and she did a lovely repair.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithotomy

Removing ***stones***







not birthing babies. Darned docs.

http://www.birthingnaturally.net/barp/lithotomy.html takes a while to load but has interesting thoughts on the messages sent to women by this position.

Don't get on the bed is the best advice I can think of.


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## sapphire_chan (May 2, 2005)

I read somewhere, have no idea about the validity of the source, that the lithotomy position was first used for childbirth when one of the French kings wanted to get off on watching his mistresses give birth.

"The origin of the position, and hence the name, was in the earliest method of lithotomy, the surgical removal of a bladder stone, in which an incision was made in the perineum. The patient was placed in this posture to afford the surgeon access." From the Wikipedia article on the position itself. So the lithotomy position is *DESIGNED* to encourage episiotomies. Hmmm......


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## MamaTaraX (Oct 5, 2004)

i had my firstin stirrups. Natural birth. I was semi-sitting and that's actuallythe position I chose. I pushed with no stirrups for a while. The Doc who caught (who was not my doc!!!) I was told would "only deliver in stirrups". Harumph. I actually kinda liked them. I could rest my legs and it wasn't terribnly uncomfortable. they weren't the foot pedal type though, they were long leg-shaped troughs (someone else mentioned these). It was nice to just let my legs be and when I needed to push again, I idn't have to move them anywhere new







I'mnot saying stirrups rock for everybody or anything either. My second and third were stirrupless births (birth centre and home respectively). I attended one birth where the doctor was telling the mom how stirrups and a flatter position can mimica squat. I'd never thought about that before. While being flat isn't usually good, he had a good point. (this doc has been practifcing a long time and was reallylaid back and cool. He actually stayed with the laboring mom for about 6 hours total! only crummy thing was he does routine episiotomies..bummer)

Namaste, Tara


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## MamaTaraX (Oct 5, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sapphire_chan*
I read somewhere, have no idea about the validity of the source, that the lithotomy position was first used for childbirth when one of the French kings wanted to get off on watching his mistresses give birth.

More than that, he wanted to watch them give birth in the most painful position he could think of and that was it. Since most women at that time gave birth upright (usually on a stool), laying down seemed very unnatural to him and appealed to his sadistic tendencies. It was one of the Louises, by the way, Louis VI perhaps? Anyway, by laying the women down, their labors were slowed and the maximum discomfort was afforded. He got off on it and voila, the rest is history. In latter years, doctors discovered this afforded them better access to the birth itself, mother's comfort and/or usefullness aside. Lithomy position also became incredibly "helpful" with the advent of epidurals.

Namaste, Tara


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## Aura_Kitten (Aug 13, 2002)

as a side note ~ it really makes me angry that so many years after a sadistic bastardo started a whack trend that women are still being subjected to this.







:


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## annakiss (Apr 4, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sapphire_chan*
I read somewhere, have no idea about the validity of the source, that the lithotomy position was first used for childbirth when one of the French kings wanted to get off on watching his mistresses give birth.

Louis the XIV. This is well documented in history of childbirth books. You might have read it in _Lying In_ or perhaps _The American Way of Birth_. There are others as well.


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## clavicula (Apr 10, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *DreamsInDigital*
Laboring, especially pushing, while lying down is excrutiating. You would be better off on your hands and knees or squatting instead of stirrups.
I'm pretty sure I'm going UC next time. Threads like these are driving me crazy.









:


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## momileigh (Oct 29, 2002)

I gave birth both times in the "semi-reclined" position. The first time, the nurse/doctor put me into that position. But the second time, I promised myself I'd pick whatever position I wanted. And that one was just fine. I didn't have to push; she pushed her own self out. It does happen to be the position my midwife usually has moms get into, but in my case (and this was before attending any births with her) she gave no input.

I asked her months later about the movement of the sacrum and the pelvis being confined in that position. Her answer was that although most believe that semi-reclined is a "crappy" position (as someone on this thread categorized it) she finds that it works well for most women. Most of her moms push for far less than 30 minutes, and many push for less than 10. She compared it to the fact that according to most of the literature, women very rarely have orgasms or enjoy sex in the missionary position. But in her experience (and mine for that matter) the missionary position is just great, and semi-reclining works well for birth.

Furthermore, a Bradley instructor/chiropractor once told me that semi-reclining was a fine position for birth.

So I guess my input to this discussion is simply, do what works for you and your body. Try not to let a doctor or midwife tell you how to birth, and do what your body tells you to do. Whether that includes "stirrups" or whatever. As long as you are unencumbered by drugs, I think your animal self is the best indication of the position you should take.


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## LittleLlama (Feb 27, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *momileigh*
So I guess my input to this discussion is simply, do what works for you and your body. _Try not to let a doctor or midwife tell you how to birth,_ and do what your body tells you to do. Whether that includes "stirrups" or whatever. As long as you are unencumbered by drugs, I think your animal self is the best indication of the position you should take.

Funny you sould mention that. My L&D nurse wanted me to try squatting, but I just did not feel comfortable that way! Though I did use stirrups (And now that everyone is saying it, I realize I was semi-reclined) I did also spend a good amount of time on all fours. Back labor was the pits!


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## sapphire_chan (May 2, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *momileigh*
She compared it to the fact that according to most of the literature, women very rarely have orgasms or enjoy sex in the missionary position. But in her experience (and mine for that matter) the missionary position is just great, and semi-reclining works well for birth.

Just to clarify, you aren't saying that the missionary position is semi-reclined, right? Just using it as an analogy?


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## sapphire_chan (May 2, 2005)

What is important is not what position you labor in, it's being able to change positions and labor how you want to not how anyone else thinks you should?


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## 2bluefish (Apr 27, 2006)

Talked to an ob recently who explained that stirrups make it easier for him to see. So I guess that's a good thing for him.







Personally I don't think anyone should be looking there - water birth for me!


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## momileigh (Oct 29, 2002)

SC: Yes, of course, it was an analogy. Most literature states that the missionary position (woman lying flat on her back, man on top) is not enjoyable for the woman, and women cannot usually have an orgasm in that position. In my experience, and my midwife's experience, this is simply untrue, despite all the "reasons" that it should be true. Similarly, most natural birth literature comes out against any position that puts pressure on the sacrum, including semi-reclining; but again, the real-life experience of my births and my midwife's many years of experience comes out that it can be a fine position.

None of this is to say that the missionary position is semi-reclining.  (Did I have you wondering if you were doing it wrong?







)


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## sapphire_chan (May 2, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *momileigh*
SC: Yes, of course, it was an analogy.
None of this is to say that the missionary position is semi-reclining.  (Did I have you wondering if you were doing it wrong?







)









Sorry, I was just feeling really slow when I was reading your earlier post and wanted to make sure I was understanding the analogy.


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## Aura_Kitten (Aug 13, 2002)

(i hate the missionary position.







...







)


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## doctorjen (May 29, 2003)

Also, just because a birth attendant becomes comfortable with a certain position doesn't make it ideal for giving birth. Most women can push a baby out in the semi-reclined position, but that still doesn't make it an ideal position to use. I've found in my own practice that the less directive I am, the less I see that semi-reclined position. In particular, since I stopped checking to see if someone is completely dilated and therefore it is okay to push, I see many more women pushing in more natural positions. If I put someone on their back to do a cervical check, they more often than not end up staying there to push - while if they just start pushing when the urge strikes them, then they are often in an alternative position that they have gotten into spontaneously.
I also will not do an instrumented delivery for "maternal exhaustion" or "failure to descend" unless the mom has a try at pushing in a full squat or on her knees. Since I've started that, I've done very, very few vacuum assists. Just Sat morning, I had a mama (with an epidural actually, by her choice) push for quite a while in that semi-reclined position without moving the baby much. We helped support her into a hands and knees position, and baby was crowning within 20 minutes.
When women are uncoached as to how they should be in labor, I think you'd rarely see the semi-reclined position.


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## CalebsMama05 (Nov 26, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *klothos*
(i hate the missionary position.








...







)

my stbx was incredibly unimaginative...the only two positions he would do most of the time was me on top or him on top. of the two missionary was best for me but i still had trouble giving birth on my back!


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## sapphire_chan (May 2, 2005)

The other thing I'm wondering is whether everyone's semi-reclined is the same. Because, with the missionary position, there are variations of positioning that can take it from basically bleh for both me and dh to what I want everytime. So I'm wondering if there are variations of the semi-reclined position that help straighten out the birth canal. Or ways the mothers moved during pushing to accomodate things.


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## Hey Mama! (Dec 27, 2003)

My last birth was a hospital birth with midwives. What I really liked about it was the bed had a squat bar that attached to it. I was able to get up and squat when I needed to, but I actually birthed her with my legs up on the bar, pushing down on it in an almost upright position. I was kind of perched up on the bar. I pushed her out in under 30 minutes and had no tears.

Second birth was also a hospital birth supposed to be attended by a midwife but she didn't make it. I pushed a semi-reclining position, baby was out in under 5 minutes and no tearing then either.

First birth was the standard intervention filled birth, so I pushed with stirrups for 1.5 hours and had a 2nd degree episiotomy.

So, I guess I'm trying to say, that stirrups probably do more harm then good.


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## mamabearing (Jun 2, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *rozzie'sma*
I stood up in the stirrups. They had handles and I pulled myself up off the table completely so I was kind of teetering in the things. Really made the OB nervous. And he tried to push my chest down but I almost fell off the table when he did that so he gave up

gosh, I saw someone do that once. Was it you? It scared the CRAP out of me. This very tall woman standing on the foot of her bad...it was like whoa...how could I help her when she is way up there!


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## mamabearing (Jun 2, 2006)

Also good for GYN surgery. I am not sure what else they do better than a supportive partner.


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## momileigh (Oct 29, 2002)

Yes, of course some of us hate the missionary position! Some of us love it. And some of us, because of the way we are put together and maybe other factors such as baby size, presentation, position, etc, should or should not birth in a semi-reclined position. There is someone out there who I'm sure will say she loves her stirrups when she's giving birth. (Personally, I think stirrups, for me, are degrading and terrifying... just seeing them raises my blood pressure... and I never used them in birth... I'm just not going to project those feelings on every woman out there.) So, are stirrups ever a good thing is the op here. I'm saying, if it works for you, and its what your body wants, do it. Use whatever is at your disposal for your birth. Try it if you think you'll like it.


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## lilyka (Nov 20, 2001)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *sapphire_chan*
Actually, a sitting position is even just as bad as laying flat on your back because of how it pushes on your pelvis.

I read that semi-sitting was the worst position because it curls your tailbone up, lay flat is preferable because your tailbone is out of the way.

the only good use for stirups I can think of is for gripping to balance while you squat


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## 2bluefish (Apr 27, 2006)

I definately think different women are built differently. The only comfortable positions for me are face to face - lot's of variety there even pregnant, but try to go in the other way, no way! LOL! For pushing, I really didn't feel much effect, until I got hands and knees and pushed straight toward my rectum (really hated doing that), and then I got more upright for crowning and catching.


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## momileigh (Oct 29, 2002)

LOL

I'm tickled pink that I've made this thread half about positions for pushing out babies, and half about what positions we enjoy for getting babies in.

I'm a face-to-face kinda girl myself, 2blue.


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