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For most women, the second stage of labour?the pushing stage?looks a lot like it does in the movies: an exhausted, sweaty, red-faced woman in a semi-reclined position on a hospital bed. A team of enthusiastic nurses tells her to hold her breath as a contraction begins, and then to bear down forcefully for a count of 10, repeated as many times as possible until the end of the contraction.
Montreal mother of two Christine Latreille was in labour for 48 hours with her eldest child. She spent six (!) of those hours pushing, with the nurses coaching her and counting to 10 the whole time. ?I think the counting definitely helped me push longer and more forcefully than I might have on my own,? says Latreille.
This style of pushing is sometimes referred to as ?purple pushing? because of the colour the mom?s face turns while she repeatedly holds her breath and strains. The technical term for it is ?directed pushing” and it has been a part of standard obstetrical practice for generations. But a growing body of research is raising questions about whether directed pushing should be the go-to approach. Some doctors and nurses are experimenting with allowing women to push whenever they feel a strong urge, without instructing them to hold their breath and bear down for a set amount of time. This kind of self-directed or ?spontaneous? pushing has long been recommended by midwives and natural birth advocates, but is only recently gaining traction in the medical communi...