A Challenging Pushing Stage, with Kate Bechtold

The Birthful Podcast: Summer Birth Stories 2016 #8

We continue on our “Birth Stories” for the summer series! Kate Bechtold had previously pushed two babies out without too much fuss, so she was expecting her third to come out in no time. But what happens when she starts pushing with all her might, and doesn’t feel the baby move down? Go check it out.

 

 

Some of what we talked about:

• The unreliability of due-dates
• That moment when you your mind asks “what was I thinking?”
• The difficulties of planning events around your birth, and the feelings that can come up involving extended family members
• Enjoying that time in labor when it’s “just the two of you”
• Trying all the positions
• Feeling the urge to push, but not the baby moving down
• What position is this baby in? Is the hand in the way?
• The pesky cervical lip (and the process of pushing it aside)
• Sometimes your body just does it, and sometimes you have to work really hard
• The frustration of feeling that nothing is happening…
• … until it finally does, all at once
• When in doubt, explore mental blocks
• An ultimatum to “get up and squat”
• The importance of resting smart
• Siblings arrive just in time to see baby be born!

 

Related Birthful episodes:

• The Problem with Due Dates, with Gail Hart
• Fertility Before & After Pregnancy, with Emily Varnam and Kelsey Knight
• Your Baby’s Fussy Phases, with Dr. Frans Plooij
• Epidurals & Breastfeeding, with Dianne Cassidy

 

 

All photos courtesy of Kate Bechtold

 

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Title music: “Vibe Ace” by Kevin MacLeod, from the Free Music Archive / CC BY (edited for length).

Sponsorship music: “Air Hockey Saloon” by Chris Zabriskie, from the Free Music Archive / CC BY (edited for length).