Jen, another question about labor

[jnezmama02]

Sorry to bother you w/ all these questions...but since your our resident birth instructor, I'm hoping you can help me clarify a few things.

1.  I have really long 1st stage labor w/ both Jessie and Emily. To help speed things up, when I labored w/ Emily, I did squats during contrax to help the baby move further down...I had read to do that somewhere to help (can't remember where). But, now, in my research as I finalize my birth plan and notes, I found this reference on birthingnaturally.net:
    "It is important that you do not use the squat during first stage, as it will close the inlet of the pelvis and hinder the baby's progress. For the same reason, you should not squat until       you have the urge to push. The urge to push is a very good indicator that the baby has move down the pelvis and is at the outlet."
    Do you know, is squatting good or bad during the 1st stage?  Given that I already have really long 1st stage labors, I definitely don't want to do anything that would make it longer. OTOH, I try to do things like walking, etc to speed it up. Any other suggestions to help speed it up?

2. I have really short 2nd stage labor. With both girls, I pushed for like 10min.  I've read that squatting isn't such a good idea for people who have really fast pushing stages b/c they chance tearing b/c it goes SO fast they can't slow it down.  W/ Emily I had no pain meds and pushed in an upright sitting position and had zero tears.  I can't imagine pushing going any faster than that...b/c I had to wait for the dr. to get ready (actually w/ both births). So, for someone w/ a history of fast 2nd stage, would you recommend or not recommend squatting during the pushing stage?

Thanks for your help!!

[JenBerry]

Ok, first of all, define "really long".    Also, what was the pattern of your labors like?  Slow to start, piddling along, took forever to get regular and strong and then went for hours/days?  Or moved along at a good clip with regular, strong contractions, but just took for damn ever?

1) IF your baby is still at a high station when you go into labor, say -5 through 0 station, then do NOT squat b/c it will keep baby from engaging into the pelvis.  It is good to squat during your pregnancy for a variety of reasons, so don't be shy about doing it right up until labor if you want to, but once in labor you can usually lay off.  I did start squatting with contractions about 11 hours into Nigel's labor, but by that point I was well-dilated and could feel his knobby little head sinking down. 
As far as other things to do to speed up first stage, there are a few.  There are some accupressure points that can intensify contractions and bring them on faster (I'll look up the names later, the only one I can remember is Ho-ku and it might be for pain relief instead). 
The walking is a wonderful thing.  Walking up and down stairs can also help as it raises the legs and makes the pelvis asymmetric, so that baby gets some help wiggling down if needed.  And of course, the main thing is that you be relaxed and not afraid of birth, so that your body feels comfortable opening up and releasing your baby.  If you feel like you're on the clock, or that everyone's watching you "perform" and expecting things of you, or otherwise uncomfortable with some aspect of the birth, you are more likely to favor controlling yourself over surrendering to the power of your birth.  You need to be somewhere where you can surrender, and everyone needs to be prepared for you to do so.

2) The fact that you have short second stages coupled with that long first stage makes me think that either A) your babies take their time getting into the pelvis but then lock in like a puzzle piece and whoosh!  Or B) you have very tense first stages where you haven't been able to relax, which kept you from opening easily, but then you get to second stage and that feels better b/c you're "doing something" or "it's almost over" and are able to hunker down and do it.  And either scenario is totally valid!  If you think it's a positioning thing then make sure you're helping yourself out by doing 50-100 pelvic rocks throughout the day, not sitting way back on man-eating couches or bucket seats, and otherwise encouraging baby to be in the right position.  If you think it's more of a tension/anxiety thing then focus on removing your fears of pain.  Think of your uterus as just another muscle, and it's running a marathon, and it's going to get tired and sore.  Not "pain", a bad thing that should be removed, but simply the normal achiness of hard work over a length of time.

Some of this may be off-base.  Let me know more about your past labors and I'll see if I can help more.

Jen

[jnezmama02]

Jen, thank you so much this has been very helpful. You've got me about sitting on the couch. I'm very bad about that. Perhaps the pelvic rocking will help. I'll continue to do squats pre-labor, but it does sound like during labor I shouldn't be doing them.

To answer your questions:
Regarding how long was long labor: The first definite sign of labor for me w/ both Jessie and Emily was my water breaking.  After water breaking, it was 36hrs until birth before Jessie was born and that was with 10hrs of pitocin at the end! With Emily, it was about 19hrs from water breaking to birth, no pit.

Regarding progression and pattern of my labors: With both of them, I had very few contrax right after my water broke (and they were weak and irregular). With Jessie, they never got super strong or regular until after the pit. With Emily, they progressed to being stronger and regular after a few hrs. But, it was still slow. Then, I jumped from about 7cm to complete in an hr and pushed her out in 10min.

As far as position of the them during labor: With both of them, I believe I was still at -1 or even maybe -2 when I first arrived at the hospital a few hrs after water breaking (to get antbx for GBS). It took the majority of my labor to get them to 0. Once they hit zero station, then my labors seem to speed up quite a bit (though I can't remember exactly how far in that happened).

As far as tension/fear: I don't really feel fearful during the beginning stages, but I do seem to get a lot of adrenaline/excitement that probably is working against me.