holding a baby in after being fully dilated??

court519 · Mar 22, 2005

Thanks everybody for responding even though everybody seems to think I was providing them with a lot of false information. I was really only reporting what I was told and I have no experience in labor and delivery so if something seems out of sorts, it very well might be.. Maybe my sister got the information wrong when she was told it by her friend who had the baby. I have not had any kids so when my sister told me what her friend had told her about her delivery, I just wanted to see if it was a normal thing to do. As for me saying that the baby lost 2 pounds because it could not hold down it's formula... that is a fairly accurate statement. I am not sure if the baby was on formula or breast milk.. Also, i have a tendency to round things up... the baby was 7 pounds 9 ounces when it was born and it ended up weighing only 6 pounds after 3 days. I just figured it would be easier to type 2 pounds rather than it lost 1 pound 9 ounces.

I had actually forgotten that if a baby was ready to come out, then it would. But why do you think the nurses were mad that the doctor was telling her to hold the baby in? Maybe they took the doctors words out of context or something. I am not sure if the girl felt the urge to push or not.

The main reason i posted this was to find out if it would be harmful to the baby if the mom did have to hold it in. Thanks again everybody for responding and believe me, i don't take offense to your responses. You all have way more expertise than me!

SmilingBluEyes · Mar 22, 2005

Thanks everybody for responding even though everybody seems to think I was providing them with a lot of false information. I was really only reporting what I was told and I have no experience in labor and delivery so if something seems out of sorts, it very well might be.. Maybe my sister got the information wrong when she was told it by her friend who had the baby. I have not had any kids so when my sister told me what her friend had told her about her delivery, I just wanted to see if it was a normal thing to do. As for me saying that the baby lost 2 pounds because it could not hold down it's formula... that is a fairly accurate statement. I am not sure if the baby was on formula or breast milk.. Also, i have a tendency to round things up... the baby was 7 pounds 9 ounces when it was born and it ended up weighing only 6 pounds after 3 days. I just figured it would be easier to type 2 pounds rather than it lost 1 pound 9 ounces.
I had actually forgotten that if a baby was ready to come out, then it would. But why do you think the nurses were mad that the doctor was telling her to hold the baby in? Maybe they took the doctors words out of context or something. I am not sure if the girl felt the urge to push or not.
The main reason i posted this was to find out if it would be harmful to the baby if the mom did have to hold it in. Thanks again everybody for responding and believe me, i don't take offense to your responses. You all have way more expertise than me!

I don't see people here saying you gave "false", but rather, INCOMPLETE info. That said, babies come, there is no "holding them in"--------------- when they precipitiously deliver, we just "catch" them....

the only "holding" we do is support of the perineum to reduce tearing....we try to control deliver of the head, does that make sense? Maybe that is what they saw.

meownsmile, BSN, RN · Mar 22, 2005

I can see where jaundice with a first child is concerning,, it was for me. Noone told me the baby may be jaundiced, however he didnt need bili lights.

When i had my second,, she came fast,, the nurses kept telling me to "hold on",, but that wasnt gonna happen,, told them if he didnt get in there id do it with or without him. I wasnt waiting on anyone and they couldnt make me.. LOL

BETSRN · Mar 22, 2005

Thanks everybody for responding even though everybody seems to think I was providing them with a lot of false information. I was really only reporting what I was told and I have no experience in labor and delivery so if something seems out of sorts, it very well might be.. Maybe my sister got the information wrong when she was told it by her friend who had the baby. I have not had any kids so when my sister told me what her friend had told her about her delivery, I just wanted to see if it was a normal thing to do. As for me saying that the baby lost 2 pounds because it could not hold down it's formula... that is a fairly accurate statement. I am not sure if the baby was on formula or breast milk.. Also, i have a tendency to round things up... the baby was 7 pounds 9 ounces when it was born and it ended up weighing only 6 pounds after 3 days. I just figured it would be easier to type 2 pounds rather than it lost 1 pound 9 ounces.
I had actually forgotten that if a baby was ready to come out, then it would. But why do you think the nurses were mad that the doctor was telling her to hold the baby in? Maybe they took the doctors words out of context or something. I am not sure if the girl felt the urge to push or not.
The main reason i posted this was to find out if it would be harmful to the baby if the mom did have to hold it in. Thanks again everybody for responding and believe me, i don't take offense to your responses. You all have way more expertise than me!

"Reporting what you heard" is exactly that. Hearsay. There is so much misperception that goes on in all fields of medicine. People perceive things but their knowledge of the facts are limited and therefor, their perception is off.

A woman can be fully dilated for hours and the baby can be high in the pelvis: nowhere near ready to come out. That's why we try to allow a woman to "labor down" and let the baby come down (and sometimes out) on its own.

No one is questioning your intentions to tell the truth or share information. All everyone has been pointing out to you is that the story you have shared has too many inequities to be accurate, not to mention it is third hand. Do you see why so much of the lay public has so much misinformation on board about everything? It is because information gets shared and passed around and more and more facts and figures get twisted and out of sync. Rounding things up or down changes the facts completely.

Formula and breastmilk are two completely different things. You have now added that. I have still never seen a baby lose 1 pound 9 ounces in three days. There has to be more to that part of the story as well. Someone may have weighed the baby incorrectly in the first place. An error in weighing is not an uncommon event. Any of the weights could ahve been wrong at any point. babies whose mothers have had a lot of IV fluid will have inflated birthweights.

We actually know next to nothing about your sister's friend's labor and birth so none of us can comment at all accurately on any of this. Thanks for sharing and "no offense." I am not trying to give you a hard time: just trying to make sure you understand why all of this is inadequate information. Now you know why there are so many misperceptions out there and so much inaccurate information flying around these days.

It is not harmful for the baby to stay inside as long as all is going well and the baby's umbilical cord is still intact. I am sure there is far more to the story than your sister (or even the baby's mother) understands. That's why we cannot answer your questions with any degree of accuracy. I hope this has helped. If you can get more information, please bring it back and we can attempt to revisit this issue for you.

injuredrn · Mar 22, 2005

Back in 1944 my Mom went to the local country hospital in labor. She arrived late at night still feeling her baby moving and kicking. The nurses called the doc who stated that "she's not due yet" and "hold it in until I get there". So Mom who was just one week away from her due date was put in a bed, and the nurses physically held it in. By the time the doctor drove in, and he allowed her to deliver, she delivered her first child, a stillborn son. To make the situation even more unreal, she was not allowed to see her baby. They allowed Dad, but not Mom.

She went on to have 7 more children. The next three being born in the late forties. And each of them had interesting deliveries. Then she got smart and refused any meds, and kept a watchful eye on everyone. Then she got blessed with me, her last. Practice makes perfect!!!

Thank God things have changed. :chuckle

shadowflightnurse · Mar 22, 2005

:yeahthat:
court519, maybe it would be better if your sister's friend posted her own side of the story... then we could get a better view. Everyone knows how stories can get misconstrued when passed along. However, I do understand how upsetting and scary it is for new parents when complications happen with their baby... even with common things such as weight loss and jaundice.

Sorry, just a sidebar, but I love your picture. :chuckle :chuckle :chuckle

dawngloves, BSN, RN · Mar 23, 2005

injuredrn, you made me think of a story my granma told me.

When she had my uncle some 60 years ago, the doctor was not there so they told her to, "cross her legs. They were serious! :chuckle

JenTheRN · Mar 23, 2005

I would think that there would always be someone available to deliver a baby if the OB is not immediately available. At our hospital, the ER docs come in if our OBs are in an emergency.

And I agree...there is no holding it in. When a baby is coming, they're coming. But I can totally understand her not pushing if she was not feeling the urge to push. We always try to let our mommas labor down. Sometimes the cervix can be dialated to 10, but the baby is still high and not ready to be born. In this instance, its better to let the babe come down and to wait until the woman has the urge to push. (=laboring down) This can sometimes take a while, and is not harmful if the babe is not in distress.

michelleicu · Mar 24, 2005

My sister's friend just recently had a baby. Her friend was telling her about the delivery. My sister's friend said that she had fully dilated to 10 cm in 4 hours and her doctor was in a surgery at the time. A nurse went to tell the doctor and the doctor told the nurse to tell the patient to "hold the baby in" while he was finishing up the surgery. She had to hold the baby in for almost 2 hours to wait for the doctor!! When the baby was born, it had swallowed a lot of amniotic fluid and because of that, the baby was not able to hold any of it's formula down and the baby ended up losing 2 pounds within 3 days after being born. Then, the baby became jaundice and had to stay in the hospital for an extra 2 weeks. My sister's friend was furious because of this and her mom and mother in law were mad that the doctor had said to hold the baby in and the nurses thought that it was the wrong thing to do and they were also mad at the doctor for doing that. There was a resident doctor on the floor at the time but the other doctor would not let the resident deliver the baby.
My question is, do you think it is harmful for a woman to have to hold her baby in after she is dilated?? especially for two hours?? I thought that it sounded very dangerous.

oh my god my situation was similiar to her's,except see when my water broke at home the baby did a 360 turn around in my stomach so her feet were coming out first.no one knew about this until the nurse put hand there to check and noticed it.props to the nurse,they prepared me for an c-section i went in to the room and everyone's standing around waiting for the doctor to arrive I was told to hold the baby in and not to push cause her feet were coming out already they could'nt do no c section she was already sliding out I could not hold this baby in,you can't it's impossible.the doctor came and told me to push and that i did and she came out feet first,although her little ankle was bruised because of it .and when she was 1 years old she had to wear those corrective shoes at night.

lauriesalRNC · Apr 7, 2005

I agree this info in false. Just b/c you are 10 cm doesnt mean you have to push. You SHOULDNT push until you have the urge to. The baby staying in isnt harmful to the baby, neither is " swallowing" fluid. They swallow fluid for 9 mos. I am sure the baby didnt lose 2 lbs in 3 days... that is nearly impossible. Someone got the story wrong or was misinformed.

There is something major missing in your scenario. Many women can be fully dilated for hours and until the baby labors down, they have no urge to push and in this case it is best NOT to be pushing when there is no urge to do so.
If the lady had truly had the URGE to push, there would have been no holding the baby in.
Babies swallow a lot of amniotic fluid anyway. Remember, they are drinking amniotic fluid and peeing it out all the time they are inside. Many babies are very full of fluid when they are born. This has nothing to do with the fact that the baby was inside all that time.
I have NEVER seen a baby lose 2 pounds within three days. You have been given misinformation. It sounds as if someone weighed the baby incorrectly initially if they were getting such divergent weights. This is especially uncommon with a formula fed baby. I have never seen a baby lose that much weight in such a short amount of time, ever.
Babies do become jaundiced but there is too much that is incorrect in your entire story to sound at all accurate. Please understand I don't mean to sound unkind, but this all just doesn't go together. Often people misinterpret what they hear. It seems to me that whoever told you this story has a lot of mistakes in the whole picture.

BETSRN · Apr 7, 2005

oh my god my situation was similiar to her's,except see when my water broke at home the baby did a 360 turn around in my stomach so her feet were coming out first.no one knew about this until the nurse put hand there to check and noticed it.props to the nurse,they prepared me for an c-section i went in to the room and everyone's standing around waiting for the doctor to arrive I was told to hold the baby in and not to push cause her feet were coming out already they could'nt do no c section she was already sliding out I could not hold this baby in,you can't it's impossible.the doctor came and told me to push and that i did and she came out feet first,although her little ankle was bruised because of it .and when she was 1 years old she had to wear those corrective shoes at night.

Could we close this thread? It is ridiculous.

baby&mommynurse · Apr 7, 2005

I agree with BETSRN... please close it.