Is this common?

[ayndim]

I am a pre-nursing student so I don't know how it actually works in l&D, other than my own experience.

I was watching some reality childbirth shows. And the woman was moaning in agony and wanting to push but the dr wasn't there! Does this happen often? I was stunned watching it. Thankfully I have a CNM and they stay with you the whole time. Otherwise I might have had a nurse delivery.

This woman waited 20 mins while wanting to push. I have to say I would not have waited. I remember the urge to push being uncontrollable. I remember while pg with my 1st saying I wasn't going to push until I was ready and what if I didn't have the urge to push. :rotfl: I wouldn't have waited on a dr to push. And boy would I have given the dr a piece of my mind if they tried to make me wait. What is the procedure if the dr isn't there and the mom refuses to wait? If the nurse delivers the baby does the dr/cnm still get the delivery fee? Has anyone had to deliver a baby?

Thanks

[Energizer Bunny]

I have to say that when I had the urge to push it wasn't so much painful and certainly NOT excruciating ( and I was on pitocin with no epidural), but definitely intense...To let someone know how it is I liken it (everything comes down to the bowels) to a bout of severe diarrhea when you have to go right that minute and feel as though you can't hold it. It is actually usually a great relief to push.. So I tell people that labor is the hardest part because you're body is doing things to you that you do not have control over...Pushing is usually better because, like a loose tooth, it hurts but it hurts good, and delivery (as I recall) is usually the best of all, unless you are stretching a perineum and that can be burning....I have never had a patient tell me it was intensely painful when the urge to push came....Just INTENSE.....

You are quite right (at least for me) as far as the sensation of pushing. I know that with my last two, it was a feeling like there was no way I could NOT push whether they liked it or not (and in one case..no one was in the room with me, not even Bryan!). I loved pushing and once the baby was crowning, there was no stopping me, not even to suction!

[Dayray, RN]

Never said the urge to push was painful. Fighting the urge to push is what I was talking about. This has been described to me as excruciating. One patient I took care of post partum was forced to pant for 20 min while a doctor was on the way. She said at first it was hard to fight the urge and then she got a sharp cramping pain in her lower abd. It was described as the most painful thing she has ever felt.

As for the actual act of pushing yes, patients will tell you that it is a relife.

[SmilingBluEyes]

for me, fighting the urge to push WAS excruciating. Each woman is different.

[CA CoCoRN, RN]

We do push our moms without the doc there. It is kind of a judgement call according to her cervix and station. If they are a gravida 5, we don't push. We just get the catcher's mit and call the doc! I have delivered many babies. It's scary at first, but fortunately, the ones that normally precip are fine anyway, with the exception of an occasional tight nuchal. Done that too! Babies did fine. I have realized it is not the delivery so much that scares me as it is the afterward, when there is a bad baby. Luckily, in a small unit we are all trained in Nursery, NRP, and can rescuscitate and stabilize a bad one for transport to a NICU hospital. We had three last week. (WE average 30 total deliveries a month).

Lisa

This is how my hospital is...although we are not small. We do approx. 450-500+ deliveries per month...busy to not be a teaching facility. I've delivered probably 30+ babies in my three years here.

Nature doesn't always wait, the patient isn't always cooperative, and the course of labor can't always be predicted to run a certain length. A couple hours ago, we had TWO nurse deliveries. One was mine. The doctor was on her way, but the pt was a multip and wanted to "do her business".

As a rule, the nurses generally start pushing the pt when she's complete, with MD notification. We get a "status/ETA report" from the doc to see where he/she is, if they're not here...and then we go from there.

We, as the RN's do all the work and don't get the credit. Docs show up and "catch the baby" and get the big bucks. We are supposed to write notifications for every nurse delivery, and supposedly the MDs can't bill for those deliveries. But you know.....However, for each nurse delivery I do, I make sure I am listed as the delivering practitioner. Afterall, it's the truth!!!!