Holding up the legs during delivery

allnurses Guide · Jun 26, 2005

Really? Well I had my daughter with an epidural and demerol and I held up my own legs too. It wasn't a natural birth but I did it.
Z

z - we have moms with epidurals and/or IV drugs who hold their own legs up all the time. Usually we help when they get very tired or if the doc wants McRobert's or if she is having trouble pushing the babe out and needs a position change - we do use family members to help with this but sometimes it is the nurse who helps . .. . the woman who just about knocked us all over HAD used the squat bar and every position known to OB nurses everywhere :) and we still needed to hold her legs although she was very very strong.

The goal of birth is to get the baby out safely . . . if it takes intervention, it isn't a big deal. Having a baby "naturally" doesn't mean a person gets a badge of courage and having a baby "unnaturally" means you don't.

It makes me sad that women think they fail because they end up with an epidural or a cesarean.

I had 3 vag deliveries and one cesarean. All my kids are healthy. That's the point.

You did good.

steph

dawngloves, BSN, RN · Jun 27, 2005

After holding my legs for over an hour, I was yelling, "Where are the f*ing footrest!!! :chuckle

NursePamela · Jun 27, 2005

I was pre-eclamptic (sorry for spelling) and my legs were so filled with fluid and so heavy there is no way I could have held them. My husband did.

renerian, BSN, RN · Jun 27, 2005

Natural-no pain drugs, no nothing except lots of PRAYING to make it LOL.

renerian

FrumDoula · Jun 27, 2005

The goal of birth is to get the baby out safely . . . if it takes intervention, it isn't a big deal. Having a baby "naturally" doesn't mean a person gets a badge of courage and having a baby "unnaturally" means you don't.
It makes me sad that women think they fail because they end up with an epidural or a cesarean.
I had 3 vag deliveries and one cesarean. All my kids are healthy. That's the point.
You did good.
steph

SL,

Although I see your point, I'm going to disagree here slightly and throw in another perspective. The point is not JUST a healthy baby. It's a healthy baby AND mother. And I would enlarge the definition of "healthy" somewhat, too, to include a positive birth experience. Many a mother has lived through a traumatic birth experience only to have her feelings minimized and belittled with the phrase, "Well, the baby was healthy, and that's all that REALLY matters, right?" As if she's going to say, "No", thereby casting herself as a selfish b*tch for thinking otherwise. But the resultant trauma speaks otherwise her her heart, and she is further silenced by her guilt and external expectations.

During my last doula training, we learned that women who have cesareans have a 7 times higher rate of postpartum depression. The rate of baby blues and depression after birth in America is so high compared to homebirth populations and other cultures that I believe we need to rethink what it means to have a healthy birth.

Penny Simkin did an interesting retrospective look at women who had taken her childbirth prep class 25 years earlier. She found that satisfaction with childbirth had less to do with interventions than the woman's sense of empowerment and feeling as if she were heard and respected in the birth room. (So an unexpected c-sec could yield higher results than a completely natural birth.) Women who had high levels of dissatisfaction with their birth experiences all said one thing in common: "Well, at least I have a healthy baby, and I guess that's what really counts." Isn't that so fascinating?

It is NOT enough to simply tell a woman that all that matters is a healthy baby. We have to be so aware of the womans' feelings and experience, and how it will color her mothering experience forever. Women should be be able to look back on that day in their lives and feel a sense of personal achievement, not trauma.

Alison

JAHJF · Jul 1, 2005

Perspective and attitudes of those caring for you can mean alot when it comes to how you feel about your outcome. :)

allnurses Guide · Jul 1, 2005

SL,
Although I see your point, I'm going to disagree here slightly and throw in another perspective. The point is not JUST a healthy baby. It's a healthy baby AND mother. And I would enlarge the definition of "healthy" somewhat, too, to include a positive birth experience. Many a mother has lived through a traumatic birth experience only to have her feelings minimized and belittled with the phrase, "Well, the baby was healthy, and that's all that REALLY matters, right?" As if she's going to say, "No", thereby casting herself as a selfish b*tch for thinking otherwise. But the resultant trauma speaks otherwise her her heart, and she is further silenced by her guilt and external expectations.
During my last doula training, we learned that women who have cesareans have a 7 times higher rate of postpartum depression. The rate of baby blues and depression after birth in America is so high compared to homebirth populations and other cultures that I believe we need to rethink what it means to have a healthy birth.
Penny Simkin did an interesting retrospective look at women who had taken her childbirth prep class 25 years earlier. She found that satisfaction with childbirth had less to do with interventions than the woman's sense of empowerment and feeling as if she were heard and respected in the birth room. (So an unexpected c-sec could yield higher results than a completely natural birth.) Women who had high levels of dissatisfaction with their birth experiences all said one thing in common: "Well, at least I have a healthy baby, and I guess that's what really counts." Isn't that so fascinating?
It is NOT enough to simply tell a woman that all that matters is a healthy baby. We have to be so aware of the womans' feelings and experience, and how it will color her mothering experience forever. Women should be be able to look back on that day in their lives and feel a sense of personal achievement, not trauma.
Alison

I don't disagree with your points above at all.

For myself however, I don't look at the "birth experience" as something that will effect me for the rest of my life or that will color my mothering experience. Other than the first delivery, when I knew nothing even though I took 6 weeks of childbirth classes and then Lamaze, my focus was to just get the delivery over with in whatever safe way I could (and with the 4th I asked for an epidural when I found out I was pregnant!). I've gone back and read my birth records and the nurse's notes are so different from my memory anyway.

As to cesareans and depression, I wasn't one of the statistics. When I found out I was preggers with my fourth child, I was wishing for a cesarean. :rolleyes: Be careful what you wish for - I ended up with an emergency cesarean - and the truth is I was just relieve that I had a healthy child - it didn't matter to me that I had a cesarean. I breastfed right away. I wasn't depressed.

Instead of focusing on having a "birth experience" I instead look forward to holding my child and getting on with the business of being a mom. I loved nursing, I love the way babies learn, the way their eyes light up when you walk into a room. And it goes on from there . . .

As a labor and delivery nurse, my goal is to do as you have described though.

steph

blueeyedgoose · Jul 1, 2005

My youngest baby is 22 years old, my oldest is 27 with another one in the middle. I had all three using what was called back in the 70s as "Prepared Childbirth." No drugs were administered but you know what??? If I could do it all over again I would go for a water birth.

Debbie

demetria · Jul 2, 2005

Getting mom off her back to delivery is the best way. That helps mom delivery more effectively and saves your back.

We have had 3 nurses injured in their shoulders and neck because of having to hold up and push back the womans legs during delivery. It is partially a request of the physician and partially that they have become so used to doing it that it is automatic whenever the pushing is ineffective or protracted. Does anyone know of any equipment that could be purchased for this or any other techniques? Thanks, B Fusco RN

BETSRN · Jul 4, 2005

I don't disagree with your points above at all.
For myself however, I don't look at the "birth experience" as something that will effect me for the rest of my life or that will color my mothering experience. Other than the first delivery, when I knew nothing even though I took 6 weeks of childbirth classes and then Lamaze, my focus was to just get the delivery over with in whatever safe way I could (and with the 4th I asked for an epidural when I found out I was pregnant!). I've gone back and read my birth records and the nurse's notes are so different from my memory anyway.
As to cesareans and depression, I wasn't one of the statistics. When I found out I was preggers with my fourth child, I was wishing for a cesarean. Be careful what you wish for - I ended up with an emergency cesarean - and the truth is I was just relieve that I had a healthy child - it didn't matter to me that I had a cesarean. I breastfed right away. I wasn't depressed.
Instead of focusing on having a "birth experience" I instead look forward to holding my child and getting on with the business of being a mom. I loved nursing, I love the way babies learn, the way their eyes light up when you walk into a room. And it goes on from there . . .
As a labor and delivery nurse, my goal is to do as you have described though.
steph

I think that EVERY woman is deeply effected by all her birth experiences.

live4today, RN · Jul 4, 2005

"Holding up the legs during delivery"

Everytime I came across the title of this thread, it made me laugh. :rotfl: So, I FINALLY decided to click on and read what it was all about. Not so funny to me anymore now that I have read each post. Each post made me relive my own birth experiences (three vag. births) -- all so very different with the first one being the most painful and the longest labor of the 3. :uhoh3:

I don't remember ever holding my legs though. Is that something new since the mid 70's when my last child was born?

And...what is "McRobert"?

SmilingBluEyes · Jul 5, 2005

McRobert's Maneuver involves hyperflexing the legs/knees up and toward the shoulders of the patient, simulating a "squat position" on a woman's back. It is used to help relieve dystocias, mostly in women who have epidural/intrathecal anesthesia who can't squat or stand to push (which is what you would do absent anesthesia).

Usually, women need "help" with McRobert's and this is where the support people/nurses come in, helping her hold her legs up and out to open up the pelvis for birth. Some women can hold up their own legs while pushing, others not, as you can see. It looks like a woman "squatting on her back" on the bed.