This has reminded me of a very stressful incident I had a couple of years
ago. I was relieving in a busy horrible birth suite and had a woman in 2nd
stage with mec. liquor. The head was born and then nothing - no
contractions for about 4 minutes. Finally a contraction came but the
woman's pushing wasn't making any progress with getting the shoulders out.
The "senior" midwife absolutely panicked me and said, hurry up and get this
baby out - you only have 5 minutes. She took over and yelled at the woman
to push as hard as she could anyway, despite the contraction petering out.
She managed to get the baby out with these efforts and without waiting for
another contraction. I was absolutely demoralised and lost a lot of
confidence in my own ability after that. I hadn't felt like it was THAT
long and can remember times in the past when it has taken a couple of
contractions after the head was born for the shoulders to come out with no
ill effects to the baby As long the foetal heart was OK - we waited for the
next contraction. There had been no other signs of foetal distress i.e.
heart beat was perfect throughout labour. (The baby required some oxygen
but was quick to recover). I also felt as though I had failed the mother.
We had built up a really good rapport throughout the labour which was an
achievement as when I first arrived she seemed very anxious and defensive.
By the time the baby was born she was a mental wreck.
It might be worth researching this topic on the Cochrane Library website.
Also looking forward to hearing stories from the rest of the list.
Helen
----- Original Message -----
From: "Andrea Quanchi" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "ozmidwifery" <ozmidwifery@acegraphics.com.au>
Sent: Sunday, July 17, 2005 5:26 PM
Subject: [ozmidwifery] just a thought
just recently I have been with several women at birth who have birthed the
head and then the contractions have gone walk about. Now I am a very
patient person at this time but have had one particular one where the baby
was that lovely shade of navy that they go that even made my adrenalin
levels rise (more than usual).
Last night the baby maintained a good colour but after waiting at
lesast five minutes for the next contraction it was not a very effective
one and the baby decided to do a little dance and squirm but not move
forward. The shoulders definately were not stuck I just dont think it got
the anterior shoulder onto the pubic bone to act as a fulcrom to pivot on.
I was a bit sceptical about how long it might be till the next contraction
but with encourgaement Mum was able to move a bit and use enough effort to
get her out. Of course she cried straight away but I feel like I have
another grey hair.
Question: how long is the longest people have had to wait for the next
contraction at this stage?
Andrea Q
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